FITS Newsletter Home

Contributed by Michael Gough, Instructional Technologist and Coordinator of Student Technology Support

New technologies and innovative pedagogies develop very quickly.  Staying current is a daunting task, even for instructional technologists. To meet this challenge FITS has a team approach for researching and sharing new ideas in technology for teaching and learning. We use the social bookmarking tool Delicious to “tag” articles and share them.  A common tag, “fitsdpu” is used whenever an article is found that could be relevant to faculty members or others in FITS.  Searching for this tag in Delicious creates a list of all the instructional technology-related articles we have tagged.  You can view this list in real time by following the link below.

http://www.depauw.edu/univ/fits/support/delfeed.asp

In addition to our Delicious feed, there are a number of publications that are very useful for keeping up with the latest trends in technology as well as teaching and learning in higher education.  Below is a short list of publications we have found to offer reliable and timely information.  While this includes only a fraction of the publications we read, this is a good representative sample.

Educause 7 things you should know about… Series

This short, online publication is published once a month and offers timely and to-the-point information about a technology trend and its implications in higher education.  In addition to describing the technology without technical jargon, most articles also include a teaching example.  Click on the link below to see an up-to-date list of publications:

http://www.educause.edu/7Things

National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE): The Daily NITLE

Edited and published by NITLE (about NITLE), this blog includes a combination of technology innovations, pedagogy, trends, and best practices in using technology in liberal arts education.

http://blogs.nitle.org/

Educause Quarterly

This online, peer-reviewed journal highlights trends, best practices, and case studies in the use of information technology in higher education from a practitioner’s perspective.  While this publication is not specific to instructional technology, many of the articles highlight implications for teaching and learning.

http://www.educause.edu/eq

ProfHacker

This blog is written from the point of view of tech-savvy faculty members and is a good resource for tips and tricks on pedagogy and technology.

“ProfHacker delivers tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education.”

http://www.profhacker.com/

Campus Technology

This monthly journal focuses on innovations in technology on college campuses.  While not always geared directly towards pedagogy, its articles often discuss larger issues in using technology for teaching and learning along with practical applications of technology.   A new practice or technology highlighted in this journal often prompts FITS to test it and discuss how it could be used in the classroom.

http://campustechnology.com/Home.aspx

Contributed by Carol L. Smith, CIO

DePauw’s current email system, Novell GroupWise and TigerMail, needs upgraded. After having spent the past year studying viable options, Information Services is recommending that DePauw move to Google Apps for Education, a free suite of hosted communication and collaboration applications designed for schools and universities.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Carol Smith, at clsmith@depauw.edu or x4287.

• Supporting Technology for Absence Preparedness
• Developing Writing and Critical Thinking Skills through the Use of Moodle Forums
• Student Technology Support
• Moodle Enhancements
• FITS Events for Fall 2009
• The FITS Faculty Coordinator Position:  The Best of All Possible Positions

Contributed by Dave Guinee, Associate Professor of Classical Studies and Faculty Development Coordinator

At the beginning of the semester Tom Dickinson, Dave Berque, and I met a number of times with FITS to discuss absence preparedness, the theme of this issue of the FITS Newsletter. It is hard to ignore the many voices out there telling us that we need to be afraid of the coming flu epidemic, and we probably shouldn’t, but none of us really want to think seriously about what a real flu epidemic could mean for us (let alone bigger issues like global warming and shrinking oil reserves). The H1N1 virus, however, is a reality, and we need to consider how we can continue to meet the needs of our students when either they or we are unable to attend classes because of illness.

As we continued to discuss the issue, however, we saw that we were really dealing with a broader and much more interesting issue. How can we employ technology simply to communicate with our students better? As Tom Dickinson pointed out, we all have to accommodate student athletes and students with family emergencies on a regular basis. Students and faculty regularly miss class because of illness. And, frankly, it would be better for students to stay home when they’re sick, keeping their germs to themselves, rather than make a brave effort to attend class because they are afraid they will miss important information. Moodle and other tools can make it much easier for us to give students the security of feeling they always know what they need to be doing and when it is due. When they miss a class, they can be sure that they will receive handouts. They can find out for themselves how their grades look. When a faculty member creates an update to provide a more thorough explanation of an assignment, they can upload it to Moodle rather than waiting until the next class. I can assure you, after having read reams of student opinion forms on COF last year, that students appreciate this kind of security. What we realized in discussing the H1N1 issue was that we need not develop drastic new procedures, but to become more conscious and intentional about things we already do well.

One thing I have found in working with the FITS staff in last summer’s workshop and in various Moodle training sessions is that they have no agenda of making us all adopt unwanted technologies. They are not the Borg, and I have not yet heard a FITS staff member claim that “resistance is futile.” They are here to help us find ways to accomplish our teaching, research, and artistic goals, and they will meet us at our level. I have been surprised to learn that quite a few faculty do not yet use Moodle for their courses. To those faculty I can only say that the investment of about an hour of training time with a FITS staff member will give you the tools to ensure that your students always have access to your syllabus, assignments, and handouts; doing this will make your classes far more accessible to those students who must miss class for one reason or another.

Would you like an easier way of administering tests to student athletes away for competitions? Ways to get more students to visit office hours? What about ways to give students an expanded explanation of a difficult concept you didn’t have class time for? Can we find a cost-effective way of having a guest lecturer appear in our classes? All of these are teaching goals that instructional technology can support, and they are all relevant both to the issue of absence preparedness and the way that work is being done in the world awaiting our students after graduation.

Contributed by Linda Martin, Coordinator of English Language Support and International Services and Part-time Instructor of English

Finding new strategies to encourage my students to develop their writing skills is always at the forefront of my pedagogy. Although I am still a novice with technological methodologies, I am becoming fond of the idea of teaching beyond the walls of my classrooms with the use of technology. I’ve always been a student of alternative approaches to education when I see a clear benefit. With continued experimentation with Moodle applications such as its Forum feature, I have found innovative ways to teach my students and extraordinary ways for them to learn, not only from me, but also from one another.

There are multiple transitions for most international (and non-native speakers) students when it comes to understanding the teaching and learning styles in a DePauw classroom environment. Often, cultural and societal traditions are still active in their mindsets and can influence their oral participation among their peers. However, I have learned that with Moodle’s Forum feature, I can minimize these inhibitors and establish a more equal rhetorical environment. Here is one example that I find most useful.

One of my strategies is to establish robust discussions related to our weekly readings. Sometimes during these classroom discussions when we have achieved a heightened level of critical thinking and expression, I observe body language among the students that can alter or even inhibit the direction of our discussions. Who is really going to express themselves about the topic in front of their peers? Who would dare say something less than totally flattering about his/her government or even about America’s government? So, I created the Readers’ Discussion Forum. In this required weekly discussion group, teams are created for each week consisting of either three or four students – depending upon the total number of students in the class. The team members decide which role each will play: Initiator – the one who initiates the discussions; Provocateur – the one who stimulates the discussions with probing comments or questions; Summarizer – the one who reads and captures the essence of everyone’s comments and identifies the thread(s), or main ideas that connect the responses. Questions are developed by the team and sent to me by Monday morning of the week the readings are to be read and discussed. This means that a team must be “ahead” of the rest of the class in their reading of the materials. I review the questions to ensure that they will promote thoughtful and stimulating responses. All week, students are posting their responses to the questions as well as replying to each other’s responses.

What are some of the benefits of this type of teaching and learning? Students are comfortable writing from their own laptops; they can be reflective and take the time to compose more thoughtful responses than when speaking in an in-class discussion; they learn to respect other perspectives even if contradictory to their own personal values; they practice their writing skills; absences do not cause obstacles to completing their assignments or to miss interacting with their peers; active participation is guaranteed. In addition to developing critical thinking and enhancing writing skills, technological skills are also developed that can be applied later in different situations.

As an educator, I see an embedded value that I cannot always accomplish in the classroom – a level of intellectual curiosity that is cultivated through writing in a discussion format, which could also happen with our students who are native speakers of English. Through the use of forums, I have found that students’ thinking processes are enhanced by and developed through these extended opportunities for communicating and writing. Because classes are determined by time block parameters, time is a factor that limits group discussions and it can diminish both a charged discussion and/or the epiphany of a new concept. However, in the Moodle Forum, a student can continue to express himself/herself and other students will respond accordingly. It becomes an ongoing conversation throughout the week in and outside of the classroom.

I believe there are numerous pedagogical benefits to using technologies that allow us to extend beyond the walls of the traditional classroom. As these technologies become more sophisticated, staying familiar with them and their proper uses will allow us and our students, in general, to benefit from expanded learning opportunities.

Contributed by Michael Gough, Instructional Technologist and Coordinator of Student Technology Support

Student Technology Support (formally START) offers curricular-based technology support for students in the form of training workshops, open labs and one-on-one consultations for all courses on campus. We invite you to call upon Student Technology Support for assistance with curricular projects. If you are interested in having a workshop, open lab or specialized support provided for your courses, please contact me soon, so we may discuss your plans. We’d love to help your students!

We also support students with the use of technologies that can reduce the impact of multiple absences from class. Many of these technologies may require some initial training for your students in advance. That is, an ill student may not feel well enough to learn how to use a new technology, so demonstrations or workshops on these technologies should be scheduled as early in the semester as is feasible.

If you are planning technology-rich student projects, we are here to help answer your questions, such as:

Do students have access to the software tools required to complete the project?

• A listing of software sold with student university laptops is located at: http://www.depauw.edu/univ/laptop/LaptopFAQ.asp#Whatisincluded. Please note that Adobe Dreamweaver is no longer included but is available in the labs.
• Students may also freely download additional software tools at: http://www.depauw.edu/it/helpdesk/downloads/
• Remember to require students to have these programs installed before the class time it is needed (Student Technology Support can help students with this).
• If you would like to utilize software that is not listed on these web pages, please contact me at michaelgough@depauw.edu to discuss possibilities.

What kind of technology help and software training can my students receive?

• Students can get general technology support from the Help Desk in the Union Building, lower level.
• Student Technology Support can provide software training for your students. We are located in the Digital Media Lab (dml) on the lower level of the Roy O. West Library. Student Technology Support is also co-located with the Help Desk.
• Visit http://www.depauw.edu/it/student/ for our hours, scheduled workshops and more information.
• Students may email helpdesk@depauw.edu or StudentTechnologySupport@depauw.edu with questions.

Where are labs with curriculum-specific software for my project?

• A listing of computer labs and available specialized software is here: http://www.depauw.edu/it/labs

Please contact Michael Gough (michaelgough@depauw.edu) or visit FITS if you have any questions related to Student Technology Support (http://www.depauw.edu/it/student/).

Contributed by Lynda S. LaRoche, Assistant Director of Instructional & Learning Services (I.L.S.) and Moodle Support Coordinator

This past spring FITS researched the possibilities for a Moodle upgrade and presented the options to the Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) for their recommendation on behalf of the Faculty. After studying these possibilities, ATAC formally endorsed an upgrade to Moodle 1.9.5 to be effective for the 2009/2010 academic year. This article highlights several feature enhancements plus behind-the-scenes improvements that refine the performance of Moodle.

Behind-the-Scenes Improvements:

• Major performance improvements with forums
• Server-side optimization that improves scalability and performance
• Security enhancements
• Updated default settings based on faculty feedback

Researching and implementing Moodle upgrades are ways FITS partners with faculty members to offer the most appropriate instructional tools for university teaching and students’ learning. We encourage you to share your suggestions and concerns with us because your experiences can help us improve our resources.  Please ask us for help in discovering new uses for Moodle technologies!