2010 CRLT TTI Grant Projects

Link to CRLT TTI Grant Projects 2004, [1] 2005, [2] 2006, [3] 2007, [4] 2008, [5] 2009, [6] 2011 [7]

• Online Video Pedagogy

  John Ellis, Associate Professor, School of Music, Theatre and Dance (jsellis@umich.edu [8])

  The mini video cameras that have come on the market have the potential to revolutionize piano pedagogy. Their ease of use, portability, and web interface attributes open up enormous possibilities. For this project, student teachers made video clips both during and in between lessons with their students in both PPLP (the pre-college piano program) and college Class Piano. The clips served as a study guide for individual students and could be shared, in the case of PPLP, with each student's parents. This kind of rich media artifact also allows me to better guide and supervise my GSIs.

• Histology -- A Second Look:  A PowerPoint-Based Self-Evaluation Tool for Students’ Learning Success

  Michael Hortsch, Associate Professor, Cell and Developmental Biology, Medical School (hortsch@umich.edu [9])

  A new series of "Second Look" Q&A activities allows Histology students to self-test their level of knowledge and their ability to recognize histological structures before taking scheduled quizzes and examinations. This project extended a smaller set of PowerPoint files that proved very popular with students. Existing activities were made more useful, and “Second Look” now covers the full range of course content.

• Using Annotated Video Feedback Tools in Oral Skills Instruction

  Brenda P. Imber, Lecturer IV, English Language Institute (prousimb@umich.edu [10])

  Typically, international graduate students in ELI courses are videotaped as they practice teaching and giving oral presentations, but feedback on their performance is given later, somewhat dissociated from the event. It has been shown that timely and strategically delivered input has greater impact on student learning than delayed feedback, but this is difficult - and even intrusive - to do while a student is speaking. Therefore, retroactively inserting text and audio/video comments at specific points in a recording, linked directly to the moment of error or success, should result in more valuable feedback. This project entailed a review of online video annotation feedback tools to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in order to identify those best suited to shared instructor/student feedback, and an evaluation of the implementation of one of these tools in an oral skills course.

• Taking POLSCI 381 Wherever You Are: Learning, Interacting, and Collaborating on Campus and from Abroad  

  Mika LaVaque-Manty, Associate Professor, Political Science, LS&A (mmanty@umich.edu [11])

  POLSCI 381, Political Science Research Design [12], is a required course in the Political Science Honors Program. Because many students are away from campus during their junior year, we wanted to make it possible for them to take the course from a distance. LectureTools, live webcasting, and collaboration tools such as Google Wave and Voicethread allow students to collaborate with peers who are taking the course the “conventional” way on campus. The project investigated these tools in depth and developed virtual activities.

• Liquid Planning: Watersheds, Waysides and Wireframes 

  Jen Maigret and Maria Arquero de Alarcon, Assistant Professors, Taubman Center For Architecture and Urban Planning (maigretj@umich.edu [13], marquero@umich.edu [14])

  The project uses watershed planning as a way to teach a methodology of bridging scales, registering time, and designing for processes that transcend established political boundaries. The TTI grant supported the development of online tutorials (via Camtasia) that teach methods for exporting and designing with information across softwares. The grant also supported the compilation and organization of data describing topographical, hydrological, and urban conditions within the Great Lakes watershed.

• ZOOM: Cross-Disciplinary Linkages on the Web

  Douglas Northrop, Associate Professor, History, LS&A (northrop@umich.edu [15])

  This “Big History” course moves through a range of disciplinary perspectives (astronomy, geology, biology, anthropology, etc.) to tell the universe’s story – from the Big Bang to the end of time – to put human stories into terrestrial/cosmic context.  This project asks students to construct (and link) web modules to summarize lecture content and identify resources for further exploration; to create sample exercises regarding sources, methods, and “proof;” and to comment on each discipline’s approach to knowledge production.

• Increasing Student Engagement through the Use of a Virtual Classroom 

  Dana Tschannen and Michelle Aebersold, Clinical Assistant Professors, School of Nursing (djvs@umich.edu [16]; mabersol@umich.edu [17])

  This project provides a greater opportunity for students to engage both socially and academically through immersion in a virtual learning environment. Two nursing courses—one undergraduate and one graduate course—used the Second Life platform to increase synchronous learning experiences, including team building exercises, mini-lectures/discussions, and virtual field trips. Students’training needs, learning engagement, and overall satisfaction with Second Life were evaluated.