UA Faculty To Present Technology Grant Projects

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Nine University of Alabama faculty members, who have received Innovative Instructional Grants from UA, will present individual projects developed with grant proceeds on Tuesday, Oct. 10, from 3:30-4:30 p.m. and Monday, Oct. 16, from 3:30-5 p.m.

Both presentations will take place in 20 Alston Hall on the UA campus.

Innovative Instructional Technology Faculty Grants are awarded twice each academic year. During each period, grants up to $5,000 each are awarded from UA’s Office for Academic Affairs for the creation and development of cutting-edge uses of instructional technology. The grants are provided in support of additional staffing, equipment and computer software, and for programs that will challenge faculty to develop new approaches to classroom instruction that can serve as models for other instructors.

Presenters on Oct. 10 include Larry Clayton (Arts and Sciences), Maarten Ultee (Arts and Sciences), Luoheng Han (Arts and Sciences) and Ken Wright (Human Environmental Sciences).

Oct. 16 presenters will include Jonathan Berck (Law), Catherine Davies (Arts and Sciences), Nathan Green (Arts and Sciences), Robert Ingram (Commerce and Business Administration), Catherine Oshida (Arts and Sciences), Koji Arizumi (Arts and Sciences) and Marietta Stanton (Nursing).

A short explanation of each project follows:

OCT. 10

Larry Clayton and Maarten Ultee

Clayton and Ultee will restructure HY 235/300 (History of the Christian Church) as a Web-based course. The course will incorporate Web-based reading and research, multimedia programs, and threaded discussion groups, in addition to classroom learning. They hope to expand students’ field of knowledge beyond their own experience and to increase the interactivity of students and instructors. The class may be broadened to be available to both on- and off-campus students.

Luoheng Han

A Remote Sensing of Environment is the first course developed as Web-based in the Geographic Information Systems certificate program. The program explores ways of applying information technology developments in remote sensing and will focus on multimedia and hypermedia techniques for publishing materials on the World Wide Web. Lecture notes, exams and lab exercises will be on computer, and students and teachers will communicate through e-mail and online chat sessions.

Ken Wright

The grant will be used to develop distance education courses titled Research in Sports Medicine Health Care and Seminar in Sports Medicine Health Care. The classes will be designed as Internet-based to provide graduate students firm foundations in research and current topics in sports medicine health care.

OCT. 16

Jonathan Berck

The goal of the project is to develop and implement an inexpensive, easily replicable videoconferencing link between UA’s Law School and the law faculty of the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. The project will use Web cams, the Internet, and widely accessible and inexpensive videoconference software. The challenge is to integrate the various components into a package that works reliably and simply, so only a bare minimum of computer expertise is necessary to employ it.

Catherine Davies

The courses EH 620 (Graduate Introduction to Linguistics), EH 425/525 (Dialectology) and the Blount UG Initiative Course in Spring 2001 (Language, Thought and Sociocultural Context: The Individual as “Consciously Conditioned Being”) will incorporate technology in the form of audio and video recordings. The classes may also integrate the media with Web-based instructional technology.

Nathan Green

The project will establish a capability for, and expertise in, creation of interactive Quicktime VR (QTVR) Panorama and Object movies in the Geological Sciences. Student interaction with geological QTVR movies will provide perception of movement, perspective, and spatial distribution between different features or viewpoints comparable to those actually experienced in diverse field and/or laboratory settings.

Robert Ingram

The project will create an open-source computerized system that can be used for instruction and research in accounting systems development. The system is intended to provide a means for researchers and students to observe and modify a full range of information systems components, including user interface, business logic and database. The system provides a multi-user and client-server approach. A Web browser provides the user interface, and Web server scripts and server-side data files provide the business logic and database components.

Catherine Oshida and Koji Arizumi

The course JA390 (Topics Japanese Studies: Japanese Geography) will be a Web-based course on Japanese physical and cultural geography. The course will offer both a language cultural tool indispensable to anyone with an interest in travel in Japan or further study of Japanese language, literature or history. The course will have interactive lessons layered from general to specific.

Marietta Stanton

This faculty development project will involve the conversion of on-site course work to a Web-based format. Two or three courses will be converted in the next academic year, and a student assistant will help with development of materials for course work.