Ameritech Fellows summer forum showcases technology in teaching

By Marsha Waren

Interacting with distant library patrons through a Virtual Reference Desk, teaching surgical nursing online, delivering online training to manufacturing companies, inviting discovery-based learning with geometry software, using Web-based resources to bridge the gap between the history classroom and scholarly research, and teaching children how plants grow through interactive science museum activities—these represent just a few of the projects that faculty demonstrated at IU’s second annual Ameritech Fellows Summer Forum in June. Here’s a look at the participants with Web sites and E-mail addresses.

• Brenda Burk of the IUPUI University Library is blending the convenience of the Internet with the “information smarts” of the library’s reference staff by developing “Instant Librarian,” a virtual reference desk that allows librarians to interact with patrons over distances. Librarians can “push” relevant Web pages to the patron’s browser window, escort patrons around the Web, and help them search databases, all while communicating by online chat or phone.
(bburk@iupui.edu or
InstantInfo@IUPUI.edu)
http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/vrs/home.html

• Elaine Cooney of the Department of Electrical Engineering Technology at IUPUI is combining Oncourse, videos, projects and on-site mentors to deliver training to the employees of electronics manufacturing companies. Employees take advantage of this convenient on-site training to upgrade their skills, thus increasing their productivity and employability.
(eccooney@iupui.edu)

• Roger Hangarter, a professor of biology at IU Bloomington, wanted to convey to students his own fascination with how plants grow. The result is a set of digital time-lapse movies, “Plants-in-Motion,” that engage students in the step-by-step process of plant growth. Hangarter is also adapting the movies for an interactive activity to be used at Bloomington’s Wonderlab Science Museum.
(rhangart@indiana.edu)
http://sunflower.bio.indiana.edu/~rhangart/plantsinmotion.html

• Marchusa Huff, a faculty member in Environments for Health, part of the IU School of Nursing, is developing a Web-based course to teach nursing practices in the operating room. The course incorporates photography, video, animation and sound to teach concepts that are difficult to convey in a textbook alone. According to Huff, who spoke at the forum, “such an effort requires an accessible, reliable technical infrastructure, such as Oncourse.”
(mnhuff@iupui.edu)

• In his project, “The Internet and Face-to-Face Go Head-To-Head,” Thomas Keefe, an IU Southeast business professor, assessed the effectiveness of Internet-based teaching versus traditional classroom-based instruction. Keefe is using statistical analysis and control group comparisons to evaluate Internet instruction and the courseware that delivers that instruction.
(tkeefe@ius.edu)

• IU Northwest faculty member Vesna Kilibarda employs the Geometer’s Sketchpad software to invite active, discovery-based learning on the part of students. Kilibarda’s in-service workshop, “The Implementation of Dynamic Geometry Software in a Problem-based Learning and Academic Service Learning Environment,” teaches mathematics teachers how to use the geometry software’s interactive graphical capabilities to teach concepts, such as reflection, that are difficult to teach with a textbook alone.
(vkilibar@iun.edu)
http://www.math.iun.edu/vesna/amgrant/Grants.htm

• “Teaching the ‘Journal of American History’” bridges the gap between the history classroom and scholarly research by creating online lesson plans focused on current articles in the Journal of American History. Joanne Meyerowitz, an historian on the IU Bloomington campus, includes comments by article authors among the classroom and Web-based resources she provides for her students.
(jmeyerow@indiana.edu)
http://www.indiana.edu/~jah/teaching/

• In his project, “Unique Opportunities: Using Distance Technology to Facilitate Access to Special Topics Courses,” former IU East faculty memberRandall Osborne redesigned his interactive video course, “A Biology of Mental Illness,” to make it available via the Internet. His new course eliminates the need for specialized distance education classrooms, thus opening it up to a much wider range of students. Osborne was represented at the forum by Joan Lafuze of the IU East Department of Biology. Lafuze is also an Ameritech Fellow, having received an award in the third, and most recent, round of funding.
(jlafuze@indiana.edu)

• “The way a sociologist approaches things, the way a scientist writes—it’s completely different from what a historian does.” That insight led IUB history faculty member David Pace to develop a Web-based “History of the Future” course so that students can master the basic skills needed to succeed in history courses in general and “History of the Future” specifically.
(dpace@indiana.edu)
http://www.indiana.edu/~futhist/CoursePortfolio

• Glenda Westmoreland of the IU School of Medicine is developing Web-based modules to address the shortage in geriatrics training for medical professionals. Westmoreland’s easily accessible online modules can be used by medical residents to learn about the specific issues and challenges related to this fast-growing age group.
(gwestmor@iupui.edu)

• IU South Bend faculty member Benjamin Withers uses leading edge multimedia technology to teach art appreciation. Withers worked with computer graphics faculty and students at the Purdue School of Technology at South Bend to apply the latest advances in multimedia to his art appreciation class. The result is a Web-based art history course that has already succeeded in increasing student interaction with the images and ideas presented in the class.
(bwithers@iusb.edu)
http://www.southbend.tech.purdue.edu/arthistory/