Needs Analysis Responses
Student Response, Bryn Mawr College
I am working from my experience as a student, which tends to emphasize student-professor interaction and practical experience over theory. Additionally, as a student, I am not used to collaborating per se. Instead, I am usually encouraged to give feedback about what's working and what doesn't and to develop ideas about what would work better, not to participate directly in making changes. That advisory position is the way much of the following is phrased, but I am eager to make a transition to collaboration.
I am a sophomore double major in history and economics. The vast majority of my course assignments are papers (from 15-pager research papers to single-page responses, rough outlines to re-re-revisions). To write a paper, I need a thoughtful assignment, resources to gather information and ideas, communication with the professor if I have problems and, of course, time. I am also assigned problem sets, memorization, and occasional oral presentations. I have an average of fifty pages of reading per class, a little more for history, a little less for economics, attend lectures and take tests. I think I would split my needs into four areas: basic information, help accessing and using texts, help thinking and learning, and help understanding how to use tools efficiently.
In thinking about the above questions I have talked with about a dozen other students, focusing on sophomores interested in the social sciences. Almost every student I have spoken too has mentioned a desire to have a permanent source of basic class information. Class web pages with the syllabus, assignments, and office hours are useful. Even the most organized student can loose notes or not have them immediately available. Most classes change their plans around at least once during the semester and a dynamic syllabus is preferable to an additional piece of paper, which at least one student will never receive. Online syllabi also grant the professor a more flexible class structure. I have had several professors who dealt with their uncertainty about scheduling by outlining the syllabus without any dates, saying they would keep us updated as the semester progressed. They did not, and I was always unsure what the assigned readings for any given class were. An online syllabus, provided it is updated, solves this easily, granting the professor flexibility and the student confidence about expectations. Online assignments are a further protection against disastrous misplacements. They can be developed as they were not in class and they can encourage a professor who tends to give assignments vaguely and orally to standardize the request. The second area we are interested in is help manipulating texts. Bryn Mawr has been experimenting with scanning reserve readings and posting them online. I have been told that they help with copyright issues, and, taking a class at Haverford, I've been grateful that I didn't have to go there to complete my readings. They protect against loss, and, if one prints them out at the computer center, one can avoid spending twenty to thirty dollars on a bound course pack or making the copies oneself. They can be fuzzy, the scanner sometimes misidentifies words, and printing them out can take 15 minutes for 10 pages. In general, the higher quality of the images and convenience of having all the readings bound in one place with a table of contents means that a course pack is still more appealing to me than online reserve readings, but I prefer the online readings to a single edition to be read or copied in the library. I would like to see more emphasis on electronic text. I used Project Gutenberg a great deal in high school and still use it when a class works from "Classic" texts. Electronic texts are searchable, editable and, because they are text rather than pictures, they are easy to read and fast to print. Having The Prince in text form allows one to find every mention of Cesar Borgia in two minutes and spend the rest of the afternoon developing an intellectual point. I do not know how much harder it would be (or if it would be legal) to scan reserve readings as text, but I think it is worth looking into.
When problems sets are not graded, but are assigned and uncollected, posting their answers on the web site is a wonderful thing. It encourages students to check their answers immediately rather then waiting until they can see the TA, and since there is no reason to print them out, saves paper. Even if the assignment is due and graded, posting the answers after the problems are handed in allows immediate feedback, and if they stay up, they're a good review resource.
Some professors publish class notes or class outlines, so that students can focus on listening in class. These can be quite useful, but I understand choosing not to use them. I've never seen a class comment board or list serve work as effectively as a class discussion, perhaps because students are even more self-conscious about how they appear when they can see what they're typing then they are when they're speaking
Archaeology does much with slides. They post photographs of important objects on the web site and students memorize what, who, when, where etc. It saves the professors from being limited by the textbook illustrations and is far better than hunching over library slides or attempting to memorize written notes. However, the web page design is not oriented towards self-quizzing, for one has to click on the name and details to bring up the picture.
Technology can help students to communicate with a professor and be incorporated directly into in-class teaching. E-mail can be a fantastic tool, but it is also subject to abuse. I had a professor who had her students e-mail response papers to her the day before class. She was then able to read them and be prepared to address issues we were interested in during class. Multiple mass e-mails a day, failure to check e-mail regularly, ignoring e-mail when there is a paper due, and changing assignments at the last minute are all abuses that people I spoke with have mentioned. In making assignments and announcements professors seem to forget that many students don't have computers, which means that last minute information won't necessarily get to them and e-mails are either printed out or deleted, meaning that information not immediately valuable may be lost.
Power point is also subject to abuse. Professors have a tendency to get involved in having things scrolled out and simply read what appears, destroying lecture flexibility and creating an extremely boring session of professor-reading-what-students -can-see-to-class. However, showing maps, diagrams, charts, change over time, accessing on-line information, using a spreadsheet to do calculations, or video equipment are all interesting and effective uses of classrooms with screens and computers. However, many professors have a difficult time using the projectors to play videos. Whatever sort of training is in place does not seem to be effective.
I find that I tend to learn to use technology when I need it. Thus I did not remember my "how to use the library tour" when I needed it. The tour was part of the first week of orientation, when many other things were of far greater concern and I had no idea which of these resources I would need to use. I have learned to use the resources I do by tinkering and asking specific questions when I needed specific things. However, I tend to start research during non-traditional working hours, which means I am working with students who do not have a professional librarian's knowledge base. The times when I have asked a professional librarian for help, I have been gratified by how much they know and how easily and eagerly they help me. The librarians here are great, I just need to get into the habit of asking so that I can be pointed in the direction of specialized resources like Diabola or Pools Index that I would never find on my own. The library's web page is very helpful in introducing some of the resources that are available. Its emphasis on textual instruction, so that students can teach themselves when they need it is helpful.
Many professors use their classes to teach computer skills in passing. Learning to use a spreadsheet, for example makes sense in context when one is manipulating large sets of data. Some professors have students work with web pages: part of the assignment will be to post one's work on the web. Students I've spoken with are divided about the web pages: some like learning the skill and seeing their work "published" others would rather spend their time on the topic at hand since web design doesn't interest them and does not directly address the topic (Chinese Film, for example).
I have concerns about the computing center. The professionals I have dealt with have been helpful and knowledgeable. The student employees know very little and seem to be in no position to learn more. Troubleshooting is an extremely valuable skill that can only be learned through experience. Through student ops, the college has an opportunity to teach that is not being taken advantage of. Although many student employees are "doing their time", most students sign up to be computer ops because they are interested in learning more about computers. Instead, computer ops spend most of their time asking to see IDs and handing out passwords. Even "specially trained" ops can only work within a small sphere and do not have the theory behind what they are doing, so they are very limited in what they can take away from the experience.
Nancy Strippel
Bryn Mawr College
nstrippe@brynmawr.edu
Faculty Response, Bryn Mawr College
1) What are pedagogical approaches you use in social science classes?
Lecture to convey the use of a tool or technique
Lecture to synthesize material
Lecture to convey material not in the reading
Team or small group problem solving
General class discussion
Student presentations
In class writing to focus thinking
Email-based discussion lists focusing on class material or current events
Short student papers applying theory to current policy problems
Faculty comments or a peer review as basis for revision of student papers
Research exercises comprising parts of a research paper under controlled conditions
Short-answer problem sets
Literature reviews or article summaries
Senior research paper (thesis)
Service learning or internship journal writing
2) Kinds of resources you encounter and need for class
Easy access to current periodicals
Statistical data in a form easily manipulated by students
Ready access to information of successful approaches used by colleagues
Tools to manipulate, display, and integrate data with text in papers, for classroom presentations, and for sharing with others in the class.
Easy access to professional journal articles and working papers
The ability to share student writing in a timely manner
Access to writing and quantitative support services for students
Access to style guides and assistance for students in citing and evaluating resources encountered in the Internet.
Ways of giving students frequent feedback on their progress that does not overwhelm the rest of my life
Help for thesis students in tracking down data
3) What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding the use and instruction of technology?
Create class Web pages
Create or adapt handouts for the use of statistical software (Excel and RATS).
Create assignments for students to use statistical software.
Help students with computer related problems
Create class email lists.
Duplicate and submit material for electronic reserves.
4) What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
Figure out the most effective way to split instruction/support for the use of software among me, library, and IT personnel
Figure out how much of the workload I now carry that I can shift to others with a comparative advantage in these things
Find easy ways for library and IT personnel to keep me apprised of new resources
Removing obstacles to getting things scanned, stored, and distributed
Find ways to encourage students to take more responsibility for their learning
5) What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
Participating in campus debates about the allocation of resources to academic support
Tracking down Web sites of faculty teaching in areas that overlap with mine
Attending (or convincing colleagues to attend) conference/workshops on pedagogy in my field.
David R. Ross, Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Economics
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
dross@brynmawr.edu
Librarian Response, Bryn Mawr College
Questions for Librarians:
What specific resources in the social sciences do you think would best contribute to or support student learning in the classroom?
For each full-text database, index or other web-based information source, explain briefly how it could help expand the students' critical information gathering skills. The Library Web Site, with its resources organized for specific disciplines is one of the most valuable, yet under-used resources for support of student classroom learning. It suggests databases chosen particularly for their usefulness in terms of authority, relevance, and timeliness. By avoiding generic web search engines, and massive metasites, both of which often lead to ephemeral, inaccurate, tangential search results, the Library's web pages can greatly improve research efficiency and reduce wasted time. By pointing them to peer-reviewed, academic articles and publications, databases provided through the Library Website helps train students to recognize high-quality writing in their research topic. PsycInfo, the primary index to articles in psychology and related subjects, can serve as an example. Highly specific indexing generated by field experts, combined with an online thesaurus, expose students to the vocabulary and organization of the literature(s) relevant to this discipline.
What roles and responsibilities do librarians on your campus currently assume regarding the instruction in the use of electronic information sources in support of student and faculty research?
Librarians tend to assume typical and traditional roles. They are called upon occasionally by select faculty to give brief (c. 50 minute) instruction in relevant resources. Professor/course-specific instruction sessions may occur during or outside class time; usually tied to specific assignments. Instructor may or may not be present. They also provide instruction as part of reference desk assistance, often needing an extensive reference interview to clarify a student's confusion or uncertainty about the assignment. Typically, a student may state she is required to "use the web" in fulfilling an assignment, but is unclear how that's supposed to happen. In some rarer circumstances, librarians may be involved more deeply in pedagogy. They may work with faculty behind the scenes do devise assignments or contribute to overall course design. I have on occasion discussed with instructors challenges in teaching in the new web environment, where information literacy skills are more severly tested than ever before.
What goals do you have for collaboration with faculty, students, and information technologists in the field of electronic information?
Better coordination, better communication, so that I can better know what is needed from me and how well my efforts are succeding.
Mark Colvson
mcolvso@brynmawr.edu
Bryn Mawr College Library
IT Response, Bryn Mawr College
Questions:
What technologies could enhance student and faculty research/teaching/learning?
Include a brief description of the technology and a brief explanation of its potential usefulness. The networked environment provides a world of opportunities for student and faculty research/teaching/learning. Local networks and the Internet allow teachers and learners to communicate with each other and with people with similar interests around the world. Course web sites, either home-grown or in a "course management system" context, provide a central focus for access to information resources, communications (threaded discussions, synchronous chat, announcements, etc.), sharing of student work, interactive exercises, grade tracking, and more. I'm curious about various hardware technologies, such as white boards that display the computer's projected image and also allow writing and mouse-clicking. I've just seen them demoed at conferences and wonder if they'd be useful in a small classroom setting.
What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding the use and instruction of technology?
I work with faculty in small groups and one-on-one in training them to use scanners and create PowerPoint and web content. I also train faculty in the use of "smart classroom" presentation equipment. I visit classes and demonstrate statistical software and library resources to students. I'm available for "house calls" to faculty offices for training in regular desktop applications and basic operating system help. Whatever your technology need, I'll try to help or will find someone who can.
What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
We're trying to bring together teams of librarians, instructional technologists, and computing services staff to have specific liasionship roles with academic and administrative departments on campus. I hope that these collaborations will be fruitful, and that our end users will have a better sense of who has particular expertise and interest in their area.
What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
This is a campus-wide initiative, and I will do whatever I can to cooperate and help.
Susan Turkel
Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Social Sciences
Bryn Mawr College
Student Response, Haverford College
Questions for Students:
What are your learning and research needs as defined by course assignments? Map out the range and variation, including both the content and the kinds of resources you encounter and need.
Classroom:
1) Judicious use of multimedia in the classroom can be very helpful, but the emphasis is on judicious. Some professors never use any, while others lecture only from Powerpoint slides.
Assignments:
1) Providing electronic versions of photocopied texts on the Internet, such that readings can be easily accessed through computer terminals instead of having to share limited physical reserved copies with other students.
2) Recording selected lectures and having these lectures accessible through streaming media.
3) Providing class syllabi and assignments on the Internet, such that a centralized resource is available.
Research:
1) Having a simple starting research wizard in the library webpage that allows students to frame a general research area or topic, and where the wizard can suggest different databases and library areas in which to search.
2) Knowing the availability of tools to conduct surveys, studies and even experiments on the Internet. Having a workshop where students can make good use of the resources available to them so they can conduct research themselves with a large sample.
Other:
1) Having anonymous feedback message boards for each class so that opinions about the class can be voiced throughout the semester, such that professors can have a better grasp of how students are handling course material.
2) For departments to have more attractive and more frequently updated webpages.
3) For ACC to get keyed licenses to a broader range of software that students can learn to use. Including software for web development and for information managing (such as programs that allow data to be recorded in a branching tree form).
What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
1) Actual implementation of some of the above so that faculty can see it actually happening, and more importantly working.
2) The thrust of this has to come from the students, because the technology is easier for us to grapple with than for faculty. Acquisition and workshops on various exciting software programs such as Photoshop or Flash will promote student interest. Perhaps a student club that fosters interest in web development should be started and funded through student council and the Mellon grant. Student council money alone probably won't be enough for getting this kind of thing started. But it's exactly what we need.
Faculty Response, Haverford College
What is the course content and what are the pedagogical approaches for which you want to draw on technological resources? Map out the range and variation, including both the content and the kinds of resources you encounter and need.
I plan to continue developing the "hypersyllabus" course resources I currently have for my Intro Psych and Methods courses. The major challenges involve (a) augmenting and maintaining hypertextual depth in my course notes and linked readings, (b) better integrating on-line course discussion through Web Forum, and (c) adding streaming audio-visual materials.
What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding the use and instruction of technology?
I serve as the faculty fourth of the "Collaborative Information Officer" and next year will be Special Assistant to the Provost for Information Technology.
What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
I expect next year, in the role described above, to communicate with most Haverford faculty about technology integration into their teaching
and research. Specifically, I want to encourage the building of individual Web resources that gradually become part of larger departmental, College, and global webs.
What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
I hope to guide planning for capital campaign funding to endow continued support and growth for Haverford's pedagogical and scholarly use of information technology.
Doug Davis
Department of Psychology
Haverford College
http://www.uslink.net/ddavis/d2vita.html
Librarian Response, Haverford College
What specific resources in the social sciences do you think would best contribute to or support student learning in the classroom? For each full-text database, index or other web-based information source, explain briefly how it could help expand the students' critical information gathering skills.
Given the breadth of the disciplines encompassed by the social sciences, it is a bit difficult to name specific sources which would be useful across all of the disciplines. So, I will answer the question with a selection of the types of resources rather than specific resources: Given the continuing importance of journal literature, I think that it remains important for students to learn the basics of what an index is, how one is structured, how one searches, and then how to apply that basic knowledge to a discipline-specific index, e.g., PsychINFO, Sociological Abstracts, EconLIT, etc. The emphasis in teaching this should be in giving the students a knowledge of the purpose and structure of this type of source so that s/he can transfer that knowledge to new situations. In fact, given the rate of change when it comes to the specifics of electronic resources (access software, interface design, etc.), this is the emphasis which all of our instruction in this area should have. In economics and sociology, the use of survey datasets, statistical series data (usually in a combination of print and electronic forms) and other types of statistics is becoming increasingly necessary. At present we have only a relatively small number of senior thesis students needing this type of resource, but given the increased accessibility of such sources via the Internet and the greater computing power available to students on their desktops, I can only imagine that the need will grow both in numbers of students and in complexity. I would like to see a more integrated and proactive approach to providing support to students in this area--one in which faculty advisors, computing staff and librarians could provide advice and guidance to students during the thesis formulation so that they know not only whether relevant datasets exist but also what type of support they can expect to receive in downloading, extracting and manipulating the data in order that they can make informed decisions about whether or not to pursue thesis research which requires this type of resource. I do not have alot of experience with simulation/scenario building software but I think that there are probably curriculum areas in which such products would be useful tools. They may, in fact, already be in use by some of our faculty. I am thinking of products such as SimCity, Virtual U, Capitalism, which allow the user to explore the impact of various actions/policies on an imaginary city/organization/corporation. I am not sure how the library would fit into this. Perhaps there are ways to customize some scenarios by incorporating real-life background info and data. I have not given this a great deal of thought. It really just occurred to me.
What roles and responsibilities do librarians on your campus currently assume regarding the instruction in the use of electronic information sources in support of student and faculty research?
We do the standard lecture/demo type of library instruction and, of course, one-on-one instruction at the reference desk. As both traffic at the desk and the willingness of faculty to "give up" a class period for library instruction decrease, we really need to explore other means of delivering instruction and other forms of outreach. We also take part in some ACC workshops for faculty and staff.
What goals do you have for collaboration with faculty, students and information technologists in the field of electronic information?
I'd like to see a more integrated approach--one in which faculty and librarians and IT staff communicate with each other more often and in a more proactive way. Involvement of all parties earlier in the development process would lead to better designed projects and assignments. We, of course, know this already and have always known it. The trick is to find ways to make it happen given time and resource constraints.
Mary Lynn Morris, Acting Science Librarian
(Also Electronic Services, Government Information, and Economics)
Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Avenue, Haverford, PA 19041-1392
mmorris@haverford.edu
Information Technologist Response, Haverford College
What technologies could enhance student and faculty research/teaching/learning?
Include a brief description of the technology and a brief explanation of
its potential usefulness.
In the social sciences, there are many technologies that can
enhance both the student and faculty experience in research, teaching and
learning. There is a need for data analysis, video editing capabilities
for experiments and demonstrations, web searching and creation both for
research and sharing of results, web discussion groups, and many others.
There is probably no technology that would not enhance research, teaching
or learning in some way. The real problem is not so much as to determine
which technologies enhance curricular goals (yet to be stated) but to only
use technology as a means of accomplishing those goals, and not just because
it exists. There is a real danger in getting caught up in the push for
new and exciting technology and it is critical that when determining which
technology to use, that a real effort be made to ensure that it in fact
offers a better way of accomplishing the ultimate goal: education. I see
a need for basic competence at all levels (student, staff, faculty, administration)
for research, writing and communicating using computers, but beyond that
the field is wide open to determine where to focus resources to enhance
the educational experience and not just create a technological jungle.
What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding the
use and instruction of technology?
Our primary responsibility is to provide faculty and staff members
with operating equipment and software supported by the college. We are
responsible for helping them use the equipment and software provided in
whatever way they need. This involves everything from helping them fix
a jammed printer to figuring out which program will help analyze a particular
data set most effectively, to helping them create a PowerPoint presentation
for a class.
In addition to maintaining the basic services on campus (such
as mail, software distribution, network access and maintaining computing
equipment) we try to keep in touch with the current technologies and software
available so that we are in a position to implement new technologies that
will assist and improve the access the campus has to resources that will
improve their curricular endeavors. For many of the programs that we distribute
on campus, we offer seasonal courses to introduce and assist faculty and
staff in their use. We regularly offer courses in Web Page Development,
using PowerPoint to create presentations, and how to create web ready graphics
using a scanner and photo editing software. We have offered courses on
using the web for data collection, using a spreadsheet program to analyze
data, and a course in advanced uses of word processing. We have also made
available to faculty/students programs that address growing needs on campus
(such as discussion groups) and have taken the lead in researching, implementing
and then presenting the program to the campus as a whole. We have held
courses to introduce faculty to these new programs and have created documentation
outlining their usefulness. We have also, on occasion, gone into the classroom
to show a small group how to effectively use the program for that course,
but this is not a frequent event. We generally create documentation for
these programs and all participate in presenting the material in the courses.
We also assist faculty in determining which products or software
packages will best suit their needs in a particular research or teaching
goal. For instance, in the use of video/audio editing equipment and software,
we assist in determining which product will meet specific needs that the
faculty bring to us. We will then assist the faculty in learning how to
best use those products, and will continue to offer support as needed.
In this regard the faculty generally take the lead and we address those
questions or issues brought to our attention.
Finally, we offer technology grants to faculty to give them an
opportunity to incorporate new technologies in their research or teaching.
For the faculty receiving these grants, we offer support to help the faculty
implement their award, from providing assistance in web page design to
researching software requirements and making software purchased under the
grant available to students in the labs.
What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
In order to maximize the resources and support available to faculty
and students, and minimize the duplication of resources and effort, my
main goal is to collaborate in all areas that have a technological component,
with all the departments that focus on technology, library, computing,
faculty, etc. Having a program, such as the one you are designing, is a
first step in creating the kind of atmosphere that will foster the communication
and coordination of services necessary to accomplish this.
What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
We have created an advisory group to address issues regarding instructional
technology and the direction we need to take to solve various campus needs.
There is also a higher level policy group involving computing, library,
faculty and administration, that is geared toward creating an atmosphere
in which collaboration is encouraged and welcomed, so that these goals
can be met.
Barbara Mindell
User Support Specialist
Haverford College
bmindell@haveford.edu
Faculty Response, Swarthmore College
I spoke informally to other faculty in my building at Swarthmore.
Q. What is the course content and what are the pedagogical approaches
for which you want to draw on technological resources?
-excepting the obvious instances where video technology was front and
centre, those teaching cinema courses for historical or sociological causes
(Soviet Cinema, Visual Anthropology Practicum), many leaned to:
-working through statistical programs with laptops projecting onto
screens (a few do this now); to
using video clips for classroom discussion (hard to do given the distractions,
though there was much thought to fantasies of digital players which make
it easier to track samplings)
as a general rule, the latter point emphasizes the question of ILLUSTRATION
of already existing pedagogic platforms. This seems a natural transition
zone en route to what later may likely be a very different kind of pedagogical
imagination as more and more of this technology enters the classroom.
Q. Map out the range and variation, including both the content and the
kinds of resources you encounter and need.
For example, Swarthmore in particular suffers from a woefully underfunded
and understaffed slide library. The majority of those I talked to remarked
on how energetic and innovative the director is, but how few resources
we've been able to marshal given the college's reluctance to fund new technologies
since they change so quickly.
To this end, perhaps the most common refrain was how much easier it
would be if each classroom could somehow have its own generic, bolted-down,
laptop, not one you would have to carry from pillar to post in the havoc
of the teaching day, which could then be used to project illustrations
for teaching anything from history to nationalism to portraits of famous
social scientists... Virtually all faculty were enthusiastic about donating
their time to this kind of enhancement, but most were reluctant to invest
the time until there is some sense of what is worth the effort, how it
works, and what will be around long enough for them to profit from instructionally.
Q. What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding
the use and instruction of technology?
-as above: statistical charts using an active laptop projected on to
a screen; others preferred the ease and familiarity of an overhead. Most
are confined only to occasionally showing video clips or films.
Q. What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
Many of my colleagues are now looking more to the Library for direction,
less so than on Media Services, who have been the main backup over the
years.
Q.What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
Reading the emails that the College serves up!
Bruce Grant
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Swarthmore College
bgrant1@swarthmore.edu
Information Technologist Response, Swarthmore College
Questions for Information Technologists
What technologies could enhance student and faculty research/teaching/learning?
Include a brief description of the technology and a brief explanation of
its potential usefulness.
Huh, I'm a technologist, but I don't tend to think of the technology
first. Of course, our institution could gain from the use of computer-delivered
communications tools, such as those bundled under the heading of "Course
Management System." But I think there are many untapped or undertapped
areas multimedia delivery, laboratory control, collaborative/constructivist
learning tools, easy WWW database creation, etc. But I refuse to be a solution
in search of a problem. It all starts with making sure faculty understand
that they should include me as a partner in problem solving real curricular
issues.
What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding the
use and instruction of technology?
At the bare minimum, my team and I accept at least partial responsibility
for all infrastructural and technical support for any academic computing
technology in place. That is, where we aren't being relied upon as the
only game in town, we contribute in whatever way is necessary to make things
work. In addition, we've been involved in issues of technology-enhanced
curriculum/teaching/learning issues.
What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
Wide-scale implentation of a CMS, with on-going support from all major
academic support areas of the College. More focus on sustainability, scalability,
multi-use/reusable development.
What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
Whatever it takes to make it work.
Eric Behrens
Manager of Academic Computing &
Humanities Computing Coordinator
Swarthmore College
http://www.swarthmore.edu/~behrens/
Student Response, Mount Holyoke College
(Note: we changed the wording of these questions to make them more meaningful
to the students. The revised questions are as follows: What kinds of research
assignments to you get in classes? Do you ever seek help from librarians?
When and why do you seek help from librarians and how would you like them
to help you?)
The most common kind of assignment I get involves conducting a literature
search. I don't often ask for help. Usually, I play around with the library
systems until I figure out how to make them work for the particular assignment
that I'm doing.
Kyra Comroe
Faculty Response, Mount Holyoke College
1.The course that I will focus on is Experimental Methods in Psychology.
The goals of the course are for the student to learn how research is planned,
carried out, communicated and critiqued. This course focuses on developing
general research skills that can be applied within any area of psychology.
These skills include knowledge of experimental
design, statistics, report writing, and ethical standards of research.
I use a wide variety of techniques to teach this class. They include lecture,
mock experiments, and small group discussions. In addition, there is a
four-hour lab component associated with the class. The main purpose of
this lab time is for the students to review research articles that are
related to their interests, formulate their own experiment, collect and
analyze data, and to write up a research paper.
2. The kinds of resources that I do use (or would like to use in the
future) include SPSS, data bases (e.g. ICPSR), web of sciences, and j-store.
I would also like to modify the course web-site so that we could include
on-line tutorials and perhaps quizzes. In addition, since the students
work on group research projects, it would be great if we could create a
sort of "chat space" for each group. The members of that group would be
able to get into that chat space, ask questions of their group members,
set up meetings, and post results of their study.
3. I would like to do more collaborative work with both the librarians
and the information technologists.
4. The resources I am considering devoting to its future development
are: time and student support.
Kathy Binder
Librarian Response, Mount Holyoke College
1. Resources include, PsycInfo: This is the major database of
Psychology literature. MH provides it through the Ovid interface from 1887
through the present. It includes a sophisticated indexing system based
on the terminology used in the field so will help students think about
appropriate vocabulary, combining of terms, refining searches.
Web of Science: This interdisciplinary database is unique among indexing
services. While it does not provide the specialized indexing of other services,
it allows for searching of cited references which many faculty find a very
powerful tool. It allows students to see how pieces of scholarship inform
and respond to one another, how scholarship develops and shifts. With access
to the backfiles (sciences back to 1945, social sciences back to 1950's)
it opens up a part of the literature that may have been neglected in favor
of materials more readily cited electronically.
JSTOR: Provides searchable fulltext of the backfiles of over 100 key
scholarly journals. Although Psychology journals are not yet included,
other disciplines in the social sciences are well represented. It may be
interesting to see if and how topics in Psychology have crossed into other
discplines.
2. We currently offer about 75 course integrated workshops each year.
Many of these are at the request of faculty, though sometimes we see a
need and offer to conduct a workshop. We also offer general workshops on
searching the Internet through the LITS training program. In addition,
we do much instruction in one-on-one encounters at the Reference desk.
The majority of our questions now require some instruction in use and choice
of resource (appropriate discipline, good quality, paper vs. electronic,
full-text vs. index, timeliness, etc).
3. More! We would like to offer more course integrated instruction as
those seem to be the most successful in reaching students when they have
a need to know. We would also like to work more closely with faculty in
developing assignments that will achieve their goals for the students and
will be manageable and interesting for the students. We have some success
with that in the Sciences and would like to expand that success.
Kathleen Norton
IT Response, Mount Holyoke College
1. Developing course web pages for a psychology course would provide
a centralized online presence for course information and would facilitate
communication between the faculty member and students and amongst the students.
The content of the pages could include syllabus, bibliography, required
readings, discussion lists, tutorials, quizzes, and links to library sources
necessary to conduct research.
Using web course development software, such as WebCT, would simplify
the process of creating the web pages by the faculty member. To encourage
collaboration between students in the course, the faculty member could
organize teams of students and could establish web pages for each team.
The teams could have their own discussion lists, publish their research
projects on this web site, and review each other's work. The web site could
be restricted to only those enrolled in the course.
Other technology that could be incorporated into the course includes
interviewing procedures and policies. Students could use tape recorders
or video cameras and transcribing equipment. They could share their interviewing
experiences and questions in class or via the web pages. When appropriate,
and with proper releases, they could include clips from interviews on the
web pages.
2. Currently, I am the Training Coordinator for Library, Information
and Technology Services. This position includes overseeing the training
needs of the Mount Holyoke College Community. Working in cooperation with
the technology consultants in Curriculum Support and Instructional Technology
(CSIT), I serve as a liaison to the faculty interested in incorporating
technology into the curriculum. This function includes evaluating the technology
and training needs of the faculty, researching new technological options
and connecting faculty to skilled students assistants.
This position coordinates the training workshops for faculty, staff
and students. In addition to teaching some of the workshops for faculty
and staff, I train and supervise a dozen student web technologists who
teach the student-to-student workshops and offer consulting services to
the Mount Holyoke College community in the Special Project Labs.
3. My goals for this collaborative project center around communication.
This is an opportunity for faculty, technology consultants, librarians
and students to communicate their needs, expectations and goals to each
other. In this process, the participants can share their knowledge of the
discipline of psychology, research methods, information retrieval and management,
technology and educate each other to the options available for this project.
All this will be focused upon the educational needs and expectations of
the students.
A second goal from this three-year process is to make faculty aware
of LITS' library and CSIT liaison program. The liaison program is a tool
for faculty to use when crafting a course or undertaking research. In addition,
the liaisons will become more familiar with the faculty and the disciplines
they work with and will be able to use this knowledge in anticipating,
evaluating and researching library and technology solutions.
4. Resources needed to further develop this project include staff time,
hardware, software and funds for training the participants.
Susan Fliss
Faculty Response, Smith College
Q: What is the course content and what are the pedagogical approaches
for which you want to draw on technological resources?
I hope to augment problem based learning scenarios that I've developed
in a conventional text form by translating them into multimedia. These
scenarios use a combination of text, still images, audio, graphics and
full motion video. My hope is that by "translating" them into a multimedia
format because it will allow me to present a richer, more deeply textured
context that will allow me to more closely model the "real world" of schools
and policy and thus narrow the gap between simulation and reality.
I also use and hope to learn more about effective practice with the
following:
* Develop and tending electronic discussion forums
* Develop standards and conventions of quality for work done as hypermedia.
For example, what would constitute the characteristics of a project/paper
written in hypertext? What baselines of quality can I identify for my students
so they have clear objectives to work towards in their projects?
* Develop ways to use networked technologies to enhance and deepen
in-class discussions
The above characterize the teaching that I do in my issues/policy courses.
I also teach a curriculum course for secondary teachers. In this course,
I aspire to the following: First, I hope provide teachers with the experience
of using information technologies to enhance their ability to plan curriculum
and develop lessons. Second, I guide them through the experience of using
technology to enhance their teaching by utilizing multiple media: art,
music, graphics, video. Lastly, I work with them on designing activities
that allow students to become composers of multimedia.
Q: What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding
the use and instruction of technology?
I teach courses and I will hopefully be working with a senior colleague
in developing a Master's degree program in the area of Learning, Design
and Technology.
Q: What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
I believe that schools K-Higher Education need to embrace approaches
akin to Writing Across the Disciplines or Speaking Across the Disciplines.
This will require deep, inclusive collaboration amongst faculty, librarians
and others involved in the educational process.
In terms of teaching, I struggle with how long it takes to compose
hypermedia. It's incredibly time consuming and I'm still confused as to
how to develop fruitful collaborative relationships to share the work of
tending, problem-shooting, and upkeep of integrating technology into my
classes.
Sam Intrator
Smith College
Morgan Hall
Northampton, MA 01063
Librarian Response, Smith College
Q. What specific resources in the social sciences do you think would
best contribute to or support student learning in the classroom?
Specific resources in the social sciences are difficult to identify,
due to the number of databases offered at the Smith College Libraries and
the interdisciplinary nature of research undertaken by scholars and students
in all disciplines. This response is focused on the present and future
information resources and services provided by the Smith College Libraries,
primarily Neilson Library, the humanities and social sciences library on
the campus. Student learning is promoted in an instructional program with
common goals and objectives across disciplines. (Instructional programs
within Young , Hillyer or Josten libraries -- the sciences, fine arts and
performing arts, respectively -- and in Special Collections may offer differences
that may be addressed in future workshops.)
For the past several years, the librarians at Smith College have
worked to incorporate web-based instruction through the use of a gateway
to the Libraries resources, subject web pages and individual class pages.
The use of subject web pages is the primary vehicle the reference librarians
use to guide students in accessing appropriate information resources. Each
subject page, for instance, History, lists indexes and databases appropriate
to the area, including scholarly indexes, indexes in related fields, interdisciplinary
indexes, general periodical indexes and selected web resources.
The selection and use of specific resources in the social sciences
rests on the information needs of curriculum and research at Smith College.
Scholarly bibliographic databases in the social sciences -- PsycInfo, Sociological
Abstracts, EconLit, etc. -- form the basis of instruction within each discipline,
followed by more specialized sources as assignments dictate (i.e., statistical
sources such as International Financial Statistics and World Development
Indicators).
Databases such as Congressional Universe and Statistical Universe increased
in value and use when electronic access became available, due to the difficulty
students encountered in their print counterparts. Students now need assistance
in refining their searches to gather more relevant and less overwhelming
results. America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts in their electronic
form opened new avenues of research in many disciplinary and interdisciplinary
areas, whereas their print versions were the primarily the province of
dedicated historians. It seems evident that electronic access to print
resources increased interdisciplinary research, as students and scholars
gained access to materials via databases and the Internet.
Full-text cross-disciplinary databases, such as Academic Universe and
Expanded Academic Index, offer collections of periodical titles libraries
would not necessarily purchase separately. There are drawbacks to the full-text
experience: expectation and demand for full-text, inappropriate selection
of research results due to preference for full text, proliferation of mainstream
titles across many libraries, and the lack of distinction between popular
and scholarly titles within databases.
The Internet provides a valuable and nearly irreplaceable role in the
social sciences, after the sciences. The emphasis on electronic dissemination
by state, national and international governments gives students unprecedented
access to government information. Identifying, locating and accessing the
resources of organizations, institutions, advocacy groups, library collections
and catalogs gives students and faculty access no library could offer individually.
In economics and education, for instance, a reliance on data
sets and local, state and national census materials respectively require
more advanced information skills on the part of student, faculty and librarian.
Early collaboration with the statistical resources of the Jahnige Center
has been successful; staffing irregularities, however, have lessened the
librarians' knowledge and use of the Center's resources and services.
Information Technologist Response, Smith College
Q. What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding
the use and instruction of technology?
As a Statistical Consultant for the social sciences, education, and
school of social work, I assist faculty, students, and staff with data
gathering, analysis, and presentation. People come to me with a wide range
of questions and concerns including where to find data on various topics,
how to construct testable hypotheses, which statistical software to use
and how to use it, and advice on how to present data and results. I usually
work with people individually, teaching them the statistical, computer,
or data finding skills they require to complete their projects. To assist
my constituents, I experiment with different statistical software and teaching
tools and search for new data over the Internet.
Q. What goals for Collaboration do you have?
I am interested in working with faculty and students to conduct research.
I would also like to help faculty introduce new techniques and software
for teaching statistics into their classes. I know that the faculty at
Smith are very interested in using the Internet in their classes and have
this year begun to use Blackboard to develop a web based component for
their classes. Faculty and students are also very interested in using multi-media
computer techniques in their research and classes.
Q. What technologies could enhance student and faculty research/teaching/learning?
A range of multi-media technologies would be very useful for student
learning and faculty teaching and research. Students learn best in a variety
of ways. Some students rely on visual cues while others depend on auditory
skills. Other students learn best by doing. Multi-media technologies that
now make it easier to bring images, video clips, music, guest lecturers
and interactive experiences into the classroom will enhance knowledge by
providing different learning opportunities for different kinds of learners.
Faculty could also draw on these different technologies to conduct and
present their ideas in the most illustrative framework.
Echoing these sentiments, a colleague of mine who runs the Center for
Foreign Languages and Culture at Smith wrote to me the following, "I believe
Smith needs greater access to DVD technologies, greater and more direct
support of student projects and general computer literacy, a network system
which truly allows any user to log on to any appropriate server from anywhere
including off campus, and more cohesive support of faculty curriculum projects.
Much of this can be achieved through improved communication amongst the
support groups on campus."
Lois Joy
Statistical Consultant
Smith College
ljoy@sophia.smith.edu
Student Response, Amherst College
Questions for Students
What are your learning and research needs as defined by course assignments?
Map out the range and variation, including both the content and the kinds
of resources you encounter and need.
This past year, I wrote several larger research papers of lengths between
15 and 25 pages. In order to locate materials, I used software like Infotrac
and Lexis-Nexis along with searching the Five-College library catalog and
interlibrary loan. Additionally, the class for which I wrote the 25 page
paper had its own website with listings/links to various topic-related
and possibly helpful search engines, databases, libraries, archives, and
electronic journals-- this was very good, and I know other departments
have set up similar sites. While I found immense amounts of material on
my own, the research librarians were particularly helpful in narrowing
search subjects and informing me of other research options, two especially
important things considering the number of options and possibilities available.
Interlibrary loan and special collections/ archives were the most important
to my work; the fact that those things had on-line listings accelerated
the research process. On the other hand, I was not using internet technology
to gather large samples in research or doing intense reading on-line with
ASAP, Infotrac, or Lexis-Nexis articles.
My other writing assignments were papers in the range of five to ten
pages, usually dealing with course reading. I prefer to have that reading
on paper, and buying the course books and multiliths, though a substantial
expense, is what most Amherst students do, so there is not much vying for
reserve readings. While I have never been assigned reading on-line, friends
of mine have, and the general opinion is that reading off a course web
site sucks. My reading assignments are anywhere between 150 and 600 pages
per class. The idea of doing all of that reading at a computer is not particularly
alluring. Looking at paintings on the web was part of a writing assignment
for a Fine Arts class I took, and that was okay, but most students agreed
that due to the resolution on the web, the papers were not as good as they
might have been, had we been able to look at slides (or, of course, the
paintings themselves) On the other hand, being able to look at works on
the web is better than not seeing them at all and easier than spending
class time looking at slides when the professor would rather have the students
drawing.
In class, it can be good if a professor uses a variety of media
in a presentation. I have only been in a few large lecture classes, so
I don't know exactly what to say about those. Clips from videos, slides,
music, and web sites are often beneficial additions to the lecture, though
they don't usually outweigh the effectiveness of an engaging lecturer in
making class interesting.
Meredith Weill '01
Faculty Response, Amherst College
Q. What is the course content and what are the pedagogical approaches
for which you want to draw on technological resources? Map out the range
and variation, including both the content and the kinds of resources you
encounter and need.
The course is titled "Self and Society: An Introduction to Sociology."
It is required for sociology majors, and typically, it serves as a first
course for many non-majors who are interested in the sociological approach
to things. Typically, course enrollment ranges from 75-110 students, half
of whom are in their first semester at Amherst College.
Basically, the course introduces students to elemental constructs in
sociology, and tries to do that at both a theoretical and an empirical/practical
level. As it is presently organized, the course is divided into three parts,
which cover, in turn, the normative dimensions of social life, social structures
and cultural practices, and mass media/information technology and the formation
of a social imaginary.
Pedagogically speaking, I am interested in using information technology,
principally internet resources and the world wide web, to supplement the
course content that is covered in assigned readings and lectures over all
three parts of the course. I would like students to access a variety of
data regarding topics that we cover in class, but also, the wide range
of relevant information found at websites, including those of newspapers,
online journals and periodicals, "think tanks," as well as numerous organizations
(including academic institutions and professional associations within them)
and individuals. Furthermore, I would expect that the discussions taking
place on selected news/user groups and other "live" communications would
be important resources as well.
I see this access to relevant information on the internet as complimenting,
not replacing, the use that students routinely make of more traditional
resources found in the Amherst College library. The idea here is to introduce
students to the new and different sources of information and communication
that are made available as a result of technology, and in doing so, to
draw them into an evaluative relation with these sources, in which they
are required, really, to assess the validity of the information available
to them, rather than taking it at face value. Obviously, this would be
strongly supported by the instructor, but a most important aspect in fostering
this critical, evaluative relation to internet resources will involve a
comparison and contrasting of these resources with more traditional ones.
Q. What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding
the use and instruction of technology? What resources are you considering
devoting to its future development?
Currently, in this particular course, my use of technology has
been limited to screening films, video clips in class, and the use of audio
cd's to play music as it pertains to topics covered in readings and lectures.
In the future, I would like first, to develop a course home page that will
enable students to access course information/documents via the campus or
Five College network. This will be completed over the summer, if not before.
(This past semester, I developed websites for my courses.)
I would like to use my time at Bryn Mawr to develop this course website
along the lines that I suggested above. That is, for the topics covered
in each part of the course, I would like to establish relevant links to
internet resources so that students can gain quick and easy access to these
supplementary materials as a way of enhancing their own developing understanding
of, say, the ways that norms work in social life, or the persistence of
social inequalities in contemporary culture, or the ways that the developments
in multimedia and information technology itself are transforming self,
identity, and the society in which we live.
Additionally, I would like to use these internet resources, in
conjunction with other library resources, as examples of a kind of information
that students can utilize in developing their own ideas for a term paper
in the course. That is, students would be encouraged to develop their ideas
for a course term paper in such a way that they not only used internet
sources, but more importantly, incorporated into the paper a critical assessment
of the validity of these resources vis-a-vis other, more traditional
scholarly sources that typically serve as the basis of their research.
Ron Lembo
Professor of Sociology
Amherst college
ralembo@amherst.edu
Librarian Response, Amherst College
Q. What specific resources in the social sciences do you think would
best contribute to or support student learning in the classroom? For each
full-text database, index or other web-based information ;source, explain
briefly how it could help expand the students' critical information gathering
skills.
This question is, at first glance, impossibly sweeping. Certainly the
most interesting and challenging aspect of recent developments in the production,
storage, and dissemination of information is that consumers (faculty, students,
and librarians) get so many choices - choices of formats, media, sources,
and points of view. In fact, preparing students to make well-informed,
thoughtful choices must be the focus of the collaboration in this project.
Therefore I will limit my answer to the context of Ron Lembo's Sociology
11 (Self and Society).
Redesigned to incorporate a larger technology-based component, the
course will require that the students learn to distinguish between primary
and secondary sources. That is, ideally they will learn to draw a distinction
between the websites and databases selected by the Library and websites
not pre-judged or pre-selected by librarians and/or faculty. Fulltext databases
(for example, Expanded Academic ASAP and LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe)
can provide primary documents which embody the issues and trends the students
study as well as critical commentary on those issues. Likewise, websites
created by interest groups may become primary objects of study for the
students while other web-based sources may focus on critiques of the politics
and agenda of those groups. The same search engines that help students
reach one kind of source can help them find the other as well. The Amherst
College Library's website has a table of search engines to offer students
and faculty choices for their searching. The Library also offers discipline-oriented
webpages of academic sites selected by librarians. Recommended metasites
may often provide launching pads for web searching as well.
This course focuses on convincing students of the value of using
information in many formats and media. With a greater emphasis on technology,
it will continue that approach. To find theoretical and other academic
studies, students can use the local online library catalog as a key tool.
To make judgments about what to use from the Library's collection, they
will depend on their professor's recommendations, literature reviews such
as the online Annual Reviews, scholarly encyclopedias in the Library's
reference collection, etc. A wide selection of online indexes such as Sociological
Abstracts and Social Science Abstracts from FirstSearch or Expanded Academic
ASAP or Academic Universe will support this course.
In cooperation with Ron Lembo and other members of the team,
librarians will concentrate on instructing students in identifying and
evaluating sources of information. Students should learn to discriminate
among conflicting approaches and opinions at the same time they learn to
chart the course of their own research.
Q. What roles and responsibilities do librarians on your campus currently
assume regarding the instruction in the use of electronic information sources
in support of student and faculty research?
Librarians have assumed several responsibilities:
a. At the invitation of faculty, they give presentations on research
techniques to classes - often, depending on the class content, with an
emphasis on electronic sources.
b. They offer individual instruction in electronic sources to students
and faculty.
c. They cooperate with Amherst's IT in a Mellon-funded technology-in-teaching
initiative for faculty - giving instruction about the Library's discipline
oriented webpages, electronic journal collections, etc.
d. They also actively publicize the library's electronic services to
the whole campus.
Q. What goals do you have for collaboration with faculty, students,
and information technologists in the field of electronic information?
As more courses place on emphasis on electronic sources, especially
on information on the Web, faculty, librarians, and technologists all recognize
that students must hone their ability to evaluate sources and make informed
judgments about their relevance to their projects. Particularly in a course
like Ron Lembo's Sociology 11, those judgments must not be reduced to good/bad
or academic/nonacademic or even reliable/unreliable. Instead students must
look at websites, for example, and determine what group or organization
supports the site and for what purpose. They must learn to "read" political
points of view and social messages. Their evaluation of technology and
its products must become increasingly sophisticated. Librarians can help
students develop the skills needed to reach the goals of a course like
Sociology 11. The goals in this case are established by the faculty member
and advanced by librarians and technologists.
Margaret Adams Groesbeck
Head of Reference and Online Services
Amherst College Library
magrosbeck@amherst.edu
IT Response, Amherst College
Q. What technologies could enhance student and faculty research/teaching/learning?
Include a brief description of the technology and a brief explanation of
its potential usefulness.
For Ron's Sociology 11 (Self and Society) course, students' use of
the Web, both in accessing and evaluating web-based information and in
producing web sites could enhance the teaching and learning process. We
may also explore use of the EndNote bibliographic tool in supporting the
library research work students undertake in this and other Sociology courses.
Q.What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding
the use and instruction of technology?
Curricular Computing Services provides a series of seminars for faculty
using technology under the Mellon Foundation Teaching and Technology Grant.
The grant is entitled Pedagogical Strategies for Web-Based Learning at
Amherst College. Pedagogical issues are at the center of each workshop.
We have introduced a template-driven web site management tool, CourseInfo,
this past year and we are very encouraged by its enthusiastic reception.
Sixty course web sites have been in use this spring semester in comparison
to 27 course web sites in the fall semester. We are finding that faculty
are experimenting with the pedagogical implications of class discussion
boards, drop boxes and online testing techniques, features previously unavailable
on this campus network. It is a time of growth and experimentation with
technology and pedagogy.
In addition to an emphasis on web course sites, Curricular Computing
is introducing a campus wide subscription for EndNote, the bibliographic
management tool. Initial training is being in offered to faculty in May
and another session is scheduled for August.
Q. What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
Both the web emphasis and the EndNote introduction offer multiple opportunities
for collaboration between IT and Library. A pilot E-reserves service is
starting this fall. It is being introduced as a service for faculty already
using the CourseInfo course management software. We will continue to enrich
the existing strong relationships. We will continue to use every available
chance to facilitate communication and collaboration between IT and the
library, between IT and faculty, among faculty members using technology,
and between and among students and members of all of these groups.
Q. What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
Good will, time, energy, and grant funding for student internships
to assist faculty in developing course-based applications.
Mary McMahon
Director, Curricular Computing Services
Amherst College
mgmacmahon@amherst.edu
Student Response, Hampshire College
What are your learning and research needs as defined by course assignments?
Map out the range and variation, including both the content and the kinds
of resources you encounter and need.
My learning and research needs as a psychology student in the
social sciences are fairly straightforward. For courses such as Social
Psychology, I needed access to different studies on the topic of whatever
I chose to focus on.
Online search engines and access to the five college catalog
were crucial to first finding applicable articles and then physically locating
them. For my Statistics course work I needed access to data that had been
collected online as well as access to computers with statistics software
inside and outside of class. For Cognitive Psychology the professor set
up a part of her web site for us to submit reaction papers on. We were
responsible for submitting them and subsequently critiquing our classmates'
papers online. We also were required to be subjects in two experiments
related to our class material. Half of the experiments that were options
were online and the other half were associated with the UMASS psychology
department. This is about the range of variety my coursework and research
has encompassed thus far.
What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
I would like to see more social science classrooms involve the
internet as a tool for simplified communication. Submitting papers and
critiquing others' papers was much easier online than if my Cognitive Psychology
class as a whole had to deal with first turning papers in and then switching
off twice. Using the internet as a resource expedites parts of the learning
process so class time can be used for learning the material. Also, educational
measures about the technology that is available to aid research are effective
but perhaps not widespread enough. A fair amount of students aren't aware
of ways they can access tools like the search engines from convienient
places such as their rooms or the computer labs. Increased integration
of technology and education about said integration seem to be worthwhile
goals for this forum.
mmf98@hampshire.edu
Faculty Response, Hampshire College
Questions for Faculty:
What is the course content and what are the pedagogical approaches for
which you want to draw on technological resources? Map out the range and
variation, including both the content and the kinds of resources you encounter
and need.
Technological resources should be of relevance to all courses
in the social sciences:
(1) At the simplest level, new technologies can facilitate communication
and save time and resources. It is, for example, more convenient and efficient
to post course materials, and to have students share reading responses
or essays in an electronic forum, than to produce and distribute multiple
copies on paper. More important, however, "asynchronous conferencing" expands
the time and transforms the emotional and intellectual climate of "class
discussion."
Once participants overcome any initial resistance to the medium,
the system produces very satisfying results in the classroom and in interdisciplinary
faculty seminars. Overcoming resistance is essential: Some people evince
a dislike for computers out of simple ignorance and pigheadedness. Others
may have more justified reasons for discomfort. In either case, we must
address the complaint. See, for example, Paula Lackie, "The Paradox of
Paperless Classes," Social Science Computer Review, 16 no. 2 (Summer 1998):
144-57.
(2)More important still is student research: Our curriculum stresses
individualized inquiry and a solid understanding of concepts and methodologies
over mere acquisition of content. In the age of the Internet, it is all
the more important that students know not only how to locate, but how to
discriminate between, sources (various media and degrees of intellectual
authority).
To offer a more concrete illustration drawn from my field, history:
New media and communications systems are putting unparalleled resources
at the disposal of students and faculty. No longer does one have to travel
to another continent or even another town to view an important document
or a work of art. Students need, however, to understand the selection or
filtration process: e.g., Not all sources will be converted to the new
media. The absence of a source from the digital realm does not deprive
it of value. The most recent source is not necessarily the best. Contrary
to what some might expect, the new information environment makes librarians,
like teachers-as advisers, rather than gatekeepers-more rather than less
important.
(3) The ultimate goal is to enable students and faculty to become
active shapers as well as wiser users of new technologies, which can be
used in the classroom and beyond. In the first phase of the introduction
of a new technology, the tendency is simply to appropriate or transfer
forms familiar from the old one. Ultimately and ideally, however, a technology
must develop genres appropriate to the medium. Effective use here entails
taking full advantage of the possibilities of hypertext by combining multilayered,
textual and graphic, primary and secondary materials in a package that
allows both searching and copying.
I thus work with two basic principles in mind:
1) Students must be conversant with new information technologies
if they are to live comfortably and wisely in our world.
2)Being conversant should imply understanding as well as familiarity.
This means (a) understanding the nature (functions, strengths, and weaknesses)
and context of a given technology; (b) being able to historicize it. Students
and faculty alike should come to see our new information age or digital
revolution as a point on a continuum rather than as a sharp departure.
Critical reflection on our sources and systems of information, no less
than on our methodologies, should be part of every sound education.
What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding the
use and instruction of technology?
As an interested amateur (but no expert), I try to keep abreast
of new developments. In order to apply them judiciously in the classroom
and on faculty projects, I work closely with our Internet Coordinator and
Systems Manager.
What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
I myself collaborate fairly frequently with colleagues in other
areas of the College, and from other schools in the consortium, on projects
that apply new technologies (web, CD-ROM) in teaching.
Paradoxically, perhaps, my division of the College is the one
least familiar with and least interested in new technologies. The reasons
are unclear, but certainly include run-of-the-mill fear, ignorance, and
laziness or overextension. Arguably and more serious, however, this group
also displays a certain self-satisfaction and inertia; it lacks intellectual
energy and cohesiveness.
Still, I have seen some remarkable transformations, and the reason
is simple: If we can demonstrate to people that a new resource is useful,
many will in fact come to use it. Not surprisingly, new faculty are generally
more open to or conversant with new technology. My hope is that a core
group of interested faculty, working closely with computing staff, can
(a) educate the rest of our division; (b) develop a set of resources that
will make the application of new technology both worthwhile and convenient.
What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
I hope to be able to use grant money from existing initiatives
in order to encourage efforts that will bridge our miniature version of
the digital divide. We should create interdisciplinary courses on media
and communications. More important, perhaps, we should see to it that components
dealing with these issues are incorporated into courses in other fields.
James J. Wald Hampshire College
Associate Professor of History School of Social Science
Project Director, Amherst, MA 01002-5001
Hampshire Center for the Book
Librarian Response, Hampshire College
1) The content of the class and the research goal of the individual
student determine the way we teach the use of resources. Most assignments
demonstrate how to use information to support or influence a thesis rather
than just to find a citation or a particular fact. For example, a class
on psychology would not simply look at PsycINFO but would want to pursue
a particular idea and discover where it might lead. As a result, this approach
to the gathering of critical information skills instruction is based on
need and interest on the part of the student and is not an abstract library
exercise.
2) Librarians are currently responsible for teaching classes in the
use of electronic information as part of the first year experience. In
addition, they are responsible for consultation and referral to students,
staff, and faculty.
3) Librarians goals are to create a more seamless realationship between
faculty, students, and information technologists in the field of electronic
information. It is our hope and plan that over the next few years as electronic
resources continue to proliferate, we will develop a way of working so
that easy access to information will not lead to abandoning evaluation
skills. For years the librarian was the portal to information; now the
computer is the portal. Librarians need to find ways to help people discriminate
between the sources of information and find the best ways to search. Although
computers create easy access they also make evaluation more important,
but more difficult.
Dan Schnurr
Social Sciences Librarian
Hampshire College
Information Technologist Response, Hampshire College
What technologies could enhance student and faculty research/teaching/learning?
Software evolves constantly and it is difficult to pin down specific
applications but I am exploring the following technologies, each of which,
I hope, will address several needs:
1. Asynchronous conferencing
Web-based discussion space that enables students and faculty to extendand
initiate discussion outside of the classroom. Unlike a distributed mailing
list, this technology creates a sense of place, a sort of classroom outside
of the classroom, where groups can record their findings and share information,
as well as participating in more involved discussions. A transcript of
the learning process is created, which can be used for evaluation. Collaborations
with other institutions and virtual "visits" from individual experts are
enabled.
2. Integrated course websites
Using an intranet and a data-backed web server, a searchable "one-stop"
system is created whereby faculty may post syllabi, contact information,
and resources, as well as linking to a virtual discussion where appropriate.
The data-backed interface means that knowledge of HTML (the markup language
needed to create a webpage) is minimized and data is highly integrated
and archived in a timely fashion. The main advantage over independently
maintained websites is in information architecture and usability, increasing
the ease with which students will find and use the information.
3. Standardized basic technology
This is not a technology as such but, rather, a way of presenting technology
to novice users. It is an attempt to draw boundaries around commonly-used
software (netscape, Eudora, etc) and to provide appropriate instruction
and training that establishes a basic level of technical competency a user
needs to do basic research/teaching/learning and attempts to limit how
much the user needs to learn in order to be able to function in a technologically
fast-paced environment.
4. Evaluation software
An intranet is used to increase the efficiency of the student evaluation
process. Evaluations are transported and stored electronically, platform/format
incompatibilities are eliminated, and the information is stored in a secure
database that enables authenticated access by appropriate students and
faculty.
What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding the
use and instruction of technology?
I respond to faculty needs on a one-to-one basis, helping individual
professors to develop web-based resources and interactive functions that
support their teaching. I help professors to identify peers or students
who can help them to increase their technological capability, through networking
and small gatherings. I help novice and advanced users to explore the potential
of email and web browsing technnology.
At the systemic level, I work with students and our system administrator
to develop the technological infrastructure that enables or will enable
the technologies I mentioned above.
What goals do you have for collaboration in this area? What resources
are you considering devoting to its future development?
I have developed strong relationships with individual faculty
members through specific projects but I need to do more outreach in the
faculty community to make sure I identify their needs and how I might best
serve them. Going to school meetings, attending faculty events, introducing
myself to new faculty, are all a critical part of this process. I also
wish to work more closely with the administrative assistants in the School
of Social Science, who are very knowledgeable about the technological challenges
facing individual faculty members.
We have a number of very talented students on campus and I am
working to develop partnerships with these students to help develop key
applications such as searchable course descriptions and data-backed website
technology. Finally, but very importantly, I hope to collaborate with my
counterparts in other institutions, who are facing the same technological
challenges.
In the interests of developing collaboration, I am structuring
my own time to incorporate networking, relationship-building, and outreach.
Ideally I would spend 30% of my time on these activities but this is extremely
difficult in a severely understaffed department.
Abby Schoneboom
Internet Communications Coordinator
Hampshire College
aschoneboom@hampshire.edu
Faculty Response, Vassar College
Q. What is the course content and what are the pedagogical approaches
for which you want to draw on technological resources? Map out the range
and variation, including both the content and the kinds of resources you
encounter and need.
Vassar social science faculty use information technology in two ways:
(1) for teaching and assignments, and (2) to teach on information technology
as a subject of empirical inquiry. These entail two different sets of needs.
For (1), which is widespread among the social sciences, faculty
access the Internet for databases, existing research, and search engines
to supplement their lectures and discussions. Increasingly faculty require
students to use these on-line resources for their own assignments, which
often entails pointing them to (and therefore knowing beforehand about)
the URLs where they can find data. (For example, in my Urban Theory course,
I might have them analyze the class bias of Jane Jacobs' planning perspective
in _The Death and Life of Great American Cities_ by having them retrieve
demographic data about her 1960 Greenwich Village research site from the
US Census or, more likely, another researcher's website.) Along these lines,
faculty needs are generally content-based: a conveniently centralized portal
for databases and instruction on how to use on-line research resources.
Several IT technologies are also useful in teaching social science
methods beyond the usual statistical packages that are standard in economics
and political science departments. For example, scanners and optical character
recognition (OCR) software that can transform text and images into electronic
characters are valuable for electronic archiving and analytical manipulation
(e.g., the sociological method of content analysis, which is currently
taught in Vassar's sociology methods course). Also, digital cameras can
be very useful in teaching visual anthropology and sociology. Along these
lines, faculty needs are first infrastructural in nature, entailing department
or college access to scanners, digital cameras, and computers with OCR
and graphics software installed (my sense is that college-wide access to
this equipment is not sufficient when a whole classroom of students has
been assigned to use these technologies). Faculty could also benefit from
staff or others who could instruct students about how to use these technologies.
For (2), which is a much more limited phenomena, faculty teach
the social organization and consequences of the Internet and other information
technologies. For example, in my "High-Technology and Society" course,
I access the Internet for websites by IT firms, research consortia, government,
public-private partnerships, and other entities engaged in the production
of information technology and the economic development of companies/regions.
An anthropologist is teaching a course on "Technology and the Music Industry"
and has obtained a technology grant to set up a sound recording lab that
students will use for their own projects.
Since these entail teaching students a technology "literacy"
informed by faculty's individual research and methods, faculty's needs
along these lines are idiosyncratic and mostly infrastructural. Most generally,
this means having access to classrooms with laptop projectors. Faculty
with more specialized technological needs (e.g., in the "Technology and
the Music Industry") generally apply for individual teaching or equipment
grants, either through Vassar's Computer Information Services or academic
foundations like the Mellon Fund.
Q. What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding
the use and instruction of technology?
As stated above, faculty with specialized technological needs
(e.g., in the "Technology and the Music Industry") generally apply for
individual teaching grants for the purchase of these technologies. Several
faculty also turn to the Vassar library, Instructional Media Services,
and Computing Information Services for workshops on how to learn about
and subsequently teach this IT literacy, although it is uncertain how this
training filters down to other faculty and subsequently department's curricula.
Q. What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
Several Vassar faculty are currently launching a Media Studies
Development Project (MSDP) to investigate the development of an interdisciplinary
Media Studies program by 2001-2002. For the next year, the MSDP's plans
are to convene a faculty seminar, with regular guest lecturers and periodical
workshops on course development. Currently, the MSDP's agenda appears to
be shaped largely by (1) Computer Science faculty whose pedagogical interests
are largely straightforward and (2) humanities faculty who are increasingly
interested in teaching "cyber-literacies" quite literally. By contrast,
guidance by social science faculty in this Media Literacy Development Project
has, to my knowledge, been minimal so far. There seems to be no consensus
or common directions on how social science faculty can use information
technology to qualitatively transform their teaching beyond classroom exercises
and teaching.
Q. What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
See above for Vassar's pending Media Studies Development Project, probably
the most important effort along these lines. While faculty with specialized
technological needs generally apply for individual grants to purchase technologies,
department-wide technology initiatives appear to be less common. As many
faculty still use antiquated versions of Macintosh computers, there is
much anticipation for Computing Information Services' new "cycle year"
initiative, whereby computer upgrading will be consistent within departments.
The new Computing Information Services initiative has also sparked some
interest in other department-wide technology procurements. For example,
I recently submitted grant proposals (as of yet unanswered) on behalf of
the sociology department to purchase a scanner, digital camera, and OCR
software for the pedagogical purposes described above.
Leonard Nevarez
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Vassar College
lenevarez@vassar.edu
Faculty Response, University of Massachusetts
Q. What is the course content and what are the pedagogical approaches
for which you want to draw on technological resources?
I believe that all pre-service and in-service teacher educators
should be taught by instructors who make good pedagogical use of appropriate
technology in their own classrooms, including the creation, acquisition
and exchange of information.
I also believe that all pre-service and in-service teacher educators
should be exposed to courses or workshops that provide the opportunity
to acquire the necessary skills to use technology and related software
and/or materials in pedagogically appropriate ways.
Thus, college and university instructors should be exposed to
courses or workshops that provide them the opportunity to acquire the technical
and pedagogical skills necessary to use technology and related software
and/or materials in pedagogically appropriate ways.
The campus Office of Information Technology faculty and staff,
University library faculty and staff, and college/school/department administration,
faculty and staff, need to work together to achieve these goals.
Q. Map out the range and variation, including both the content and the
kinds of resources you encounter and need.
Teachers at all levels need facility with the standard software
applications for word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation
tools, and WWW navigation that helps them mine and put to good use the
vast resources of libraries and other resources. They also need to be made
aware of, and develop skill with, the use of appropriate software applications
that enhance the learning and teaching of specific course content.
Q. What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding
the use and instruction of technology?
I teach introductory courses in all of the above. I am involved
in the development of a Master's level program in educational technology
that is just getting under way.
Q. What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
At present our school has no requirements for course work that
provides students the opportunity to acquire the technical and pedagogical
skills necessary to use technology and related software and/or materials
in pedagogically appropriate ways. I am looking forward to a healthy discussion
and exchange of ideas for getting greater numbers of faculty and students
on board the 21st Century Technology Express!
Q. What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
Whatever the limits of my time and energy permit and the administration
are willing to commit.
Bill Masalski
Professor of Mathematics Education and Educational Technology
University of Massachusetts
william.masalski@educ.umass.edu
Librarian Response, University of Massachusetts
Q. What specific resources in the social sciences do you think would
best contribute to or support student learning in the classroom? For each
full-text database, index or other web-based information source, explain
briefly how it could help expand the students' critical information gathering
skills.
We recognize that students are demanding more online resources
that are full text. They want to be able to access the information on their
computer in the comfort of their dorm room or apartment. It has become
one of our goals to develop ways to not only provide that type of access,
but also to set up some way to instruct students to go to the library web
page first and to other internet sources as supplementary material. Statistics
at the reference desk have been declining dramatically over the years,
so we are developing initiatives that will take reference and instruction
services to the students and the classrooms.
To answer the first question I will list some of the resources
we subscribe to in the social sciences that we feel support student learning
and then I'll discuss what initiatives we are undertaking to expand students'
critical information gathering skills.
Although we still subscribe to the print indexes and abstracting
services for the social sciences, we are slowly dropping those to purchase
online databases. I will not list the print resources, but only the social
science electronic resources (fewer than what we have in print). Unless
specified, they are citation and abstracting databases.
1. America History and Life: North American history, 1964-
2. Boston Globe: Comprehensive full text coverage of Massachusetts
business and economy, 1980-.
3. CAB Abstracts: land use, agriculture, rural sociology, tourism,
etc. 1993-
4. Center for Research Libraries: collections include more than five
million volumes of research materials rarely held in North American libraries.
5. ComAbstracts, communications, 1980-
6. Contemporary Women's Issues (full text)
7. Dun and Bradstreet Million Dollar Database: Covers 1,260,000 U.S.
leading public and private businesses.
8. EconLit (economics worldwide, 1969-)
9. Electric Library: (full text) over 6 million 100% full-text documents
from six different media sources updated daily
10. ERIC (education, 1966-): We will be subscribing to the full text
documents component of the database (currently on microfiche).
11. Ethnic NewsWatch, the U.S. ethnic presses, 1993-
12. Expanded Academic ASAP: scholarly and general periodicals, some
full text, 1980-
13. General BusinessFile ASAP: business periodicals, some full text,
1980-
14. HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index , 1970-
15. Historical Abstracts: history, non-U.S. and Canada, 1969-
16. IDEAL: 250+ full text journals, 1996-
17. JSTOR: full text backfiles of 100+ scholarly journals
18. Latin American Database: news and educational service on Latin
America
19. LegalTrac: law journal article citations, 1980-
20. LEXIS/NEXIS Academic Universe: thousands of full text titles in
law, news, business, and reference, 1980-
21. PAIS International: international public policy, 1972-
22. Project Muse: Johns Hopkins UP full text journals-recent.
23. PsycINFO: psychology, 1887-
24. SocioFile (Sociology and related fields from 1974 on-)
25. Sport Discus: sports science, physical fitness, 1975-
26. Sports Business Research Network (full text sporting goods equipment
market reports, trade magazines, newsletters, consumer market statistics)
27. Standard and Poors Net Advantage: financial information
28. Statistical Universe (indexes 5,000 federal statistical publications,
1000 state and nonprofit publications, 2000 international publications.
Links to full-text in public domain.
29. Stat USA (full text of business, trade, and economic documents
from 15 U.S. government agencies. Includes government periodicals, books,
import/export statistics, and market reports.
We will continue to add more databases and full text resources.
Providing access to library resources, however, is not, in itself, sufficient.
In addition, we are committed to developing web pages for each subject
area that can be used to support the curriculum for that discipline. We
have begun designing pages that include the course assignments and the
library and Internet sources that should be the first point of reference
for that particular assignment. These web pages are products of direct
and ongoing communication and class visits with faculty in the discipline
and are tailored for each course. Librarians attempt to insert critical
thinking and evaluative aspects with the resources and during their presentations
to the classes. A main objective for our library is to publicize our services
and be so connected with the departments that students will always go to
"their" subject web page first.
Other initiatives we are undertaking are developing web modules
for information literacy. One is a series of modules geared for the freshman
and sophomore that could be used individually to teach about the world
of information, books, journals and evaluating resources. The other is
a web course to be offered for credit geared towards juniors that teaches
more of the sources and functions of information in society.
Q. What roles and responsibilities do librarians on your campus currently
assume regarding the instruction in the use of electronic information sources
in support of student and faculty research?
Currently all subject specialists assume responsibility for teaching
information sessions when requested by someone from their constituency.
We tailor classes to the needs of each group and consistently spend the
bulk of our session on electronic resources (how to effectively search),
as well as selected web sites of importance for that subject area. English
112 classes are coordinated by our Library Instruction Coordinator. We
also set up independent research consultations and workshops for database
and Internet searching.
Q. What goals do you have for collaboration with faculty, students and
information technologists in the field of electronic information?
We would like to expand upon our ability to be a "team" with
the others and be proactive, rather than reactive, in our desire to bring
the information to the students and faculty, regardless of their location.
To do so will require much more contact with these individuals prior to
the semester, in order to develop appropriate web pages that will support
the curriculum for each faculty member.
Another dilemma is that many of our students do not have OIT
accounts and are not able to access our library databases if they are not
in the library, even though they are students here. Easier access for students
out of the area also needs to occur. Librarians have not interacted much
with staff from OIT. Currently, the librarians have been learning web applications
by themselves without much support. It would be a real asset to have a
stronger connection with OIT for support, rather than looking elsewhere,
as we now do.
Lori Mestre
Education Reference Librarian, Interim Co-Head of Reference
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
lori.mestre@library.umass.edu
IT Response, University of Massachusetts
Q: What technologies could enhance student and faculty research/teaching/learning?
Network delivery of materials opens up opportunities for students
The Web (and other TCP/IP-based network services) are making
it much easier to get materials into the hands of students when and where
they are most receptive to learning. This not only makes possible "distance
learning" opportunities for non-traditional students with special geographic
and scheduling limitations, but also enhances the learning of the resident
student who may have a learning style that works best outside the traditional
limitations of building hours, classroom schedules, and daylight.
Network-based communication tools can move interactions beyond
the classroom
The variety of ways people can exchange text-based messages over
networks is transforming the way students and faculty communicate. Email,
bulletin-boards, chat rooms, and instant messages all create opportunities
for group collaboration, critical thinking exercises, and discussions outside
the context of a classroom. At our office we work a great deal with email
distribution lists and course-management tools such as WebCT.
Interconnected Internet-based resources provide simpler access
to related materials
The nature of the Web now makes it possible to interconnect content
and resources instantly. This makes it possible to create a context or
viewpoint for related materials and provide the students a framework on
which to hang their understanding. Students can even add to these collections
of materials. The challenge is educating the students (and faculty) to
question and review the credibility of online information sources.
Software and hardware is making it easier to create increasingly
complex teaching materials
The variety of creative desktop software and hardware available
these days allows anyone with a minimum of technical training to create
teaching materials that were once too expensive to produce. Color images,
graphic diagrams, audio, video and even interactive computer programs can
be produced and distributed to students relatively easily.
One challenge of this is training the producers of these materials
how to make them effective and high-quality enough to be credible to today's
media-savvy students. The other challenge is making the creation process
accessible enough and convenient enough that faculty will feel comfortable
(even enthusiastic) about adding this to their long list of teaching tasks.
;At our office we are currently focusing on the creation of Web
pages using WYSIWYG-ish Web creation software. We also provide support
in the use of Photoshop, Illustrator, Powerpoint and similar software.
In the near future we will begin offering faculty support in the creation,
editing and distribution of digital video on the Web. The data analysis
group in Academic Computing provides services related to using computers
in statistical data analysis. We offer consulting on all aspects of statistical
data analysis including the preparation of data, choosing an appropriate
analytical technique, choosing and using statistical software, and interpreting
results.
On-the-fly assessment tools can provide feedback on instructional
goals to students and faculty
Online quizzes, self-tests, and other tracking mechanisms give
important information to faculty and students on which messages are getting
through and which pedagogical goals are being met. This allows faculty
to make adjustments in class if key concepts are not being grasped by the
students. This also gives students feedback if they personally need to
make adjustments in their studies. We use WebCT to provide these tools
to our client faculty. Other areas on campus are using homegrown solutions
such as OWL or DUCK.
Q: What roles and responsibilities do you currently assume regarding
the use and instruction of technology?
As an evangelist, I prepare materials and presentations that
encourage faculty to begin to use technology in the classroom, or consider
new applications.
As a planner and navigational designer, I consult with faculty about
their specific topic and help them discover the best ways to structure
the content and which technological tools would be most appropriate for
their audience and their pedagogical goals.
As a graphic designer, I help faculty (who do not have the skills or
time) create visual designs that are appropriate to their topic and that
can capture the attention of their (media-savvy) student or peer audiences.
As a project coordinator, I help faculty find the resources that
they need to complete projects: technical training, access to equipment,
students who can help with production work, and people with special skills
who can help make their wild ideas into concrete learning tools.
As a trainer, I help give faculty the skills they themselves need to
use the specific technologies and produce materials. My key goal in this
role is to give them the confidence to be self-sufficient and excited about
using the tools. I also train the students of faculty who want them to
have a certain level of proficiency with a tool being used in the class.
The Academic Computing unit within OIT at UMass takes the role
of supporting faculty as they incorporate technology into their teaching.
We provice one-on-one consultation, workshops, project support, student
training, and research into new technologies and their pedagogical implications.
The Office of Information Technologies (OIT) at UMass, in addition
to services provided through its Academic Computing unit, supports and
maintains a good deal of the technological infrastructure at the University
of Massachusetts. This includes: internet connectivity, local networks,
web servers, email servers, specialized servers, help desk support, computer
labs, software support, hardware support, special projects, administrative
databases, and the entire phone system for the university.
Q: What goals do you have for collaboration in this area?
The best service I can give to the faculty I work with is to
know what is available and what is possible. Connecting with people in
related areas at UMass, the Five Colleges and other institutions helps
me give my clients a more complete view of what is possible and who is
available to help.
Our office tends to work with newcomers to technology. I am looking
for ways to connect with the faculty who are more experienced with using
technology. Creating partnerships with experienced faculty will provide
greater challenges to our office and improve our service to the newcomers.
We have begun to set up forums in which the experienced faculty present
their work to curious colleagues.
Our office is having the common problem of hiring qualified full-time
technical staff. We rely a great deal on students for our technical and
production work. Sharing ideas about attracting and developing relationships
with the best students (and finding and hiring good technical staff) is
of great interest.
In order to remain up-to-date and excited about this topic, I
look for opportunities to exchange ideas (and war stories) with others
who do the same job. Talking about common challenges and new ideas with
colleagues is the best way to stay involved.
;Our office is taking part in an UMass-wide Instructional Technology
Council that is coordinating the many areas on campus that provide similar
and complementary services.
Q: What resources are you considering devoting to its future development?
We currently spend approximately three-fourths of our time supporting
use of current technologies and one-fourth looking at upcoming technologies
and new applications. We would like to increase the amount of time we spend
looking to the future and find ways to make our support processes more
efficient.
We will be soliciting proposals from faculty and their departments
to provide them with direct assistance with forward-thinking projects and
prototypes. Assistance will range from help planning projects to giving
direct assistance in the design and production of teaching materials.
We will be developing our capabilities to deliver digital video
over the Web. We are currently ordering the necessary equipment and committing
time for staff training and experimentation. Our area will collaborate
with the other video-oriented services on campus to provide faculty with
the training and assistance they need to edit and produce their own digital
videos.
We will be evaluating and promoting software that makes it easy
for faculty to produce and post materials on the Web. These range from
simple form-based tools that create simple Web pages to course management
tools such as WebCT that make it easy for faculty to add bulletin boards,
quizzes, and other special learning tools to their course Web sites.
We will be developing ways to make intensive development tools
such as WebCT easier and more convenient to use. We have been working with
the software company and faculty who currently use the software to find
ways to clarify and streamline the processes.
We will be continuing to evaluate software and train faculty
in its use. These programs are in constant flux as new tools are developed.
We recently began replacing Claris Home Page web development workshops
with Macromedia Dreamweaver workshops. We will also be introducing workshops
that emphasize specific uses of specialized software: e.g. Macromedia Flash
for animation and Adobe Illustrator for information graphics and diagrams.
We will continue to research the pedagogical aspects of these
technologies. We have already collected quite a bit about copyright, effective
online communications, and the best use of online quizzes. Future topics
include visual information design, writing for the Web, understanding interactivity,
and appealing to different learning styles. We present the results of this
research through our workshops, special presentations and a series of online
tutorials.
We will continue to develop our data analysis group. In addition
to staying current with the frequent updates to the most popular software
that we support (SAS, SPSS, Minitab, SYSTAT, and JMP), the most exciting
developments are focused on integrating statistical software and Web technology
to create dynamic, Web-based databases. We are also concentrating on improving
the visualization of data through collaboration between the data analysis
and the graphic design specialists on staff.
Fred Zinn
Multimedia Applications Designer
University of Massachusetts
zinn@oit.umass.edu.edu