October 24, 2007
The benefits of St. John’s University’s “Title III--Transforming
Teaching with Technology” grant program continue to ripple outward
among Queens and Staten Island faculty, as more and more are
trained to use 21st Century technology in the classroom and
beyond.
At an October 11th launch of Year 3 in the program offices in
St. Augustine Hall, Project Coordinator Bradley Shope, Ph.D.,
welcomed the assembled full and part-time faculty invitees and
provided some background on the project, stressing its two
overarching goals: core curriculum revision and faculty development
through technology. He then gave a brief history of Years I and 2
and explained that in the upcoming year they would be branching out
beyond the Scientific Inquiry Course to core-curriculum courses, in
particular, Discover New York and the Institute for Writing
Studies.
”We’re very excited about the work that Title III faculty have
done so far in re-thinking their teaching strategies in the
classroom,” Dr. Shope told the group. He then introduced two of his
team members, Activity Co-Director Maura Flannery, Ph.D. and
Education Technology Specialist Pelham Mead, Ed.D.
Dr. Flannery spoke to the group about what is meant by
“Scientific Inquiry,” ”Information Literacy” and “Critical
Thinking.” She also stressed the importance of faculty input. “We
continue to develop the program as people go through it,” she said,
“and one of your goals will be to provide more content.”
Faculty Learning Lab Demonstrates New
Teaching Technology
The benefits of podcasting and electronic whiteboards for both
faculty and students were quite evident during Dr. Mead’s
demonstration of new technology being introduced at St. John’s.
Standing at the electronic whiteboard in the newly created T³
Faculty Learning Lab (a “pedagogy-driven, technology-demonstration
classroom”) he showed how to use this new tool and explained how
new technologies are being implemented “a few classrooms at a time,
on two of St. John’s campuses.”
Podcasting is another of those. “The automatic podcasting
program we use is called ‘Apreso Classroom’,” he disclosed. “Title
III has sponsored a University-wide license to use this product on
St. John’s campuses.”
T³ technology is already benefiting students in the Scientific
Inquiry: Environmental Sciences course taught by Associate
Professor Frank Cantelmo, Ph.D., a member of the first cohort of
faculty to take part in T³. Recently he described a class he taught
in the T³ Faculty Learning Lab, where, he said, “Students felt more
comfortable and participated much more during class discussions
when I was able to ‘sit down’ with them around a cluster of tables
rather than standing in front of them or behind a podium.” And
while it was sometimes necessary to move around the classroom and
still control a presentation, he said, “a wireless device with a
built-in laser pointer that we have been evaluating this semester
allows one to freely move around the classroom and still be able to
fully control a PowerPoint presentation.”
Recently, Mead said, new technology was used to enable two
classes—one on Queens campus and one on Staten Island—to play
Academic Checkers using PowerPoint and a checkerboard image:
“Students submitted questions from the textbook for the other
campus to answer. If they answered correctly, they got to move a
checker on the projected board. It was a lot of fun.”
A Number of Tasks to Be
Completed
This year’s cohort of 15 faculty members has a number of tasks to
complete before September 2008. These include participating in
several one-to-one tutoring sessions and two three-day technology
camps in January and May, as well as developing workshops and
presentations for a Title III University-wide forum to be held
during the year. (The forum, during which a panel of experts and
faculty who have participated in the program will evaluate and
discuss the successes of the program to date, is a third-year
requirement of the $1.5 million grant from the U. S. Department of
Education’s Strengthening Institutions program.)
To date, 47 St. John’s faculty members have participated in T³.
Faculty are invited to visit the Faculty Learning Lab in St.
Augustine Hall, Room 110, for assistance with teaching and
technology issues.