mgardzina July 23rd, 2009
The Department of Instructional Technology is pleased to welcome our new intern, Jedidiah Rex. Jedidiah is currently finishing a masters degree program in Instructional Technology at Kent State University and expects to graduate in December. Most recently he completed a practicum experience at Valley Christian Academy where he served the school by working in the technology lab and taught some technology courses. Jedidiah also has extensive experience as a music educator both in class settings and private instruction. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Malone College. At Wooster, he will be providing support to faculty and staff in their use and implementation of technology in the curriculum and instruction. He will also manage the updated Taylor digital media lab and provide support for the general operations of the Instructional Technology department. Welcome, Jedidiah!
dwaldron May 6th, 2009
Steve Ehrmann, one of the founders of the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group, recently visited the College of Wooster. On April 7, Steve delivered a public talk entitled “Greater Expectations for 21st Century Learning: Implications of Information Technology for the Nature of Education at the College of Wooster.” Steve’s talk was part of the series of events associated with our inaugural Instructional Technology Month.
Steve earned undergraduate degrees in aerospace engineering and urban planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in management and higher education, also from M.I.T.
QuickTime is required to view the video. To do so, launch the QuickTime application. Choose the “Open URL” option from the “File” menu. Enter the URL “rtsp://helix.wooster.edu/Ehrmann.mov” and click “OK.” Please note that the video can only be viewed from on-campus locations. The slides Steve used during his presentation can be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/djplnq.
dwaldron April 16th, 2009
The Instructional Technology Faculty Fellows Program is a new program for any member of the campus community whose continuing contract has a teaching component. The dates for the program are May 18-22, 2009. The goals of the program are to increase the number of faculty taking advantage of Web 2.0 and other technologies in their teaching and scholarship, to familiarize faculty with tools and project types with which Instructional Technology can help, and to help faculty learn how to assess technology projects. Participants will also be expected to develop a project to be implemented in one of their Fall courses and to participate in continuing dialog throughout the Fall Semester.
The Program seeks to select a diverse group from all level of teaching experience, technology use, and project implementation and across all disciplines. Successful applicants will be expected to attend all sessions, must be willing to communicate to their department and campus the projects and tools with which they are working, and must be teaching a course in the Fall of 2009. Upon completion of the week-long portion of the program participants will receive a certificate, designation as a Faculty Instructional Technology Fellow, and half of the $1500 stipend (deposited into a research account awarded to the participating faculty member). The second half of the $1500 stipend will be deposited to participants’ research accounts upon implementing a project in one of their Fall 2009 courses.
Applications for the program will be accepted until midnight on April 26. Applicants will be notified about the status of their application not later than 5 PM on May 6. Further information about the program is available from Matt Gardzina, Director of Instructional Technology.
dwaldron April 6th, 2009
Professor John Lindner has made his YouTube debut. In his video, he demonstrates the use of a sympodium. In the course of this, he also explains how Eratosthenes, before 194 BC, determined that the earth was spherical and estimated its circumference with remarkable accuracy. Professor Lindner’s demonstration was conducted in conjunction with the work of Wooster’s learning community studying the pedagogical effectiveness of the sympodium device. The learning community’s work is funded by a grant from the Ohio Learning network.
Follow this link to view the video.
dwaldron March 28th, 2009
April has been designated Instructional Technology Month at the College of Wooster. Don’t miss these opportunities to see interesting new technologies and the exciting ways in which College faculty are using technology to enhance student learning.
- Audio Projects
Wednesday, April 1, 12:00 - 1:00
Kauke 143
Matthew Broda and Megan Wereley will present their use of podcasting in the classroom.
- Teaching Matters — Writing with Technology
Friday, April 3, 12:00 - 1:00
Kauke 238
Bill Macauley and Matt Gardzina will present on writing with technology.
- Changing Shape of Education: Roles for Technology
Tuesday, April 7, 11:00 - 12:00
Kauke 243
Steve Ehrman of the Teaching, Learning and Technology Group will present a lecture on this topic.
- Video Projects
Wednesday, April 15, 12:00 - 1:00
Lean Lecture Room
Angela Bos, Karen Taylor, and Amy Jo Stavnezer will present their use of video projects in the classroom.
- Web Mapping
Friday, April 17, 12:00 - 1:00
Lean Lecture Room
Instructional Technology will present web-based mapping tools such as Google Earth and census mapping and how they might be incorporated into the classroom.
- Sympodiums
Wednesday, April 22, 12:00 - 1:00
Mateer 001
Wooster’s OLN learning community will present its findings on the usefulness of the SMART Sympodium for classroom use.
- Horizon Report Panel Discussion
Wednesday, April 29, 12:00 - 1:00
Mateer 001
Join us for an open conversation about the annual New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report which focuses this year on mobile devices, geo-mapping and more.
dwaldron March 17th, 2009
Instructional Technology is pleased to announce a new Faculty Fellows Program to begin this summer. Beginning with a week-long session and continuing in the fall semester, the Fellows program will provide an exciting opportunity for a group of faculty working together to infuse new instructional technologies into the curriculum with the goal of improving teaching and learning. New technologies, such as blogs, wikis, social software, social bookmarking, geographical mashups and other Web2.0-type tools offer faculty the opportunity to encourage a more active, participatory role for their students. These tools make it easier for faculty to adopt different pedagogical approaches such as student-centered and active-learning models that encourage students to solve meaningful problems and reflect on their thinking processes. The Fellows program provides an opportunity for faculty to try out new technologies and pedagogical approaches and discuss their value with trusted colleagues.
Funded with a grant from the Hewlett-Mellon Presidential Discretionary Fund for Institutional Renewal, faculty participants will be eligible for a $1500 stipend (deposited into research accounts). Any faculty member who has a continuing contract with a teaching component will be eligible to apply.
More information will be available from Instructional Technology in early April.
dwaldron November 10th, 2008
Instructional Technology and The College Libraries are excited to be hosting eFest, an event showcasing new technologies for faculty and students to enhance instruction and learning. The event will take place on Wednesday, November 12 in Lowry Center from noon until 3 p.m. All members of the College community are invited to attend. Information and demonstrations will feature touch-screen monitors, woodle, RSS readers, Artstor, MDID, Endnote, ILLIAD, and many other tools. Attendees may enter a drawing for door prizes, including USB Rocket Launchers, USB flash drives, and an iPod Touch.
For more information, please contact Instructional Technology by email at Instructional_Technology@wooster.edu or call x4722.
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.
dwaldron August 12th, 2008
Instructional Technology will be holding introductory training sessions for our course management system (Woodle) on the following dates:
- Wednesday, 8/13 at 10:00 a.m.
- Thursday, 8/14 at 2:00 p.m.
- Wedensday, 8/20 at 2:00 p.m.
- Thursday, 8/21 at 9:00 a.m.
- Wednesday, 8/27 at 4:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, 9/2 at 4:00 p.m.
These sessions, designed for instructors or staff who have not previously used Woodle, will present the basic features of creating a course site. Attendees will leave the session having been shown basic Woodle tools, how to configure a course site, add documents, upload files, email students, and find help if necessary. The sessions will last about one hour. For more details, please contact Jon Breitenbucher (x2207)
Jon is also available for individual consultation for anyone with specific questions about Woodle features or desiring more in-depth training. We look forward to helping you get your courses up and running.
dwaldron July 24th, 2008
The Office of Information Technology is delighted to welcome Matt Gardzina as our new Director of Instructional Technology. Matt comes to us from Washington & Jefferson College where he served as Senior Instructional Technologist. Prior to his tenure at W&J, Matt worked as Academic Technology Consultant at Duke University. Matt earned his MA in Modern European History at The Catholic University of America and earned his undergraduate degree at St Lawrence. Matt’s office is in room 211 of Taylor Hall. Welcome, Matt!
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| Matt Gardzina |