Technology in Teaching Award Winners
2007/2008 Technology in Teaching Award Winner Announced!
2007 Elizabeth Roe
Assistant Professor of Nursing Elizabeth Roe is this year’s Teaching with Technology Award winner. Roe was recognized Dec. 7th in the Emeriti Room, where she demonstrated many of the same technologies she uses with her students. In addition to supplementing her PowerPoint presentations with web links, video, audio clips, and instructional games, VSpace is extensively integrated into each of Roe’s courses. Roe also allowed those at the reception to experience use of the CPS Audience Response System, which allows her to quiz students instantaneously on their understanding of subject matter. The remotes interface with computer software to compile quiz and survey results.
The highlight of Roe’s presentation was her demonstration of “SIM MAN,” a high fidelity, computer-driven Mannequin which allows Nursing students to conduct thorough physical assessments and collect realistic data. Abnormal heartbeats, cardiac arrests, and various respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia can be simulated to evaluate how well a Nursing student administers proper care. The human simulator can even respond verbally to various medical procedures and carry on a conversation with a Nursing student as if they were a real patient. Virtually every medical procedure performed can be replicated on “SIM MAN.”
Roe emphasizes that all of the technologies available to faculty are merely tools to use for enhancement of the educational process for students.
“A guiding principle I use when deciding whether or not to integrate a new technology is ‘how does it facilitate learning?’ It should not be used simply because students expect it or that it is an easier way to teach material.“ Roe has taught at SVSU for over 17 years.
2006 Jennifer Bridges - (top)
One of my favorite things to do with technology is to personalize it and tailor it specifically to my students and the courses that I teach. I have used a variety of software programs to create several CD-ROMs to address difficult or unique teaching/learning issues. One CD I created, titled "Plane Jane," has a variety of brief video clips I narrated to demonstrate the use of the "Plane Jane" anatomical model (which I designed for Denoyer Geppert Science Company). The Plane Jane CD also has links to special kinesiology/biomechanics websites, a video of my students performing a song that helps students to learn about movement terminology and anatomical planes and axes, a 3-D animated rotation of the model, and a series of .pdf documents available for instructors and students, with answer keys.
Another CD was created to help teach fundamental movements, proper stretching and strengthening techniques, with techniques for learning how to teach group aerobics, as well as a bones and muscles animation quiz for Physical Education Teacher Education majors.
The Wheel started as a diagram in one of the textbooks used for Physical Education Teacher Education majors (Graham, Holt/Hale and Parker, 2006). From that diagram I created a tool that has been made into a handheld teaching/learning manipulative published by McGraw-Hill Higher Education as an ancillary with the textbook, an animated electronic manipulative available at the online learning center website of the textbook at McGraw-Hill Higher Education Publishers, and as a giant 4' x 4' visual/manipulative model. I also created, with Dr. Ables-Weiller of University of North Texas, a comprehensive CD-ROM that includes video of school children performing a variety of fundamental movements, with a series of task analysis activities. The Wheel is also a central theme to this CD that is an ancillary to accompany the Children Moving 7e textbook by Graham, Holt/Hale and Parker.
I have taught more than 30 courses using VSpace, incorporating unique power-point presentations with lots of animated and color pictures and characters to link the course textbook and lectures.
2005 Sally Shepardson - (top)
This year's "Teaching With Technology" Award Winner, Sally Shepardson, was nominated by a student for her regular integration of technology into her lectures and lab sessions. Shepardson not only incorporates PowerPoint visuals into her standard lectures but also illustrates various concepts using experiment-specific software via laptops during her labs.
Shephardson has taught at SVSU for 13 years. "There were two compelling reasons why I started using these technologies about six years ago," Shepardson explained. "I found my GenEd students often came in with minimal background in Biology and needed the type of visuals I could easily integrate into PowerPoint, which helped them to better comprehend the terms specific to this field and build the necessary vocabulary." Presentation software, she added, also helps organize her lectures with simultaneous text and illustrations so students subsequently become less overwhelmed by the concepts presented in the class.
The hands-on software she uses in her labs has also led to better understanding of the topics she covered. "While I have only anecdotal evidence to point to, it became obvious the best way to help students understand vital concepts such as cell division was to show the movement of chromosomes with specialized software." Static images from a textbook, she discovered, were not nearly as effective. Other subjects, such as biodiversity loss and air pollution, cannot be easily replicated at the lab bench and require computer simulations to fully study the relevant dynamics. "I quickly learned that this provided a much better learning experience for my students." In the future, she would like to add software which will allow nursing majors, pre-med and pre-dental students the ability to conduct physiological experiments.
Shepardson exposes her more advanced students to the Electron Microscopy Research lab, a unique opportunity for students at a teaching institution such as SVSU. Here, once electron micrographs are generated using the microscopes, her students can use computers to digitize the images, quantify data, and conduct image analysis.
Shepardson encourages other faculty to "get started" with whatever tools might be specific to their curriculum, adding that there are a number of dedicated IT staff willing to assist in the process. "I was really hesitant at first," Shepardson explains, "but I found that students are forgiving and are willing to overlook the inevitable glitches that occasionally occur." Besides, she says, "There's a great deal of expertise on this campus to assist faculty."
2004 Laurie Reed - (top)
Using technology to reach the stars has occurred for centuries. Galileo was among the first to use the telescope. Other astronomers soon followed.
In 2004, SVSU Astronomy and Physics lecturer Laurie Reed has taken her technology to new heights, incorporating various innovative strategies to explore the solar system and beyond. Reed, the 2004 TLTR Teaching With Technology Award winner, showcased some of the tools she regularly employs at a reception in her honor. Reed was one of over 30 faculty nominated for this year's award.
"I have found it so rewarding to see a burst in student interest by using software such as Starry Night, Reed explains. Reed demonstrated to colleagues how the package simulates the nighttime sky from virtually any location up to 7500 years either before or after the current date. Planet and star locations are mapped out with amazing detail and accuracy. Reed says she knew she struck a chord when her adult students began telling her that their children wanted to use the software as well.
Because astronomy is visually-oriented, Reed says she cannot imagine teaching the subject without incorporating images that assist students in learning. In addition to visiting online NASA websites to display photos from the Hubble Space Telescope and the recent Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, Reed also requires her students to visit the archives of StarDate.org, a daily NPR radio program, two or three times each semester.
"The idea is to get students thinking about various aspects of astronomy and invigorate them into self-discovery." Students evaluate the radio program and write short papers based on archived transcripts of StarDate programs that aired around their birthday. "That way I don't get 50 papers on black holes," she explains.
Other popular software packages include Interactive Physics. There, users can build simulations to model physical phenomena such as gravity, friction, force and elasticity. The program makes it easy to demonstrate such complex subjects as orbital and projectile motion. Reed notes she has witnessed the proverbial "light bulb" come on in her students' eyes numerous occasions while working with that package.
While she is honored to be named the 2004 TLTR Award Winner, Reed observes that integrating technology into her courses has been a gradual process over the years.
"I think there's a misconception on the part of a lot of faculty that you have to do it all at once," Reed says. "That's when it seems overwhelming. I've had a lot of assistance over the years from people like Kirker Kranz in the Library, Mark Miller, Dan Tyger and Deb Roberts of IT Services."
For all the various tools she already employs, Reed notes that she is working to incorporate additional VSpace features into her courses. "I feel I've only scratched the surface with VSpace and want to create discussion-based assignments, incorporate more interactivity, and help my students develop even more insight into astronomy."
Just as Galileo and other innovators learned before her centuries ago, astronomy is the art of experimentation and discovery as well as exploration.
2003 Sally Decker - (top)
Sally Decker, Professor of Nursing, received the 2003 Technology in Teaching Award. Decker's presentation at the award reception was titled "High Tech, High Touch: A False Dichotomy in Education."
Decker was honored for her creative use of technology. Among the technologies Decker uses are VSpace, PowerPoint, and this semester, the challenging PIC-TEL system with Socrates Podium to broadcast to remote sites with VSpace support. Decker says her students also have accepted the challenge. In one of her classes, Decker had her students tell in Real Producer of a time when they felt they made a different as a nurse, and share it with the class of practicing nurses working on their BSN degrees.
Decker was among 32 instructors nominated for the award, sponsored by the Office of Dr. Robert Yien, Vice President for Academic Affairs. The nominations came from both faculty and students. The TLTR Action Team for Faculty/Staff Development and Incentives chooses the recipient.
2002 Lynne R. Graft - (top)
Lynne R. Graft, English lecturer, received the 2002 Faculty Award for Innovative Use of Technology in Teaching.
As a member of the TLTR (Teaching and Learning with Technology Roundtable) and the VSpace Steering Committee, Graft has contributed to the development of computer-based instruction across campus.
One of four classes Graft taught during fall 2001 semester was an actual online class ( English 212, Critical Thinking and Writing). "I began using VSpace in its beta version two years before SVSU purchased it for university-wide use," Graft said. "It was during that untutored and experimental time I began to envision one day teaching a class completely online."
"With that thought in mind, I enrolled in an online course in 'Methods of Teaching Online' in order to prepare for teaching online," she continued. "Forced back into the role of student and made to function virtually with people I did not know was an eye opener that a textbook alone could not provide."
"Planning and problem solving together created the sense of community that is so vital if students are to survive that online experience. I learned that to establish community is imperative for success in online teaching and that it is that sense of community that underpins the pedagogy of the virtual classroom and prevents students from dropping out."
The Technology in Teaching Award is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs through the TLTR Action Team for Faculty/ Staff Development and Incentives.
2001 Stephen S. Lawrence - (top)
Stephen S. Lawrence, professor of chemistry, received the first Faculty Award for Innovative Use of Technology in Teaching. Others who recived "Honorable mention" for their work in incorporating technology in the classroom were Jeffery D. Koperski, assistant professor of philosophy, and Scott Mellendorf, reference internet librarian.
"It took two years of work to bring this award to fruition," commented Lynne R. Graft, lecturer of English and a member of the Teaching and Learning with Technology Roundtable (TLTR). "Dr. Yien really helped by supporting the award and sponsoring a reception for the recipient."
Lawrence noted that he started to develop a website about five years ago as a teaching tool for his chemistry classes. "The site provides a means for students to access materials for the course, including computer programs for that course, that can be imported into Excel and QuattroPro," said Lawrence.
"The information I include in the site allows more interaction between myself and the students, and saves time and repetition in copying information for my lectures," he added. "The technology frees up the students' time, enabling them to look and listen, which enhances the learning process." In addition to developing the site, Lawence was commended for obtaining copyright clearance from publishers for learning materials that were added to the site.