Showing students how technology can benefit and advance the learning process has crept into my English 090 classroom for many years now.  By using the Course Compass course management program to teach my 090 course, I expect to further this process and make class time more productive. Course Compass is full of features, including secure user access codes, links to the Web, email, and platforms to place my own teaching materials online.  By placing everything -- every class topic and exercise, every paper requirement, every reading requirement, every year-review and evaluation document, and every due date -- on course compass, I no longer have to spend time distributing handouts, replacing lost handouts, and sending copies of assignments to the Student Support Center.  Course Compass also allows me to track my students’ progress. Because students' names are entered automatically onto a class roster when they login to the program, every attendance and grade is automatically recorded, as are the number of visits to any Course Compass document. As a result, I can easily identify the class members who need help and work with them in class, allowing other students to work on their own assignments without distractions.  Because class procedures will be far more efficient, I expect that the amount of writing that may be undertaken during class time will increase.

My goal is to design an introductory biology course that will bring about a significant change in students' attitudes about science and biology by creating a more interactive learning environment in the classroom.  To do so, I will divide normal class periods between two or three major activities.  Each lesson will begin with (1) real-life examples, allowing for discussion time; (2) multimedia based presentation of basic concepts with an emphasis on visual material (both computer-generated unconventional overhead and slides); and (3) concept mapping exercises to foster collaborative learning and summarization of the concepts presented.  With Microsoft PowerPoint 2001, I have created multimedia presentations for all topics listed in the BIO 101 syllabus, incorporating use of texts, photographs, illustrations and 29 QuickTime movies. 

http://faculty.ncwc.edu/clawrence

Because learning mathematics is "doing" mathematics, I have chosen to use The Learning Equation, an interactive, multimedia course management system for developmental mathematics, to teach Math 192J, an introductory Algebra course.  Since the course will be self-paced, The Learning Equation will be helpful in that it uses activity-directed learning with interactive feedback to engage students in the learning process, and the lessons in the software reflect diverse learning styles.  Finally, The Learning Equation’s course management system provides a means of recording and analyzing test scores and time spent working on class material materials. I anticipate that with the help of this system, the Math 192J will offer very individualized instruction, something that will help students of all abilities to meet or even surpass the objectives set for the course.

My job was to revise the College 101 course within the First-Year Program that provides first-year students with information, instruction, resources, skill-development and support essential to succeed in college.  My primary focus was on integrating more technology into the course this year and piloting an electronic portfolio project.  In the process, I adopted a WebTutor E-Pack course on WebCT that provides students with course-specific online teaching and learning tools. Unfortunately, the WebCT was unable to meet its promised release dates for the WebTutor E-Pack, so I cancelled its use and made course adjustments in late August for the fall semester.  (I now hope to test the WebTutor E-Pack during the Spring 2002 semester.) Fortunately, I was able to preserve improved technology components of the course since students had use of an interactive CD-ROM that offered exercises and activities including self-assessments, quizzes, writing, links to the Internet, and research with InfoTrac College Edition. Along with WebTutor, I obtained ExamView, an electronic testing software, for College 101 instructors who might want to test and grade course material online.  Additionally, I purchased a laptop computer for the First-Year Program, so College 101 instructors could more easily have access to technology in their classrooms. As a result of the new technology, the revised College 101 course was richer in academic content, active learning opportunities, and increased instructor freedom to cover traditional first-year topics in new, creative ways.

I concentrated over the summer of 2001 on the Justice Studies introductory course, JUS 111 (Justice, Law, and Society), in hopes of developing models for incorporating multicultural web-based technology in other JUS courses in the Social Sciences division. As part of the course, students are required to interact with Internet sites involving videographic information. In one instance, they can use video technology to explore an interactive crime scene to understand more clearly. Students are also asked to interact with instructor-built web pages while engaging in role-playing scenarios. Using the following interactive video, students can play out the role of a sentencing official in order to think more critically about the disparities of the sentencing process and the role that race plays within it. See the video at http://faculty.ncwc.edu/TOConnor/111/practicumthree.htm.