David Murray

David Murray joined UB as an undergraduate in 1992. Since then he’s been a student, employee and faculty member at UB. Today he puts his experience to work as a Clinical Professor in UB’s School of Management; he’s also the director of the Sleiman Information Assurance Lab that is affiliated with CEISARE.

Like all instructors, technology is built into the way Murray teaches—and it’s always changing.

“I teach one of the large undergrad sections for the School of Management, hundreds of students,” Murray said. “That includes about a hundred students in Singapore taking the class remotely in the fall.”

As it becomes more common for everyone to be “in class” at different places and times, Murray says students place greater value on the flexibility that technology can bring to teaching.

“Even if students can choose to come to class, most prefer watching when it’s convenient for their schedule.”

“Teaching via video is a different type of challenge,” says Murray. “There’s less direct engagement; the students can pause me or speed me up while I’m talking.”

“In 2018, I started recording some of my lectures ahead of time with Panopto. I started with the lectures that are more challenging to teach using a traditional lecture format in a classroom—these are typically the coding and more technical lectures. If you’re in a computer lab, it’s perfect, but if you’re standing in front of a classroom with a whiteboard, it falls flat.

“Now I’m modifying that lecture to be more of a follow-along tutorial for the students. I know learning by doing is the most effective way, and I think Panopto’s going to help me with that.”

Murray is well-versed in technology—he even worked in UBIT at one point. But that doesn’t mean he readily adopts every new service and tool that becomes available.

“Fun fact about myself: I had a cell phone in the late 90s for about a year—and I hated it! I didn’t get another one until about two years ago. So yeah—definitely a late adopter.”

According to Murray, it comes down to the functionality, and using the right tools for the task. “Does the tech work for the business? Does it create value? Does it work? As much as I enjoy the shiny new technology, it has to make sense.”

If you’d like to share your tips for using technology to stay organized and accomplish goals with the UB community, send an email to ubit-communication@buffalo.edu.