Examples of UM Faculty Using Technology in Teaching

Alphabetical list of faculty members [1]

---

Using the Web to Promote Experiential and Collaborative Learning

Using Multimedia in Classroom Teaching

Using the Web for Students to Publish Projects and Research

Using Web-based Training, Tutorials, and Simulation to Engage Students

Using Technology Tools and Teaching Strategies to Promote Active Learning

Using Online Tools to Promote Interaction and Engagement with Course Content

---

For additional examples, click on the "Faculty Using Technology" tag at the bottom of this page.

Using the Web to Promote Experiential and Collaborative Learning

• Susan Alcock (salcock@umich.edu [2]), Associate Professor of Classical Archaeology and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, teaches courses in classical archaeology and classical civilization in which undergraduates engage directly with artifacts in the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology on campus. In courses such as 'Food in the Ancient World' and 'Death in the Ancient World', students select and research objects, and then design an exhibit for the public. Sometimes the show is 'real' (with objects actually on display in the Kelsey) and is then transferred to an online exhibit. Other times, the exhibit is exclusively Web-based. Three examples are: "Animals at the Kelsey", which can be found at www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Animals/about.html; [3] "A Taste of the AncientWorld" at http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/Food/text/Food.html [4]; and"Death on Display in the Ancient World" at http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/Death_on_Display/ [5].

   

• Bob Bain (bbain@umich.edu [6]), Assistant Professor, School of Education, uses Virtual Curator and Virtual Expedition electronic tools to support students' use of museum objects and to learn history. The Virtual Curator begins with the director of the Henry Ford Museum posing a problem to students, asking for their help in reviewing a number of primary sources to help the museum reconstruct one of the houses it purchased for Greenfield Village. The Virtual Expedition supports students studying history and/or science by creating the opportunity to explore a number of houses on the grounds of Greenfield Village. These tools were developed in the Primary Sources Network project, a collaboration between the Henry Ford Museum, Henry Ford Academy, Melvindale Schools, and University of Michigan's Center for Highly Interactive computing in Education (hi-ce).

   

• Scott Moore, (samoore@umich.edu [7]), Associate Professor, of computer and information systems at the Ross School of Business, is able to make difficult subjects accessible through the use of technology. Moore developed a series of resources for students in his classes and also made them available to anyone developing applications, especially those at the Business School. He has designed courses in which students actively engage in projects based on real-world examples, sharing the experience through blogs and wikis.

   

• MaryFran Sowers (mfsowers@umich.edu [8]), Professor of Epidemiology, teaches Epidemiology 552: Chronic Disease Epidemiology. This course provides students with a hands-on experience in accessing local, state, and national public health databases and interpreting the data they find. Students are assigned to a public health jurisdiction in Michigan in order to serve as consultants to the local public health personnel. Their collaboration involves utilizing health data gleaned from the databases, while also accessing the course's UM.CourseTools web materials, in order to better understand public health issues in their community. At the end of the course, students write a grant proposal to secure resources that will address the problems identified during the study of their public health jurisdiction. To view one of the public health database sites used in Sowers's course, go to http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/epidem.html [9].

   

• Joe Trumpey (jtrumpey@umich.edu [10]), Associate Professor, School of Art and Design, expanded an existing course, Scientific Illustration Field Sketching, to create an interdisciplinary, online collaborative program called Eco-Explorers that combines science, art, and environmental education. The course is currently listed with the School of Art & Design and School of Natural Resources and Environment. During each winter term, U-M students enrolled in Trumpey’s course compare and contrast a Michigan ecosystem and a distant system in order to research, study, and sketch the native flora and fauna. Students collaborate with K-12 classrooms around Michigan via a distance learning project that combines an interactive website and online discussions with personalized classroom visits. To view the Eco-Explorers website, go to
  http://www.art-design.umich.edu/ecoexplorers/ [11]

Back to Top

Using Multimedia in Classroom Teaching

• Larry Gant (lmgant@umich.edu [12]), Associate professor, School of Social Work uses time enabled geographic information systems (GIS) to convey visual aspects of space, place, and time to undergraduate and graduate students in social science departments and professional schools. Students in program evaluation, HIV/AIDS, and social policy courses use GIS to "visualize" the impacts of disease propogation, document the geographic impact of community level programs and interventions, and observe visual (intended and unintended) impacts of social policy, e.g. changes in criminal activity due to reductions of police officers or consolidations police precincts in urban areas. GIS also allows students to visualize the "what if" consequences of real policy and policy simulations. Visualising changes over time (months, years, or decades) allows students to understand and witness the impact of time on policy changes, population changes, and infrastruture development of neighborhoods, communities, towns, cities, and regions.

   

• Thomas Gest (gest@umich.edu [13]), Associate Professor of Anatomical Sciences, oversees the creation of web-based courseware for UM medical students enrolled in the Medical Gross Anatomy course. Through the creation of web-based streaming movies that feature demonstrations, instructors and background text, Gest has provided students with the opportunity to easily preview and review the procedures for performing dissection exercises. Gest's comprehensive website for Gross Anatomy is used within the anatomy labs at UM, as well as by others in the field of health science. To view the Gross Anatomy website, go to http://www.med.umich.edu/lrc/coursepages/M1/anatomy/html/home.html [14].

   

• Melissa Gross (mgross@umich.edu [15]), Associate Professor of Kinesiology, teaches the basics of motion analysis in Movement Science 330. Students learn to analyze human motion by capturing movements of their choice on videotape and then transferring the images to digital format on the computer. Once in digital format, the students conduct biomechanical analyses to determine the essential elements of human motor performance and then post their projects on the course website, which can be viewed at http://www.umich.edu/~mvs330/map.html [16].

   

• Josephine Kurdziel, (josephak@umich.edu [17]), Lecturer IV & Assistant Research Scientist in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, teaches several introductory biology courses using various teaching strategies and technology to actively engage students in large lecture classes. To foster student participation and insure that students actively engage with the material, Kurdziel uses an audience response system whereby students respond to questions posed throughout the lecture. In doing so, the students apply concepts to new situations, predicting the outcome of a simulation, interpreting a graph or chart, or voting their opinion on biological controversies. The instructor is immediately informed of which concepts the students are having trouble mastering, making the large class feel smaller. Kurdziel plans to expand her use of this technology to the biology majors’ introductory course in the coming semester. For more information on engaging students in large lectures using a classroom response system, view Kurdziel's presentation at http://www.crlt.umich.edu/inst/Kurdziel/kurdziel.mov - QuickTime.mov [18] (74.3 MB - 33.21 minutes)

   

• Joseph Pares (jmpares@umich.edu [19]), Adjunct Associate Professor, Anthropology and Geological Sciences, Adjunct Assoicate Research Scientist, Anthropology Museum and Geological Sciences, uses GeoWall to broaden the use of scientific visualization tools for Earth Science research and education by the use of low-cost virtual reality visualization devices.  A good understanding of spatial relationships is a fundamental requirement in the study of the earth Sciences.  Traditional teaching methods have strongly relied on 2D representations through maps and profiles that are occasionally augmented by physical models.  Although most earth scientists have been trained to understand the 3D structure from such representations, the extrapolation requires spatial thinking skills and GeoWall facilitates the growth of such skills in introductory level students.

   

• Tilly Peters (mcpete@umich.edu [20]), Professor in the School of Dentistry, uses Macromedia Director to design and develop self-paced interactive learning modules which are distributed to students on CD-ROMs in support of (pre)clinical teaching. Her first CD-ROM delivers information to students about cavity filling materials. Her second CD-ROM features interactive laboratory instruction for skills development, ranging from basic information to clinical cases of a certain type of cavity. The companion CD-ROM is an interactive self-assessment tool on cavity preparation. To view her interactive CD-ROMs, contact Peters at the email address above.

   

• Ben van der Pluijm (vdpluijm@umich.edu [21]), Professor of Geology and the Environment, and the Director of the Global Change Program, has been developing the use of wireless PocketPCs in large classrooms to expand discourse and interactivity. The PocketPCs provide individual responses to image-based questions that can then be shared with the class to serve as a platform for discussion or to elicit a second response to the initial question. In addition, basic numerical input, drawing activities and interactive animations are among the other activities that are enabled through the PocketPC. With a standard web browser plugin (Flash), students can manipulate geometries and graphs, allowing for conceptual explorations as part of the lecture. For more information go to: http://geopocket.org [22] To find out more about the Global Change Program go to: http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/ [23]

   

Back to Top

Using the Web for Students to Publish Projects and Research

• George Cooper (geob@umich.edu [24]), Lecturer III in the Sweetland Writing Center, partners with Lecturer III colleague David Sheridan and the Sweetland Multi-Literacy Center to teach a special section of English 125. The course gives students experience composing for new media in addition to having them write traditional papers. Subtitled "Writing Ain't What It Used To Be: Writing and Literacy in a Technological World," this course was taught as part of the Michigan Community Scholars Program and adopted a service-learning approach. In addition to substantial amounts of conventional writing, students created personal websites and then worked in groups to produce websites for HERO [25] and COURSE [26]--nonprofit groups focusing on homelessness and urban development respectively.

   

• Brian Coppola (bcoppola@umich.edu [27]), Professor of Chemistry, provides a variety of instructional technology resources to support student learning in Chemistry 215H/216H, Structure and Reactivity II. In addition to posting information online, such as a syllabus, a calendar of assignments and an “open discussion” schedule for students to utilize outside of class, Coppola publishes a set of “Learning Tips Advice” for Chemistry 210 & 215 students. This advice provides background information and concrete strategies to help students think about and understand their learning goals within the course, the discipline and the University. The Honors option within Chemistry 215 gives some students an opportunity to participate in the Structured Study Group (SSG) program, a series of intensive active learning activities led by junior/senior undergraduates that culminates in an HTML project. Working in small groups, students are assigned a roadmap (a synthetic chemical experiment) which they must explore, explain and present in-depth. Each group publishes their findings as a printed text, a course website, and an archival CD-ROM. To view Coppola’s course website, go to http://www.umich.edu/~chemh215 [28].

   

• Barry Fishman (fishman@umich.edu [29]) and Nichole Pinkard are Assistant Professors of Education who teach in the Learning Technology program in the School of Education. They teach two graduate courses (ED603 and ED728) that are "linked" by a joint, semester-long assignment. Students work in teams to design, create, test and evaluate their prototype software, along with support materials, for real-life "client-teachers." Pinkard's students work with the clients to develop technology solutions for their classrooms, and bring a theoretical and assessment background to inform software design. Fishman's students focus on the needs assessment, application and evaluation of the computer-based educational materials. At the end of the term, the projects are featured at a public "Project Fair" and each team submits a report on the design, evaluation history and reflection on their software project.

   

• Phil Myers (pmyers@umich.edu [30]), Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Associate Curator of Mammals in the Museum of Zoology, leads a team that has created the "Animal Diversity Web" (ADW). This website serves as a "virtual encyclopedia" and resource for teaching by inquiry. It provides photos, sounds, and detailed information about thousands of animal species. It is also a cornerstone of a project to improve teaching science to 5th and 6th graders in Michigan. The website is continually updated with entries authored by faculty and students. The Animal Diversity Web can be found at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/ [31].

   

• David Porter (dporter@umich.edu [32]), Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature, is responsible for the design and implementation of the Eighteenth-Century England website, an ongoing, collaborative project by U-M students studying eighteenth-century literature. As an alternative to the traditional term paper or final exam, Porter encourages students in his classes to work in small groups to write and design a set of webpages that explores some aspect of life and culture in eighteenth-century England. Porter’s website combines an ever-expanding showcase of completed student research projects with an extensive set of resources and guidelines designed to help students develop new material for the site. To view the Eighteenth-Century England website, go to http://www.umich.edu/~ece/ [33]

   

• Eric Rabkin (esrabkin@umich.edu [34]), Professor of English, is a campus leader in the area of instructional technology. An example of his work with teaching and technology is English 414: Multimedia Explorations in the Humanities, a course that offers students the opportunity to create and/or augment web-based resources. Students create individual online portfolios to showcase their ongoing mastery of computer programs and reflect upon their learning process. They collaborate on group projects in which they research and write on a humanities topic of their choice and create a website that becomes a permanent resource for the UM community. For more information on English 414, as well as Rabkin's other instructional technology projects, visit his homepage at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~esrabkin/ [35].

   

• Kathryn Tosney (ktosney@umich.edu [36]), Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, integrates student-authored webpages into her course, Biology 208: Embryology. Students are trained in Dreamweaver and given Web-based resources and tutorials on Web design. In small groups, students research a topic and conduct thought experiments related to human development. They publish their results on their group webpages. At the conclusion of the projects, their webpages and research results are presented to the class for assessment by their peers and the instructor.

Back to Top

Using Web-based Training, Tutorials, and Simulation to Engage Students

• Susan Ashford (sja@umich.edu [37]), Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Mangement and Director of the Executive MBA Program, Ross School of Business, uses a program called Leadership Inbox Simulator in her leadership class to illustrate how leadership emerges through daily activities. Students take on the role of a busy executive about to leave for a trip who has to prioritize and respond to an inbox full of requests, complaints, and opportunities and lead while doing it! Student responses to this task are then compared with those of an executive panel, and to video commentary provided by former Business School Dean and University President, Joe White. The class of 2006 completed this simulation as part of their MBA orientation.

   

• Lisa Colletti (colletti@umich.edu [38]), Associate Professor of General Surgery, in conjunction with several other faculty members in the Department of Surgery, including Dr. Upchurch in Vascular Surgery, and Dr. Diehl in Surgical Oncology, have created the "Surgery Case Studies" Web site for medical students on their surgical rotation. This online tutorial presents students with a menu of "real life" cases that include a patient history and physical examination findings, followed by a list of possible diagnoses. Students click on their "top ten" diagnoses and receive immediate feedback about their choices that instructs them as to why or why not the symptom matches their diagnosis, as well as prompts them on what they can do next and keeps "score" of their correct evaluations. "Surgery Case Studies" as part of study to examine if web-based teaching modules are equal to, more effective, or less effective than direct faculty mentoring/instruction.

   

• San Duanmu (duanmu@umich.edu [39]), Associate Professor of Linguistics, created “Phonetics: Sounds of English,” a computer-based pronunciation tutor to help students make the sounds of the English language and practice those sounds. The program, designed by Duanmu, uses X-ray movie clips, videos and animated cartoons of the vocal tract to show students exactly how the lips and tongue move to make each sound. It also engages students in interactive games and activities around English pronunciation. Duanmu designed the program to get students interested in studying linguistics and uses it as a demonstration model while teaching. To get more information about the courses in which Duanmu uses “Sounds of English,” go to his webpage at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~duanmu/ [40].

   

• Michael Falk, (mfalk@umich.edu) [41] Assistant Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, College of Engineering, in collaboration with College of Engineering colleagues created a MATLAB based learning environment for use in introducing concepts regarding atomic scale physics in materials. The Atom Lab tool was designed to facilitate the creation of modules to introduce atomic scale simulation in an instructional setting for both graduate and upper division undergraduate classes. The AtomLab provides a versatile way for teaching at the intersection between nanoscience and computation in the College of Engineering..
  In addition, Professor Falk has been using a classroom response system in teaching large engineering courses.

   

• Kathleen Faller (kcfaller@umich.edu [42]), Professor of Social Work, is the Principal Investigator for the Interdisciplinary Child Welfare Training Program. The research/training project assists social work professionals in handling child welfare cases involving parental substance abuse, mental health problems, and domestic violence. It brings together faculty from several disciplines and features web-based training modules that incorporate PowerPoint slides with audio synchronization, a showcase with video-streaming, full-text articles, links to related resources, a reference list, and the capacity for email queries. The ICWTP webpage can be found at http://www.ssw.umich.edu/public/currentProjects/icwtp/ [43].

   

• Scott Fogler (sfogler@umich.edu [44]), Vennema Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, designs extensive online resources to support his teaching of Chemical Reaction Engineering, including a website that provides interactive modules and updated information to support the textbook he co-authored, Elements of Chemical Reaction Engineering. Fogler's website for Chemical Engineering 344 gives students online lecture summaries, frequently asked questions and answers pertaining to textbook chapters, and solutions to in-class problems and homework. It is designed to address the different student learning styles described by the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire. Fogler adapted this course into a distance learning format that features interactive CDs with interactive summary notes, audio clips, and self tests. To visit Fogler's Chemical Reaction Engineering website, go to http://www.engin.umich.edu/~cre/index.htm [45].

   

• Traianos Gagos, (traianos@umich.edu [46]), Archivist, Special Collections Library, and Associate Professor, LS&A Classical Studies Department, in collaboration with colleagues, developed a web site for studying and teaching Papyrology. The site, designed by Terry Szymanski (tdszyman@umich.edu [47]), presents information about papyrology, online exhibits, and interactive projects. The online resources offer students rare opportunities to study ancient texts written in Greek and Latin, and have “virtual hands-on” access to the papyri. The interactive projects allow students to read texts or perform virtual conservation work on a papyrus, simulating the activities of a papyrologist as well as learning about preserving archaeological artifacts. For more information about the project and the site, visit http://www.lib.umich.edu/pap/ [48]

   

• Michael D. Gordon (mdgordon@umich.edu [49]), Associate Dean for Information Technology, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, and Professor of Business Information Technology at the Ross School of Business, created a Web- and video-based simulation of a fictitious business, “The Utility Company,” to teach his undergraduate business students how to diagnose and help solve the ills of an ineffective business. Working in teams, students use the Web to conduct video-based interviews and to retrieve information relevant to this business, such as financial records, personnel information, and customer payment records. In this semester-long simulation, students learn how to analyze business processes, view business processes in relationship to company and departmental goals, and understand the key roles of people and information technology in making processes support an organization effectively. Playing the role of an executive in The Utility Company, Gordon meets electronically with each team weekly to review its findings and receive its requests for additional information. This allows him to stay on top of each team’s progress, add new course material to the simulation, and serve in a “gatekeeper” role by determining which information a particular team sees.

   

• Santhadevi Jeyabalan (sjeyabal@umich.edu [50]), Senior Lecturer in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, LSA, worked with ITD technologists to develop a program for her upper level genetics laboratory course that simulates later stages of a fruit fly experiment. Cyberfly replicates the visual and audio aspects of a fruit fly experiment in which students collect and analyze data leading to the location of mutant genes on different chromosomes. The students still begin the experiment with real fruit flies but complete it using CyberFly simulation in the Science Learning Center [51]. The program provides information for collection and analysis, without coaching the student, unlike commercially available software. Jeyabalan is working to develop introductory level and K-12 versions of the software.

   

• Richard Judge (rjudge@umich.edu [52]), Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine, and his colleagues use a Web-based self-tutorial called "ECG of the Week" to teach third-year medical students how to read and interpret an electrocardiogram (ECG). During the twelve weeks that students are on their internal medicine rotation, they can visit the self-tutorial weekly in order to view an image of an ECG printout and a clinical vignette relevant to the image. They are then given one or two interpretive questions followed by the correct answers and an explanation of the answers--that provide the students with an opportunity to test their skills at reading and understanding an ECG and making a diagnosis. To view the "ECG of the Week" homepage, go to http://www.med.umich.edu/lrc/ecgoftheweek/ [53].

   

• Nancy Kerner (nkerner@umich.edu [54]), Lecturer III in Chemistry, created CoLABnet, a program whose full name is “collaborative laboratories through networked computers.” CoLABnet grew out of the continuing efforts to improve student learning in Chemistry 125. The program is designed to give science students experience with how experiments are conducted and conclusions are reached in the “real world.” Students work in the lab in teams, with each using its own set of samples and/or conditions. Each team funnels its data into the CoLABnet software program, which then collects, pools and summarizes the qualitative and quantitative data and places it into a customized databank. Students can then study, manipulate and analyze the data in a laboratory context that simulates the scientific process that they might follow as professional scientists. For more information on CoLABnet, go to the Chemistry 125 homepage at http://www.umich.edu/~chem125/ [55].

   

• Rajesh Mangrulkar (rajm@med.umich.edu [56]), Associate Residency Program Director and Clinical Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine, and Richard D. Judge, Professor of Internal Medicine and Cardiology have lead the development and use of the Professional Skill Builder. This tool is a web-based case simulation tool, to improve the history-taking, physical examination, and case management skills of health professional students. The program contains authentic presentations of real patients and allows the student to interactively progress through each case. Expert feedback is provided to the student along the way, along with a robust decision-support module (called Toolbox) designed to provide "just-in-time" learning. The project is centered at the Medical School through and University of Michigan Health System, but involves extensive collaborative efforts from other University units, including the Media Union, and a private company

   

• David Mendez (dmendez@umich.edu [57]), Assistant Professor of Health Management and Policy, through funding from CRLT, is directing the development of Rich Media Modules for a diverse set of classes and programs in the School of Public Health. The modules consist of instructional materials, such as PowerPoint presentations with audio explanations and still pictures, or PowerPoint presentations with video explanations taken from live lectures. Modules are indexed so that they can be accessed through a Web-searchable database. The modules support graduate classes and programs, including the Executive Master’s Program in Health Management and Policy, a program that is partially delivered in distance learning format. As an example of the multiple functionality of these resources, for his Operations Research class, Mendez worked with his GSIs to create a set of modules demonstrating sample exam questions and discussing the steps required to solve the specific problems. Students can access modules via the Web as they prepare for exams. For more information about the Rich Media Modules, contact Mendez at the email address above.

   

• Joanne Pohl (jpohl@umich.edu [58]), Associate Dean in the School of Nursing, and her colleagues, created a computerized patient database that allows instructors in the School of Nursing to track students’ experiences in the clinical setting. This database gives faculty an opportunity to monitor whether or not students experiences are meeting course objectives, providing contact with diverse patients, and occurring in a setting that is appropriate for student placement. Students enter their data on patient encounters after each clinical experience by recording patient demographics, diagnoses and procedures, interventions, including labs, prescriptions, referrals, and teaching and counseling. In addition, students’ level of responsibility in managing the patient is also recorded. This permits instructors to continuously monitor and evaluate students clinical work so that assignments and adjustments can be made during the course. Students enter their patients’ data through the database’s website and then analyze their patient encounters over the course of several clinical semesters while sharing these ongoing results with faculty. To get more information about the computerized patient database, contact Pohl at the email address above.

   

• Hartmut Rastalsky (hmr@umich.edu [59]), Assistant Professor of German, has created a set of Web-based modules to assist German students at all levels in learning and practicing grammar and vocabulary. Students use these self-paced modules in accordance with their learning styles and preferences to complete assignments in several courses and to “fill in the gaps” with self-study activities. The grammar modules contain a summary of important concepts and structures, followed by a more thorough discussion of the topic and are illustrated with numerous examples in a multimedia format. The vocabulary modules consist of multimedia definitions, usage examples, mnemonic ideas, and mechanical and contextualized exercises. These modules provide German students with an opportunity to practice using the vocabulary they are assigned in their classes with a self-paced program. To experience a sample grammar module, go to http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/Grammatik/Relativsaetze/relative.html [60].
  To experience a sample vocabulary module, go to http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/232Wissenschaftsdeutsch/
  Basic_Science_Vocab.html [61].

   

• Marilyn Roubidoux (roubidou@umich.edu [62]), Associate Professor of Radiology, developed an interactive website called “Breast Cancer Detective” that is used in instruction of the fourth-year medical students who are completing their Radiology rotation. The site is formatted as a “Jeopardy!” game in which students compete with each other or a “cyber” opponent to choose a breast cancer category such as “Give Me Pictures” or “Palpable Problems” and then answer multiple choice questions regarding screening patients, diagnosing and treating problems, and reading and interpreting mammogram results. Roubidoux assigns the game before she gives a lecture on breast imaging. To try out the interactive site, go to http://www.med.umich.edu/lrc/breastcancerdetective [63].

   

• Brett Seabury (bseabury@umich.edu [64]), Associate Professor of Social Work, created a web-based training program for mental health students he calls Chipper. His interactive tutorial called "Crisis Counseling" is available online and contains PowerPoint slides, a RealPlayer interactive video simulation of a "real life" scenario, an online quiz, an online evaluation, and a selective bibliography. This online tutorial is structured to help individuals learn, retain and operationalize essential information about crisis counseling. To view Seabury's Chipper program, go to http://www.ssw.umich.edu/faculty/bseabury/ [65]

   

• Dawn Tilbury (tilbury@umich.edu [66]), Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is the co-creator of a set of web-based tutorials, Control Tutorials for Matlab. She developed the tutorials in conjunction with teaching Mechanical Engineering 461 in order to introduce students to the use of Matlab for the design and analysis of control systems. Matlab is an interactive program for numerical computation and data visualization used extensively by control engineers for analysis and design. To view the Control Tutorials in Matlab website, go to http://www.engin.umich.edu/group/ctm/ [67]

   

• Lynda Welage (lswelage@umich.edu [68]), Associate Dean, College of Pharmacy, Pharmacist-Clincal, UMH Inpatient Pharmacy Services, and Professor, College of Pharmacy, uses The Living Textbook to create two kinds of online tutorials for pharmacy students. First are interactive training modules that enhance pharmacy student skills in interpreting laboratory data, interviewing patients and understanding therapeutic drug monitoring, and promoting competence in real-time professional situations. Second are web-based presentations concerning common pharmacy skills (such as interpreting a prescription, pharmaceutical calculations, and labeling prescriptions), and linking them to sample problems and online quizzes.

Back to Top
 

Using Technology Tools and Teaching Strategies to Promote Active Learning

• Qinghai Chen (chenq@umich.edu [69]), Lecturer III in Asian Language and Cultures, employs a variety of technologies to teach Chinese. In his Computers and Chinese course, students learn to apply computer software in a Chinese environment and practice processing Chinese on the computer and are guided in conducting Web searches in Chinese. They also create PowerPoint presentation, and design individual webpages in Chinese. In his Chinese for the Professions course, Chen’s students learn practical language skills for business interactions. Students use a Chinese word processor to complete written assignments and send and receive business-related email. In addition to quizzes, dialogue performances, and oral presentations, students must take the Chinese Listening Comprehension Test in Foreign Trade, an innovative CD-ROM based test that Chen developed for this course. To get more information about these and other courses that Chen teaches, go to his webpage at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~chenq/ [70]

   

• Sabine Gabaron (sgabaron@umich.edu [71]), Lecturer III in French, teaches French 232: Cross-cultural Comparisons and Technology. Gabaron organizes her students into small groups so that they can create interactive PowerPoint presentations based on self-chosen, cross-cultural research projects. They conduct research on the Web, watch videos and films, and exchange emails with students in France.

   

• David Gerdes (gerdes@umich.edu [72]), Associate Professor, Physics, recognizes the special challenges of large classes.  In the anonymous environment of a large lecture, students can more easily avoid taking personal responsibility for attendance, preparation, and understanding.  Instructors, for their part, can find it more difficult to assess student comprehension of the material.  Professor Gerdes and other faculty in the Physics department alleviate these problems through the use of online pre-testing, online tutorial-based homework systems, and an in-class electronic response system that fosters discussion among the students and provides real-time feedback to the instructor.

   

• Joanne Leonard (joannell@umich.edu [73]), Professor of Art and Design and Women’s Studies, uses technology in teaching an Art and Design course on The Photo Essay that is also called Topics in American Culture 301. The course is designed to explore various critical and theoretical frameworks related to The Photo Essay in historical and contemporary usage and utilizes a CourseTools website to give students access to special manuscripts, a questionnaire, and photography handbooks. During the semester, Leonard’s students study the cultural and social meaning of photographs while also taking their own photographs with 35mm, medium format, or digital cameras. Students use photographs to create a narrative project which can be a multimedia photo essay using Adobe Premiere, a photography exhibit, a website, or a dramatic piece.

   

• Dennis Pollard (dennisdp@umich.edu [74]), Lecturer III in Romance Languages and Literatures, uses technology in a variety of ways to teach intermediate Spanish courses. His Spanish webtrips site gives students in Spanish conversation the opportunity to take a virtual tour of Madrid and then do their own online research to create a virtual tour of a Spanish city. One of Pollard's PowerPoint Lessons helps students learn about structure in Spanish-language poetry, while others feature QuickTime videos to demonstrate aspects of Spanish grammar. Students studying Spanish composition can go to Pollard's website called The Essay, in which they view a classically structured Spanish-language essay and its corresponding outline; by clicking on individual sections of the outline, students highlight key sections of the essay and see more detailed comments on the function of the essay's various parts. For more information about these sites, as well as Pollard's other online projects, go to http://www-personal.umich.edu/~dennisdp/CRLT.html. [75]

   

• CK Prahalad (ckp@umich.edu [76]), Professor in the Ross School of Business. In the spring of 2003 Professor Prahalad led ten teams of MBA students to work on a special ‘XMAP' project to document how companies across the world were working successfully to provide products and services and improve the living conditions of the poorest of the poor. Along with written case studies, each team produced a video documentary of the companies and the people they serve. The cases and videos have influenced leading corporations as well as global development policy at the United Nations and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. For more information about the project and to download the videos, click here [77]. Videos are also distributed on a CD with Prahalad's book The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits [78].

   

• Raji Rammuny (raram@umich.edu [79]), Professor of Arabic and Applied Linguistics in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, in cooperation with instructional media staff from the Language Resource Center (LRC) created the Arabic for Communication Interactive Multimedia Program (AC), which won the ComputerWorld Honors Finalist Award in Media in 2004. The program consists of 20 applications based on videotaped model situational dialogues pertinent to travel, social, and business interactions.

   

  Aimed at accommodating a wide range of goals that meet the needs of the Arabic student population, the program also serves members of the business community and government personnel in a variety of learning environments. In the design and development of the program, Professor Rammuny and his colleagues have employed learning strategies that are intended to motivate learners, allowing them to work at their own pace in a self directed manner. The program provides students with the opportunity to imitate and record their own voice for comparison with the native speaker model. After more field-testing, the program may be made available to other Arabic language programs in the nation.

   

  Professor Rammuny and his colleagues are currently revising the program technology for use in a web-based hybrid environment to make it more widely available to learners through the Internet.

   

• Steve Yalisove (smy@umich.edu [80]), Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, uses active learning strategies in his interactive lectures that help personalize large lecture courses. Yalisove distributes wireless response boxes to each student to allow for multiple choice response questions to be included in his lectures. This allows Yalisove to immediately assess the students’ understanding of the topic at hand. This procedure motivates students to become attentive to their own learning process, to become aware of the knowledge level of fellow students, and to actively engage with the course material. He assists his College of Engineering colleagues in customizing the active learning techniques for their classroom, including use of the wireless response boxes. To get more information about Yalisove, active learning strategies, contact him at the email address above or follow these links:
  http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/0102/Nov04_02/7.shtml [81]
  http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9697/Mar25_97/artcl16.htm [82]

back to top

Using Online Tools to Promote Interaction and Engagement with Course Content

• Frank Ascione (fascione@umich.edu [83]), Associate Dean and Professor in the College of Pharmacy, uses UM.CourseTools to develop students’critical thinking skills in his course called Introduction to Principles of Pharmacy Research and Scientific Literature Evaluation. Ascione selects published literature about drug studies that students must use to practice their critical evaluation skills. Using targeted questions that examine the methodology and analysis of each study, students work individually to answer key questions about the literature and then post their answers on the CourseTools website. Ascione reviews student posts before the next class period, allowing him to gauge students’ levels of understanding of the text in order to design an appropriate lecture and conduct targeted discussion in the classroom. Ascione also posts model answers for each question that students may review while they are working on their next question or preparing for exams. For specific questions about Ascione’s CourseTools site, contact him at the email address above.

   

• Scott Campbell (sdcamp@umich.edu [84]), Assistant Professor in the A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, has created a series of hyperlinked, online syllabi for his graduate Urban Planning courses. Along with links to assignments and class readings, his electronic syllabi provide students with an overview to the course and the discipline in general through customized links such as "central questions and debates," "key terms and concepts, and "major questions in the field." Campbell has also integrated into his online syllabi national data and census websites, case studies, survey research and statistical sites so that students may easily find these resources to complete weekly assignments and group projects. Starting the fall 2003, Campbell is piloting automated office sign-up via a web page in UM.SiteMaker.  Students' web-based projects are featured on the relevant course website once they are completed. Campbell's homepage features a virtual library of resources related to his research areas and teaching topics. To view Campbell's hyperlinked homepage and syllabi, go to http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sdcamp/ [85].

 To view automated office sign-up, go to http://www.sitemaker.umich.edu/sdcamp [86].

• Mark Clague (claguem@umich.edu [87]), Assistant Professor of Musicology, uses online listening areas for each of his music history courses. Posted within UM.CTools, some audio pages offer examples to illustrate readings, while others place musical excerpts in an interactive quiz format for which students answer questions to earn the right to progress through the recordings. Using the CTools discussion feature allows musical examples to be placed within a conversational environment, so that analytical observations, reactions, and other personal associations can be shared and nuanced further in an online listening journal or web log format. Professor Clague’s LIVING MUSIC project, http://sitemaker.umich.edu/livingmusic [88], makes a limited number of sound files available to illustrate student-generated oral histories. He also uses a web log as a community discussion board for his advisees, a resource that has proven particularly useful when his students are off campus doing research.

   

• Bobbi Low (bobbilow@umich.edu [89]), Professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, uses UM.CourseTools to provide a wide array of interactive, multimedia resources for her students enrolled in NRE 415 -- Wildlife Behavioral Ecology. The site includes materials that supplement in-class activities, such as PowerPoint lecture outlines, assigned and suggested readings, and video clips from course films. Low has also included background text and flow charts illustrating the theories relevant to the course, as well as a set of tools for previewing course information and practicing sample tests questions that help students identify "what they don't know" in order to prepare for upcoming exams and discussions. For specific questions about Low's multimedia resources, contact her at the email address above.

   

• Sherrie Kossoudji (kossoudj@umich.edu [90]), Associate Professor of Economics and Sociology, employs UM.CourseTools to conduct online office hours for her students enrolled in the large lecture course Economics 101. During a two-hour block each weekday evening, students can electronically communicate with a GSI to get immediate assistance with their coursework. This online "Q & A" is available to all students and GSIs in the course and is an archive for future reference by instructors and students. For specific questions about Kossoudji's online office hours, contact her at the email address above.

   

• Kathleen Kyndely (kyndely@umich.edu [91]), Lecturer in the School of Nursing, teaches Nursing 345 to students who are beginning clinical practice and need to understand the principles of Pharmacology Math. Each student must pass a Pharmacology Math exam on the first day of class and Kyndely has set up online tutorials and a quizzes to assist students in preparing for the exam before the course begins or before taking the exam a second time.. These resources are part of Kyndely's UM.CourseTools and UM.Lessons site for Nursing 345 that features explanations and key points about Pharmacology Math, a link for basic math review, and matching, multiple choice and management-focused quiz questions, as well as course announcements and assigned readings. To view an example of a quiz using UM.Lessons, go to http://lessons.ummu.umich.edu/2k/demo_anon/Equivalency [92]. For specific questions about Kyndely's tutorials and practice exams, contact her at the email address above.

   

• Thad Polk (tpolk@umich.edu [93]), Professor of Psychology, supplements his course titled Psychology 340: Introduction to Cognitive Psychology by providing students with access to a variety of software and web-based materials. His UM.CourseTools website for students features exam review sheets, lecture slides for review purposes, online quizzes, and questions for discussion sections. Polk encourages students to use computer-based tutorials available at campus computing sites where they can explore course-related topics in depth and test their understanding of these topics.

back to top