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Special Annual Awards
2008 Campus Technology Innovators: Enhanced Learning/ Assessment
8/1/2008
Later, Camtasia Studio from TechSmith enabled synchronous and asynchronous exchanges of information among students, creating a veritable community of scientists. Instructors could follow individual contributions to group work and provide feedback and remediation on a basis more immediate than waiting to see lab reports. What's more, instructors say the clicker-style Classroom Performance System from eInstruction has revolutionized the way they give pre-quizzes.
Other technologies utilized include Microsoft SharePoint and Office, a Wacom Graphire Wireless pen tablet, an HP data video projector and TC4200 tablet PC, and six desktop PCs from Dell.
So far, Rulfs and Buckholt report that early results of these new additions have been positive. For students, the new technology has provided a sense that they are working scientists-- learning procedures, carrying out protocols, collaborating with colleagues, and building concepts based on data. For educators, the capacity to share pre-lab demonstrations has improved efficiency of laboratory teaching, freeing up instructor time that can then be devoted to pedagogical interactions with individual students.
Some of the benefits weren't even expected. Beverage says that delivering pre-lab questions with the Classroom Performance System has provided teachers with several surprise teaching and learning opportunities. In the past, pre-quizzes were given on paper, but not graded until after the lab. Deploying questions with the clicker software allows students to obtain immediate feedback and correct any pre-lab misinterpretations or misunderstandings concerning the lab, prior to conducting the experiment.
During the upcoming school year, Beverage says the methods used in the biology and biotechnology courses will be implemented on a broader scale in other laboratory-based science courses. Rulfs and Buckholt also hope to submit a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation, in order to include podcasts, wikis, and other available technologies in both teaching and project-based laboratories. Furthermore, like all of the best scientists, the educators intend to publish their findings from the project, and share their experiences with colleagues teaching other laboratory-based courses.
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