Community Examines Effectiveness of Technology in Liberal Education
dwaldron November 9th, 2008
In the fall of 2008, the College of Wooster formed a Learning Community (LC) for Assessing the Effective Use of Technology in a Liberal Arts Curriculum. The work of this group is being funded by a grant from the Ohio Learning Network (OLN). Broadly, the LC’s goal is to develop a deeper understanding of the issues that inform the use of technology in learning and teaching. Each OLN LC must have a project that is the focus of its work. The focus of Wooster’s LC is the use of a Sympodium in John Lindner’s astronomy courses and Michelle Solensky’s introductory biology courses.
The three broad goals of the Learning Community are:
- to enhance student learning
- to understand the impact of the Sympodium on the instructor
- to identify Information and Instructional Technology support needs
A number of project-related events will be scheduled throughout the year, including two workshops, one of which will be sponsored by the Five Colleges of Ohio.
Seeking multiple perspectives, the LC membership includes a diverse group of students, faculty, and staff from Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Information Technology, Instructional Technology, the Libraries, the Writing Center, and Educational Assessment, as well as representatives from the other four members of the Five Colleges of Ohio Consortium. President Cornwell attended the group’s first meeting, sharing some of his thoughts on the role of technology in higher education.
OIT is very excited to participate in the important work of this Learning Community. For further information, please contact Jon Breitenbucher, Principal Investigator of the project, or Simon Gray, project Convener.