Site Visit - De Paul University's Advising Center

Rafael Iglesias with Jon Lewis, Component II Director

Title III supports 1 year/1 course release time for faculty to develop technologies for teaching and learning. Linda Crafton, Julie Dugger, Larnell Dunkley, Pete Seely, Jack Thornburg and Martin Tracey were awarded release time January - December 2001. Linda Crafton, Rafael Iglesias, John Kloos, Luigi Manca, Al Martin and Tom Wangler have been awarded release time beginning January 2002. Students Malvika Shah, Jan Poepping and Radhika Shah will be assisting.

Malvika Shah, Jan Poepping, Radhika Shah	Tom Wangler, Al Martin, John Kloos

... and Accomplishments

Pete Seely discusses projects in his department: The Communication Arts Department has been very active in their pursuit of new frontiers for Title III and technology-related projects and courses. In the Spring of 2001, the department officially piloted COMM. 381-Multimedia Production for the Web. As a result, students created a variety of interactive websites, including a tour of Turkey, a visit to Japan, a virtual resume, and a Communications Department website. These and other projects from an earlier multimedia course were highlighted at the Title III Open House last November.

2001 also saw the debut of an online version of the Candor at http://www.ben.edu/candor. It's expected that as more students become proficient in the related technologies, a regular e-version of the Candor will begin appearing.

Peter Seely is currently working with Title III student Tom Swift to develop three web sites. One is an Eye of the Eagle site, where clips of each show will be available for downloading from a special Eye of the Eagle page. The page will also feature links to faculty members and portions of student projects. He is also working on a web page for his course, COMM. 317-Mass Media Law and Ethics, and a page to correspond with his 1998 video documentary titled, Those Magnificent Miles. The documentary was an hour-long historical tour and travelogue throughout 800 miles of Illinois. The web page will feature video and stills from the documentary, and stories and history from the video.

Julie Dugger describes how her involvement in the Title III project has impacted one of her courses:
The Research Writing Online class will be making extensive use of WebCT and other online resources this semester. The working premise for the class is that a writing course is ideally suited to the online environment because writing is the most common way many people communicate online. If all goes as planned, students in the class will meet in person during only 4-5 class sessions over the course of the semester, but they will meet frequently online via the WebCT Discussion tool, which will be used for class brainstorming sessions and small-group peer critiques. Class lectures will be replaced by assigned readings from a course textbook on writing, and student comprehension of these readings assessed using online quizzes. Finally, the World Wide Web itself will replace the standard "content" textbook for Research Writing sections. That is, rather than using supporting materials from a textbook (essays, articles, etc.) to supply the topics for student research papers, students will be asked in several of their writing projects to choose these materials themselves by researching and evaluating appropriate online sources. Hopefully, using the web to find "content" will result in a writing course that is more tailored to students' individual research interests than a standard textbook course could be.

Future Opportunities for Faculty

Release Time: The grant project targets Core and Basic Skills, as well as three program areas - Education, Communication Arts and Nutrition. During the first two years of the grant release time was awarded in those targeted areas. Participation will be more widespread in years 3 - 5 when release time will be available for 10,10, and 12 faculty respectively, with faculty from all disciplines encouraged to participate.

Summer Workshop: Plans are underway for offering one week of technology training to 8 faculty. To be scheduled early in the summer, the workshop will feature training in use of digital cameras, course management software, etc. Participants will be expected to make use of this training to modify or improve a course they are scheduled to teach in the fall. Compensation for participants will include a stipend, lunch, and charming company.

BenU Live Tested

BenU Live — Real Time Schedule Information was launched during Summer 2001 and had its first real test during the Fall 2001 advising period. BenU Live can be accessed through the Quick Jump menu on the University home page. Modifications to the existing "package" will be made so that it better serves our adult and graduate population, without detracting from what it currently provides.

Additional Classrooms EEC'd, with More Coming Soon!

BK 218 and KN 135 have been Electronically Enhanced with a networked PC, document camera, VHS player and cabling for a laptop computer, all connected to a high quality ceiling mounted projector. This brings the number of EEC'd classrooms to six.

During the Spring 2002 term KN 125 will be Electronically Enhanced, and "Mini-EECs" will be installed in BK 225 and Krasa 015. A Mini-EEC will provide a permanently installed, networked laptop with DVD player, a ceiling mounted projector and an extra connection to accommodate an instructor's (or student's) laptop.

Consultant Steve Ehrmann Visits Campus

Steve Ehrmann (Vice President of The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group and Director of the Flashlight Program for The Study and Improvement of Educational Uses of Technology) visited the campus on Friday, November 16 and had meetings with President Carroll, Academic Vice-President Mary Daly-Lewis, and several people involved with the Title III project. He also attended a meeting of faculty developing the newest Cultural Heritage course, HUMN250 The Contemporary World, where he contributed ideas on the importance of addressing key learning goals in several courses over a protracted period of time, described valuable approaches to learning on other campuses involving new teaching technologies, and emphasized the importance of grafting things we want students to learn onto things they already know.

Other Project Activities

• WebCT and Dreamweaver Users Groups were formed. Each met monthly over lunch to discuss and demonstrate experiences with the software.
  
  
• WebCT, Dreamweaver and Flash workshops were offered.
  
  
• An Open House was held in KN 145, the Title III lab and Training Room. New technology tools, including digital cameras, Quicktionary's language translation pen, Handiscope's hand held microscope, and materials for assisting in the development of 360 degree panoramic photos and virtual object manipulation, were displayed and demonstrated.