Liberal arts faculty enhance use of technology in the classroom through summer I.T. institute

From re-imaging ancient Rome to building a class in the virtual world called Second Life, seven faculty members committed to enhance their teaching this summer by participating in the Liberal Arts Summer Institute for Instructional Technology Innovation.

Faculty develop creative technology projects for student success

Jeff Morris, assistant lecturer in performance studies, is building a website that his students can use to document their experiences creating electronic music and even to post their compositions.

Jyotsna Vaid and Takashi Yamauchi, faculty in the Department of Psychology, are assembling a website in which students can virtually experience classic psychology experiments to learn about the way psychologists discover how the mind works.

Steven Oberhelman, professor of classics, is assembling visual presentations for three courses, including a new seminar for freshmen who want to explore some “what ifs” in history, such as "What if King Xerxes' army had conquered Greece in the Persian Wars? How would the course of western civilization be different?"

Dave Peterson, associate professor of political science, is exploring new ways to teach stronger critical thinking and evaluation skills to his students using technology for structured peer review of student projects.

Brian Imhoff, associate professor of Spanish, is working on developing online communities in which students can interact with Spanish speakers from all over the world.

Cindy Raisor, assistant lecturer in English, is exploring the possibilities of building a virtual teaching environment in Second Life to allow her students to take on the professional roles they aspire to so that they can better learn to write for their future careers.

“Overall, I found the institute very helpful in providing the technology and pedagogical support I need to take my project to the next level,” said Raisor. “I hope that using Second Life will help my students better understand the complexities of workplace communication and that it will allow them to experience outcomes of their communication decisions beyond what more traditional teaching approaches permit.”

Workshop kick-starts projects through community learning

These seven faculty members participated in the sixth summer institute since 2003. Faculty members submit proposals which are reviewed competitively on the criteria of impact on student learning and technical and methodological innovation.

Faculty members whose proposals are selected receive a $3,000 professional bursary funded by both the Dean and their department. Stephen Balfour, director of information technology for the College of Liberal Arts, provides a week long workshop about technology and teaching with technology to kick off the summer projects.

Balfour remarks: “The initial workshop is critical to jumpstarting these projects. Not only does it give faculty access to technology tools and experts who they might not have been aware of; it also builds a supportive, interdisciplinary community for faculty to try out new teaching tools and learn from each other.”

The institute is jointly supported by the College of Liberal Arts Office of the Dean, Instructional Technology Services at Texas A&M University, the Center for Teaching Excellence, the University Writing Center and the home departments of participating faculty.

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Contact: Stephen Balfour, balfour@tamu.edu, 979.845.5165