Project Description:

Dr. Peter Haff’s class used Google Earth for their final project in the American Southwest (EOS 181S.01). They took a field trip to the Mojave Desert in October to study geologic features, including volcanism, tectonics, soils and weathering, paleo-lakes, wind-blown sand and dust, landslides, and alluvial fans. Prior to the field trip, the students selected biological, geological and astronomical topics to prepare for presentations in the field. At the end of the semester, students took the Earth and Ocean Sciences department (and me) on a virtual tour of their field trip using Google Earth. We followed the track of the trip to see the geological features and embedded photos and information supplied by the students. The students took turns explaining the features illustrated in Google Earth and their photos, including dunes, granite outcrops, vegetation zoning, desert pavement, dry lakes, badlands, bighorn sheep, craters, fault scarps, petroglyphs, a borax mine, relic shorelines, lava tubes and alien fresh jerky.

The students and Dr. Haff collaborated to create the Google Earth file, pooling their pictures and information. The students found that using Google Earth enhanced their learning because it provided:

• a sense of scale
• the ability to make measurements
• an overview of the area
• context for what they were seeing
• orientation.

Read more about this course in Duke Magazine.

More information, examples and tutorials about Google Earth can be found on their website; or, contact CIT for help incorporating Google Earth into your course.

Project start date: 8/25/2008

Project Description:

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) offers a certificate for Duke students “interested in documenting their expertise and coursework focused on the region.” CIT is providing funding and consulting to enable CLACS to design and implement a process for evaluating their program with Chalk&Wire’s ePortfolio2 assessment software. By adding papers, videos and other ‘artifacts’ (examples of their learning) to a structured portfolio, students will benefit from receiving more feedback and guidance from faculty and program staff. Arce hopes that this evaluation process will help to “re-structure the certificate offerings, track student progress, and measure the impact of our curriculum and extra-curricular events on the learning outcomes of our students.”

Project start date: 12/15/2008
Funding awarded:  $2750

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Deb Reisinger participated in meetings, mini-workshops, and other fellowship activities centered around the concept of ‘flexible learning‘ – specifically focused on the uses of the technology and space arrangements made possible by Duke’s new teaching and learning space, the Link.

Course overview

During Fall 2008, Reisinger taught two sections of a French course called Cultural and Literary Perspectives in the Link (one section in Classroom 3, and the other in Seminar room 1). The following lists Reisinger’s core goals of the course(s):

• Improved writing skills through collaborative learning/peer editing (in particular, the development of critical thinking skills in relation to cultural analysis)
• Improved reading comprehension skills in order to move through program and read independently at higher levels
• Nuanced understanding of cultural differences (notable in group exchanges and class discussions, assessed via oral presentations and written papers)
• More precise oral production of language, both in accuracy and in analysis

Uses of technology and flexible learning spaces

• Students created wikis to house assignments over the course of the semester. The flexible learning spaces allowed students to work collaboratively on editing these assignments during class breakout sessions.
• The classroom space, combined with on-site technology check-out and support, allowed students to receive training in their classroom, rather than in a language lab. Using technology became more fluid and integrated into course pedagogy.
• Student presentations were enhanced by easier student access to technology (video, on-site computer), which is often stalled by technological difficulties.
• Reisinger used the learning spaces to show video and project images in addition to writing on the whiteboards. Students were able to use projectors to display follow-up to group work from multiple laptops.
  
• Multiple whiteboards made classroom learning more student-centered. Groups were better able to better demonstrate their analysis by mapping out and displaying their work on the whiteboards.

Students working in groups

“As a warm-up, we began class by identifying projected images on one of the room’s white boards (paintings, literary titles, photos).  Students then broke into small groups to generate lists of well-known French  intellectuals on the board; follow up discussion included the collective creation of a definition of an intellectual,. We then returned to our seminar table (shaped like a pentagon today, which they seemed to like) and we related how their definition matched that put forth by the author of the article they had prepared, called “The Death of French Culture.” Students then worked in pairs to briefly summarize the article’s arguments, accessing the article on their laptops. In a follow-up discussion, a student secretary listed pair findings on the board, and we closed with a whole group debate about on the article’s conclusions. It was more or less a typical day, but shows how the classroom facilitates this type of classroom dynamic: it’s easy to get students writing as groups on multiple boards, to move from groups to seminar-type and back again, and to blend technology into traditional forms of classroom discussions.”

Using the Blackboard wiki

Reisinger discovered that a large benefit of teaching in the Link came from the flexibility offered by the ability to bring technology in and out of the classroom as needs be.

“This was something we used to have to go to the language lab for, but this time around, Erin rolled in a laptop cart and we were able to work right in our classroom space. The wireless was a bit slow, but I really enjoyed not having to displace the class to do this training. For me, it makes technology a part of the class and not something extra we have to go somewhere to do.”

The following video features Reisinger briefly explaining her use of wikis in her courses:

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Liliana Paredes participated in meetings, mini-workshops, and other fellowship activities centered around the concept of ‘flexible learning‘ – specifically focused on the uses of the technology and space arrangements made possible by Duke’s new teaching and learning space, the Link.

Course overview

During Fall 2008, Paredes taught the course “Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language” in Link Seminar 2. The following lists Paredes’s core goals for her course:

• To comprehend processes of second language acquisition
• To apply language pedagogy methods in correlation to second language acquisition processes and strategies
• To develop a portfolio of teaching and testing materials
• To critique, evaluate and recommend materials to be used for language teaching/testing
• To develop a second language teaching philosophy

Uses of technology and flexible learning spaces

• Provided opportunities for students to enhance teamwork, materials production and evaluation within the classroom
• provided opportunities for students to share their developing portfolio and teaching philosophy
• Used portable digital cameras (Flip cameras) to discuss crucial topics such as oral feedback in the classroom

Enhancing group work with breakout rooms

“What I really found useful at the Link were the breakout rooms; although they don’t belong to the classroom, per se, they were available to my class. I’ve used them in almost every single class and have been able to enhance group work. The whiteboard is great as well…I like my students to be able to brainstorm and use the board for that.”

Using Flip digital video cameras to capture group work

Students and faculty working in the Link can check-out several digital technologies, including the portable ‘Flip’ digital video camera. These cameras are small and unobtrusive, as well as very simple to use (one button to record) – making them ideal for use with students that want to quickly capture their group discussions.

Paredes describes her, and her students, experiences working with Flip cameras and Link breakout spaces in the following video:

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Alison Hill participated in meetings, mini-workshops, and other fellowship activities centered around the concept of ‘flexible learning‘ – specifically focused on the uses of the technology and space arrangements made possible by Duke’s new teaching and learning space, the Link.

Course overview

During Fall 2008, Hill taught the Biology of Aging course (a non-majors biology course) in Link Classroom 5. The following lists Hill’s core goals of her course:

• Students will apply scientific knowledge and methods to evaluating scientific claims presented in the mass media.
• Students will be able to distinguish between correlations and causality as this relates to claims about health and aging.
• Students will understand general concepts in genetics, genomics, molecular and cellular biology by applying these concepts to the biology of aging.
• Students will come to recognize how biology directly intersects many of the important social, ethical and policy issues they will be confronted with in their lives.
• Students will articulate their perspectives on biology and society by public speaking and writing.

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Scott Huettel (Psychology and Neuroscience) and David Smith (graduate student in Psychology and Neuroscience) participated in meetings, mini-workshops, and other fellowship activities centered around the concept of ‘flexible learning‘ – specifically focused on the uses of the technology and space arrangements made possible by Duke’s new teaching and learning space, the Link.

Course overview

During Fall 2008, Huettel taught the course “Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging” in Link Classroom 4. Upon completion of the course, students would be able to:

• Understand the basic principles of functional magnetic resonance imaging, an important technique in cognitive neuroscience for understanding how different aspects of cognition are instantiated in the brain.
• Gain the ability to critically evaluate fMRI research design and analysis methods, both in the primary literature and in self-generated projects
• Develop skills with fMRI analysis during in-class laboratory exercises.
• Develop practical experience with the completion of an fMRI experiment through the student project, which involves designing and running an fMRI study

Uses of technology and flexible learning spaces

• Used the flexibility of the classroom space to allow the integration of both lecture and laboratory aspects of the course
• Encouraged active group discussions throughout all components of the course
• Facilitated small-group interaction while planning their projects
• Took full advantage of the new technology for teaching complex new fMRI concepts and visualizing multidimensional data

To meet the goals of the course, students used wireless laptops provided via the Link’s laptop cart to access MATLAB and many specialized fMRI software applications. In the following video, Huettel describes the use of the Link’s laptops in his course:

Link tip: Huettel wanted to be able to quickly annotate projections of fMRI data. In his classroom (Link Classroom 4), the projector screen drops down in front of the whiteboard. By raising the projection screen and projecting directly onto the whiteboard, Huettel could ‘draw’ directly onto the projected image as part of his lecture.

Huettel’s teaching in the Link was also featured in a Duke News story in early Fall 2008.

As a fellow in CIT’s Flexible Learning Spaces Fellowship (2008), Susan Wynn participated in meetings, mini-workshops, and other fellowship activities centered around the concept of ‘flexible learning‘ – specifically focused on the uses of the technology and space arrangements made possible by Duke’s new teaching and learning space, the Link.

Course overview

During Fall 2008, Wynn co-taught EDU 214 (”Society, Schools and Technology”) with Hugh Crumley in Link Classroom 3. The course was designed for undergraduate students enrolled in the Secondary Teacher Preparation Program and for graduate students enrolled in the Masters of Arts in Teaching. Wynn and Crumley created course goals based on the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. Students need to demonstrate proficiency in these standards as a requirement when earning their North Carolina teaching license.

The core goals of the course were to prepare students to:

• be able to design lesson plans that demonstrate “best practices” in teaching
• use technology to support student learning
• explore technology applications typically not utilized in a high school classroom setting

Uses of technology and flexible learning spaces

Wynn’s and Crumley’s plans for using the Link’s technology and spaces included:

• using classroom technologies to teach basic HTML skills
• enabling students to create presentation files
• demonstrating uses of interactive technologies to support instruction in each student’s discipline (including Web2.0 resources)
• developing and refining an electronic portfolio (eportfolio) centered on a ‘teaching with technology’ statement
• script, storyboard, film and edit a digital story
• explore other teaching tools, such as wikis, blogs, digital images, etc

Creating digital stories

In the following video, Susan Wynn talks about class activities.

Learning about Flip cameras and YouTube

In this video, Hugh Crumley shows students how to use Flip cameras, then sends them out into the Link’s open spaces to film introductions.

Using FlipCams, students produced short video interviews and pieces that showed artworks around campus, asking questions that centered around how important art is at the university, potential spaces for artworks and how students in the campus community create and experience art.

The videos were uploaded to a public blog for the course; most of the student videos can be seen in the November postings of the blog.

ARTSVIS 54 Blog:  http://artsvis54.blogspot.com/

Connel teaches ECON 51D, Economic Principles, a very large class held in Griffith Theater in the Bryan Center.  Connel uses a tablet PC so that he can sketch and create notes while he is lecturing.  By creating lecture notes dynamically, he is able to quickly respond to student concerns and be interactive. After his lecture, students can download the notes as PDF documents from the Blackboard course site. The image below shows a portion of these notes.  In addition, both the notes and his lecture are saved using DukeCapture, which produces both streaming and downloadable files with audio and video for his students to review.  Students can select the media that best suits their needs.

Connel wondered whether posting these recordings & annotated slides would impact attendance in the class; attendance has not decreased and he is no longer concerned about this issue.  Students have responded very favorably; some have said that they watch after lecture even if they attend because they’re so busy taking notes they miss side comments which end up being important. Others have said that they find being in lectures distracting and are better able to focus on the content outside of the large lecture setting.  DukeCapture reports that lectures have 100 hits each.

Connel enjoys using a tablet PC in his teaching.  He prefers the slate-type, without a keyboard, because it is light and easy to set up. He likes using Windows Journal, because he can use a range of ink colors (and create his own for best projection), and the graph paper background assists him in drawing legible graphs during class. He uses Windows Journal on the tablet PC to produce grading rubrics for his TAs, and to quickly create sample solutions for TAs to grade student work.

see a short video from Connel’s class

Connel began by borrowing a tablet PC from the Duke Digital Initiative, and now his infectious enthusiasm has encouraged other instructors in Economics to teach with tablet PCs.

Watch a demonstration of Windows Journal on YouTube

Project Description:
Giuliana Perco is using Second Life to explore new ways for her Intermediate Italian students to engage with Italian language and culture. Taking advantage of the many Italian cultural resources that already exist in Second Life, she is developing in-world activities for her Italian courses in order to study how effective Second Life is for language instruction with virtual “found” materials. CIT is providing Giuliana with pedagogical consulting on the use of Second Life for language teaching and learning, as well as Second Life workshops for her and her students.

Project start date: 6/9/2008

Funding awarded: $400