Teaching, Learning & Technology in Higher Education

Making Classrooms More Interactive Improves Learning Outcomes at Elizabeth City State U

jgvanides — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:12:00 GMT

Dr. Kuldeep Rawat has been the Principal Investigator for a 2007 HP Technology for Teaching grant at Elizabeth City State University (North Carolina, USA). Their goals was to enhance student learning by increasing the "interactivity" of courses such as Engineering Technology, Circuits, and Analog Electronics. The results were impressive - and well documented by Dr. Rawat... ...(read more)

DyKnow Improves Computer Science Courses at Farleigh Dickenson University

jgvanides — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:30:00 GMT

Dr. Kiron Sharma, professor at Farleigh Dickenson University, received an HP Technology for Teaching grant in 2007. The computer science faculty are using DyKnow software - and the project team made a short video describing their experience. In Dr. Sharma's own words, "DyKnow basically makes teaching fun... it's active learning - students are actually involved in the process of their learning". Check out the video to hear what students have to say, too... ...(read more)

How Faculty are Using Clickers

jgvanides — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 22:28:00 GMT

Rick Reis from the Stanford Center for Teaching and Learning, has a great newsletter called "Tomorrow's Professor". Not long ago he shared a recent article on clickers, which was an excerpt of "Teaching with Clickers" by Erping Zhu (University of Michigan, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching). While I am clearly biased towards the power of classroom interaction through Tablet PCs because they support open-ended, diagramatic feedback, clickers are much simpler and clearly have an important role to play.......(read more)

Tablet PC Software to Enhance Classroom Interaction

jgvanides — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:00:00 GMT

I often get asked what type of Tablet PC software is available for use by faculty and students. Though I posted similar information nearly two years ago (see ""Clickers on Steroids"), I thought it's too important a topic NOT to repeat. Here's a sampling of what is being used by HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients for real-time "graphical response" in the classroom... ...(read more)

5 Modes of Instruction, Including The One Tablet Classroom - Murray State Shows How

jgvanides — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 21:07:00 GMT

Most of the examples I blog about are from courses where faculty have deployed tablet pcs to all of their students (1:1), or where they are shared (2:1, or 3:1). Terry Derting and Ricky Cox, along with their colleagues, have been experimenting with 5 different models of instruction with tablet pcs. Interestingly, they have some emerging evidence that shows how even the "One Tablet Classroom" can make a difference - if you use it wisely and revisit the role of "instructor". ... ...(read more)

Lawrence University of Wisconsin - the power of digital ink

jgvanides — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:41:00 GMT

Jeff Clark at Lawrence University of Wisconsin is leading an HP Technology for Teaching project that is redesigning courses in Environmental Science. The participating faculty and students are using Tablet PCs in the field, and Classroom Presenter software http://classroompresenter.cs.washington.edu/ in the classroom. Jeff reports that how Classroom Presenter has unlocked the power of digital ink and "revolutionized the classroom"......(read more)

Enhancing Distributed Learning Environments at Georgia Tech Savannah

jgvanides — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:14:00 GMT

With support from an HP Technology for Teaching grant, Professors Monson Hayes and Elliot Moore at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Savannah, are leading a project entitled "Enhancing Distributed Learning Environments through Tablet PC Technology." The participating faculty are using DyKnow software and tablet PCs to create an active learning environment in a distributed learning setting. The student comments are fantastic......(read more)

York University - Using Tablet PCs to Enhance Collaboration & Improve Soft Skills for Business Students

jgvanides — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:15:00 GMT

Jean Adams, an assistant professor from the Schulich School of Business , received an HP Technology for Teaching grant in 2007. She and her colleagues used the tablet pcs to redesign the "Managing Contemporary Enterprise" course. The improvement...(read more)

It’s a Beautiful Day! Good News from Grant Recipients…

jgvanides — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:50:00 GMT

This is one of my favorite seasons of the year. Not only is the weather in Northern California absolutely gorgeous (mornings around 65f/18c, blue skies, light ocean breeze), but it’s also the time of year when I have the joy of reading project update...(read more)

Blog System Upgrade Underway

jgvanides — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:17:00 GMT

This is just a quick posting to let you know that HP blogs will be migrating to a new platform over the next week. As of tomorrow, May 23, I won't be posting to my blog and won't be able to receive any comments submitted. Please hold your comments until the week of June 1 when our new site will be live.

I'll be back...!

Jim Vanides, B.S.M.E, M.Ed.
Program Manager - Worldwide Higher Education Grants
HP Global Social Investment
Hewlett-Packard

For information about the HP Technology for Teaching philanthropy initiative in higher education, visit www.hp.com/go/hpteach-hied

EduComm Conference 2008 – June 18-20, Las Vegas, NV, USA

jgvanides — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:40:00 GMT

I just received word o fan exciting hied conference called EduComm. The program looks like it is FULL of practical and interesting presentations. Read on for more info…

From the EduComm team:

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EduComm Conference 2008. When it comes to ensuring that higher education institutions are taking advantage of the latest technologies to delivery instruction and manage facilities, individuals attending the EduComm Conference are ahead of the game. From smart classrooms to lecture capture systems to distance learning, EduComm at InfoComm provides administrators with the latest insights into modern technologies and their implementation within higher education. Keynote speakers David Pogue, New York Times personal technology columnist, and Gary Kayye, founder of rAVe Publications and chief visionary at Kayye Consulting, will entertain as they share a vision for excellence in higher education.

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See http://educommconference.com/ for more information. If anyone has attended before, please post a comment and tell us more…

Presentations & Posters from 2008 HP Technology for Teaching Worldwide HiEd Conference

jgvanides — Fri, 16 May 2008 15:47:00 GMT

The annual HP Technology for Teaching Worldwide Higher Education Conference is one of my all-time favorite events. It seems like just a short time ago we met in February for 2 days – 138 faculty from 21 countries, sharing their expertise and excitement about using technology to enhance the learner experience in their courses. I wish ALL of you could have been there.

Thanks to ISTE.org, our conference partner, you can now view the video archives of the 7 featured presentations, and view the posters from the poster session...

Featured in this set of videos that you can stream and view online from ISTE:

Assessing the Effectiveness of Tablet PC’s in a Higher Education Environment - Featured speakers:Joseph G. Tront, PhD, Deborah Olsen, PhD, Virginia Tech
Beyond the Prototype: Generating Campus-Wide Buy-in for a Tablet Option - Featured Speakers: Dr. Dave Berque; Carol L. Smith, Terri Bonebright, PhD, DePauw University
Introducing Tablet PCs to the Classroom: Course-Specific Impact in Engineering and Computer Science - Featured Speakers: Lisa G. Huettel, PhD, Duke University
Improvement of an Information System’s Course Through the Application of Mobile Learning Technology - Featured Speakers: Alejandro Orero, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid
Tablet PCs as Mobile Multimedia Data Collection and Analysis Tools - Featured Speakers: Malu Roldan, PhD, San Jose State University
Teach and Learn with Technologies in a Mobile Campus for Engineers - Featured Speakers: Luc Mariaux and Jean-Pierre Berthet, L'Ecole Centrale de Lyon
Measuring Learning Instructional Presentation - Featured Speakers: Gloria M. Rogers, PhD, Associate Executive Director of ABET

The conference also included a poster session where new grant recipients could discuss their project plans. If you are interested in seeing the breadth of projects that are underway (most are just getting started, so the posters are “works in progress”), feel free to download the “Poster Book” (27Mb PDF) and the companion “Index by Keywords” (100Kb PDF).

Enjoy! Post a comment and let us know what you think of the conference archives!

PS: The 2009 HP Technology for Teaching Worldwide Higher Education Conference is scheduled for 22-24 February 2009. New grant recipients are funded by HP to send one representative – but there are a limited number of spaces available for self-funded participants. Feel free to contact us for more information.

Call for Submissions - 2008 Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware

jgvanides — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:29:00 GMT

Speaking of grants and awards, those of you who teach engineering related courses may find the Premier Award to be of interest. If you’ve developed some innovative courseware that you’d like to share, this could be a great way to disseminate some best practices and gain some recognition. Read on for the full announcement from our friend, Joe Tront (Virginia Tech, and Editor of the Premier Award). Submissions are due July 11^th…

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Dear Colleague,

We are seeking exemplary courseware for our annual international awards competition called The Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware. Our definition of courseware includes all technology-based materials developed to support engineering learning environments. We believe that our thorough peer review process, equal in rigor to a research journal review, has been successful in highlighting and rewarding the efforts of faculty members working on improving engineering education. We would be pleased to have you participate and also ask you to pass this announcement on to other interested colleagues. Please see the call for submissions below. You may also want to review the freely available engineering learning resources cataloged in the Engieering Pathway digital library at http://www.engineeringpathway.com/
Thanks.

---Joe Tront, Editor Premier Award

Call for Submissions
2008 Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware
(see http://www.needs.org/premier/ )

NEEDS, John Wiley & Sons, Microsoft Research, Techsmith and Autodesk are pleased to announce the 2008 Premier Award competition. The Premier Award recognizes high-quality, non-commercial courseware designed to enhance engineering education. Beyond just recognizing outstanding courseware, the Premier Award evaluates and acknowledges exceptional learning experiences. Since 1997, twenty-eight outstanding courseware packages and learning experiences have been rewarded. If you or someone you know has developed non-commercial courseware or exceptional web sites designed to enhance engineering education, please consider submitting for the Premier Award.

Please visit our website for information regarding submissions, prizes, past winners, sponsors, etc. http://www.engineeringpathway.com/ep/premier/ You may download the Premier Award call for submission flyer at http://filebox.ece.vt.edu/~jgtront/PA_flyer_08.pdf The winner(s) will be announced and prizes awarded at the 2008 Frontiers in Education Conference on October 22-25, Saratoga Springs, NY.

Important Dates:
July 11, 2008 - Submissions Due by 5 PM MT
October 22-25, 2008 - Winner(s) Presented at the FIE 2008 Conference http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2008/

For More Information:
Please contact, Joe Tront, jgtront@vt.edu, (540) 231-5067 or Brandon Muramatsu, brandon.muramatsu@usu.edu, (435) 797-2703.

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Best wishes to all who apply!

HP Labs Innovation Research Call for Proposals

jgvanides — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:33:00 GMT

Great news! My colleagues at HP Labs have just launched a global Call for Proposals as part of their HP Labs Innovation Research Program. This is an open and competitive Call for Proposals, where HP labs is “…soliciting your best ideas on a range of topics with the goal of establishing new research collaborations…”

The call for proposals is organized by region, where each region has specific research themes of interest. Start by identifying your region:

...then view the research topics of interest for that region.

There are several topics that I think might overlap with education and/or the creation of a rich IT infrastructure in an education setting. For example, in the Americas there are research topics such as “Social Computing: Methods for Harvesting the Collective Intelligence of Groups” (topic 7) and “Next-Generation Multimedia Communication and Collaboration Systems” (topic 9). In India, they are seeking collaborators to explore “How do we design compelling experiences based on pen, touch and hand gesture-based interaction for the key user activities on small form factor devices? For family-oriented systems used in the home?”

If you have any questions, check out the FAQs. The proposals submission deadline is 18 June 2008.

Good luck to all of you who apply!

Congratulations to the new 2008 HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients!

jgvanides — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:31:00 GMT

This is our 5^th year of funding HP Technology for Teaching grants for K12 teachers and Higher Education faculty around the world. By the end of 2008, HP will have supported more than 1000 schools and higher education institutions in 41 countries, where educators are using technology to redesign the learning experience of their students.

I am very pleased to announce our 2008 grant recipients…

K-12 Schools – U.S. & Puerto Rico
K-12 Leadership Schools – U.S.
K-12 Schools – Canada
K-12 Schools – Latin America (coming week of June 23)
Higher Ed – North America
Higher Ed Leadership – North America (coming June 30)
Higher Ed – Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
Higher Ed – Asia Pacific
Higher Ed – Latin America (coming June 1st)

As always, we received MANY more excellent proposals than we could fund. This made the selection process very challenging and competitive. We would like to extend our thanks to everyone who applied – and we want to express our heartfelt gratitude for all that you ALREADY do to help your students succeed…