2006 CRLT TTI Grant Projects

Link to CRLT TTI Grant Projects 2004, [1] 2005, [2] 2007, [3] 2008, [4] 2009, [5]2010, [6] 2011 [7]

• Marking up the Sources: Using Annotating Technology, Digital Documents, and Websites to Design Assignments Promoting the Integration of Text/Object Close-Reading and Writing

  Paulina Alberto, (Assistant Professor of History and Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures), LSA, (palberto@umich.edu [8])

  Professor Alberto is creating an archive of the black press of Brazil, a collection of 20th Century newspapers written by and for Brazilians of African descent. The material is scanned from microfilm and compiled by newspaper and issue into PDF files that are then posted to a CTools project site. Begun as a tool for her research, a selection of these issues provides the core readings for her Portuguese-language course on the Black Press of Brazil. Utilizing the interactive “mark-up“ features of Adobe Acrobat, students are able to annotate the primary document as they work their way through it, marking up relevant passages and recording their thoughts and reactions as they go along. Because comments and notes in Acrobat are stamped with the names of individual users (as in the Word reviewing function), and because the bubbles are searchable for text, this is an excellent tool that enables several students to work together on a single document, commenting on each other’s individual interpretations, searching each other’s annotations for a particular issue or theme. The interactive aspect of the software is also useful as a collaborative step on the way to individual final projects. In the case of written final projects, students' close engagement with sources along the way promoted extensive integration of examples and quotes.

• The Latin Tinge: Latin Music in Social Context in the U.S. and Latin America

  Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof, (Assistant Professor of History and Assistant Professor of American Culture), LSA (jessehg@umich.edu [9]).

  This project develops new ways of using technology in courses where media artifacts, such as audio and video recordings, are the key objects of study.  The project responds to students demands for more use of media in teaching.  It also responds to department demands for faculty to develop large, “signature” courses on engaging topics.  We will meet these demands through the development of multimedia lectures and podcast video and audio assignments for AC 226, thereby creating a model for how technology can be incorporated into large humanities courses.   The project serves as a testing ground for addressing the major technical challenges in teaching with digital media: organizing audio and video examples, storing them, and delivering them to students.

  Navigate to Professor Hoffnung-Garskof's sitemaker site  [10]

• European Renaissance Lecture Course: Reaching Freshmen via Power Point

  George Hoffmann, (Associate Professor of French, Romance Languages and Literatures), LSA, (georgeh@umich.edu [11]).

  Professor Hoffman’s project involved the creation of Power Point-style presentations in order to integrate multimedia into his lectures. These presentations will replace the showing of DVDs or Videotapes in the courses he currently teaches, with the long-term goal of developing a new lecture course on the European Renaissance that targets freshmen and sophomores seeking distribution credit in the humanities.

• Portfolio Galleries for Writing Practicum

  Kendrick Kelley, (Lecturer IV in Sweetland Writing Center), LSA, (kmkelley@umich.edu [12]).

  This project created web templates for a student gallery project for use in SWC 100 (Writing Practicum). Students collaboratively develop web sites that allow them to display their own photographs, influential visual images, accompanying writing assignments and a record of peer responses.

• Creating Digital Video Channels for Student Artworks

  Heidi Kumao, (Assistant Professor of Art), School of Art and Design, (hkumao@umich.edu [13]).

  This project creates custom course websites/channels for broadcast of student video projects, as well a course blog, in at least two Art and Design studio classes: ArtDes 300: “Art and Design TV” and ArtDes 300: “Veteran’s Video Portrait.” The creation of this online channel establishes a re–useable and expandable resource for teaching future courses on video production. More importantly, it allows students to view each other’s work at any time, as well as the successful projects of previous classes.

• Teaching with Video in the Digital Age

  Amanda Lotz, (Assistant Professor of Communication Studies), LSA, (lotz@umich.edu [14]).

  As a teacher of media studies with particular expertise in US television, Professor Lotz makes uses of video-based media in her teaching in many different ways. Two primary uses are through “clips” shown in class in the context of lecture and discussion, and through “screenings” which are often longer viewings of content (whole episodes) students are expected to do in preparation for class. She used the technology institute to update her video resources from analog to digital for use in both of these primary activities.

• Teaching "The American Novel" with Technology Support

  Susan Scott Parrish, (Associate Professor, English Languages and Literatures), LSA, (sparrish@umich.edu [15]).

  Professor Parrish’s project brings multimedia, images, audio, and video to the CTools environment for the The American Novel, a large lecture course in the English Department. This use of media allows students to place each novel in its social, cultural, and historical context. Building this CTools site will preserve the course material for future use and allow it to be easily expanded and updated. Additionally, a sophisticated CTools site makes the management of students’ own research, daily questions, and longer responses much easier to evaluate. Students have an entirely new, digital mode in which to participate and learn from each other, making the learning process more collaborative and lateral.

• Images and Sounds from Colonial Latin America

  Ivonne Del Valle, (Assistant Professor of Spanish, Romance Languages and Literatures), LSA (delvalle@umich.edu [16]).

  In order to take a more “sensory” approach to teaching the literature of colonial Latin America, this project utilizes various audiovisual media to help undergraduate students bridge the distance between their world and that of the course readings. The project created a web-based resource of visual and audio examples to accompany traditional course materials in order to make the study of colonial Latin American literature more engaging and enriching.

• Development and Integration of Virtual Microscopy-Based Resources in Teaching Histology

  J. Matthew Velkey, (Lecturer III, Cell and Developmental Biology,) Medical School (jvelkey@umich.edu [17]).

  The goal of this project was to develop a web-based histology laboratory manual (http://www.med.umich.edu/histology [18]) featuring annotated “virtual” microscope slides that allow students to understand the process of identifying cells in the context of their tissues and organs, rather than rote memorization of static images.  An additional component entailed the development of interactive laboratory exercises in which it is possible for students to generate their own annotations, thus encouraging group interaction and active learning. 

• Collaborative Learning, Peer Teaching, and Problem-Based Learning Using XP Conference and XP Venue: Tablets, Cameras, and Digital Pads

  Steven Yalisove (Professor of Materials Science and Engineering), College of Engineering (smy@umich.edu [19]).

  Tablet PCs, display capture software (Camtasia Studio), and CTools have enabled Professor Yalisove to bring more cooperative and problem-based learning into his large-lecture classroom. These technologies are especially helpful for students since 3–dimensional visual concepts are inherent to the field of Materials Science and Engineering. Groups of about 5 students share 28 tablet PCs during in–class problem-solving sessions. Students can thus gather visual information and transmit it to each other, use it to work out problems, and send their solutions to the instructor for in-class critique. Students’ homework solutions, along with the lecture video and audio are captured as screencasts that can be reviewed after class at CTools; students also use the course website to take on-line quizzes in preparation for the next class. During the lecture itself, the instructor’s tablet also functions like the “clicker” student response system for assessing students’ comprehension.