ETS Projects
Current Projects
Blended Learning
I am currently involved in the design of two Blended Learning Courses
- Philosophy 12 (Symbolic Logic)
- Mechanical Engineering (Thermodynamics)
Teaching with Technology Certificate
I am the coordinator for the Teaching with Technology Certificate, a program aimed for graduate student instructors. In this program students build a portfolio based on how they incorporated technology into their course.
Other Projects
I am also:
- the web master for the Learning Design Hub aimed for educational technologists at
- participating in a Penn State wide committee on accessibility of online courses
- a member of the planning committee to redesign the TLT Web site.
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Module Design
These are instances where I have participated in the instructional design of courses or course modules.
INART 55 Electronics Animations
One of the first Multimedia Teaching Object grants is to create a series of interactive animations in Flash for INART 55, History of Electroacoustical Music. The goal of these animations was to make principles of electron flow comprehensible to musicians.
See the MTO Electricity Page for a list of electronics animations the team completed.
3D Visualizations for Engineering
This page shows different approaches taken to the issue of three-dimensional visualization in engineering and this sciences.
Nutrition Build A Sandwich
This is a Flash based nutrition exercise in which students order a sub sandwich and see the nutritional consequences and work on the surprisingly difficult task of building the "perfect sandwich"
Composite Function Quizzes
Flash animations and quizzes were developed for this college algebra course. See the current Math 21 download page for more details.
Comparative quiz results showed a slight increase when online modules were used.
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TLT Web Sites
TLT Suggestions
These are some of the TLT Suggestions for Teaching with Technology Web sites I maintain.
- Computing with Accents and Foreign Scripts - Tips on using and developing non-English Web sites
- A Tour of Arts and Humanities Web Sites - Examples of how to use online materials in the Arts and Humanities. Selected for inclusion in the MERLOT repository.
- Building Blocks for Teams - Tips for planning and administering team projects in a course. See also the related Using Cases in Teaching. Both were selected for inclusion in the MERLOT repository.
- Teaching with Databases - Perhaps you think you don't need a database, but they are actually quite handy research tools.
Technical Documentation
I have written quite a bit of technical documentation over the past few years. Recently we have been migrating to content managment systems and exploring alternative media for training.
- Blogs at Penn State Help
- Insert Accented Characters and Math Symbols
- Creating Accessible Sites with Dreamweaver
- Grading Formulas for Excel (Revisions)
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Past Projects
This Section: Blogs at Penn State | MTO Grant Pages and Forms | Nutrition 100 | Spanish Basic Language | Swahili | Statistics 200 | ANGEL Library Tool
Blogs at Penn State
Penn State has joined the university blogging community. For this project, I helped with:
- Create and maintain Blogger documentation in Drupal
- Write Movable Type Blogs
- Facilitating support and training for the Penn State community include recording demos in Adobe Acrobat Connect (formerly Breeze)
MTO Repository
Maintain the Multimedia Teaching Object (MTO) repository including design of informational pages.
Nutrition 100 (Courseware Initiative)
Course Structure
An online version of the Nutrition 100, Contemporary Nutritional Concerns, a Gen Ed introductory course. The online version of the course will be hosted in the ANGEL Course Management System and will include:
- Weekly Practice Quizzes, including analysis of sample diet with nutritional software
- Modules in Powerpoint
- Online Project on evaluating Web sites
- Online Project on analyzing diet
Assessment
Assessment of the online course showed a slight increase in exam performance overall. The course has been offered online to approximately 75 students per semester since Spring 2003.
Some Nutrition Links
- USDA Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC)
- Arbor Nutrition Guide
- SEMDA Cultural Food Pyramids - Suggested food distributions based on different cuisines. See also Multicultural Nutrition Health
- USDA Online Nutrient Database - Look up nutritional content for a variety of foods
- Indiana State Vitamins and Coenzymes - Somewhat technical, but has diagrams
- Recipe Source - Contains recipes from many world cuisines
Selected Food History Links
- Prehistoric Diet and Nutrition Course (Indiana U)
- Food Timeline
- Native American Recipes
- Gode Cookery
- Mead Made Complicated & Got Mead?
- World Carrot Museum
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Spanish Basic Language
The goal of this course is to incorporate online workbook and communications exercises into the first three semesters of Spanish in order to increase enrollment without adding a large number of additional instructors. It is also hoped that the use of technology will improve grammar, listening and communication skills.
Project Links
Spanish Teaching Links
- Penn State Center for Language Acquisition Spanish Links
- Center for Language Acquisition CALL Links (CALL=Computer Assisted Language Learning)
- Spanish Online Radio and TV (Deborah Gill, Penn State DuBois)
- Indiana Spanish CALL Project Grammar Exercises
- CLTA Internet Activities (Webquests) for Foreign Language Classes
- CLTA Favorite Foreign Language Web Resources
- University of Texas LANIC (Latin American Network Information Center)
- Spanish Style Manuals (In Spanish) - How to write proper Spanish
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Swahili
In this project ETS collected online Swahili resources and developed Flash exercises for listening and matching. The final Penn State Swahili Web Site is now hosted by the Center for Language Acquisition. See also additional Swahili Links from the Center.
Download Swhalili Songs
Instructor Sau Lugano was able to record several Swahili songs with the help of the Faculty Multimedia Center.
Selected Outside Swahili Links
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Statistics 200
ETS worked with the Statistics Department to develop a course administration tool for a technology based introductory ab course which would help students track resources needed throughout the semester.
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ANGEL Library Tools
ETS worked with AIS and the Libraries to develop two tools which connect course specific library resources to individual courses within the ANGEL Course Management System. The two tools developed included a Reserves tool and a Library Subject Guides for different disciplines.
As of Spring 2005, the Reserves tool was used in over 700 courses at 16 Penn State campuses.
Demos
University Library Links
- ANGEL Library Reserves Documentation (University Libraries)
- Penn State Social Science Library Guides
- Penn State Engineering Library Guides
- Penn State Arts & Humanities Guides
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