Students in Ron Walters' History of the American West
course this semester will journey with Lewis and Clark,
observe harsh desert regions and roam a frontier with the
likes of Daniel Boone, just to name a few. They may not be
clicking their spurs while exploring these topics, but they
will be clicking mouses.
In a course traditionally focused on text readings,
lectures and research papers, Walters has sprinkled in a
generous amount of classroom technology to help transport
his students back to the age of the stagecoach and the gold
rush.
Walters is just one Johns Hopkins faculty member who
is taking advantage of the services of the
Center for Educational
Resources, whose mission is to partner with faculty to
extend their instructional impact by connecting digital
technologies and innovative teaching strategies.
CER staff collaborate with and assist faculty on a
growing numbers of projects through the Arthur Vining Davis
Foundation, Technology Fellowship and Howard Hughes grant
programs. The center, founded in 2001 and located in the
Garrett Room of Homewood's MSE Library, is jointly
sponsored by the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the
Sheridan Libraries and Hopkins Information Technology
Services. It primarily services faculty in the Krieger
School, but through the Technology Fellows Program, faculty
from the Whiting School and the Peabody Conservatory have
worked with center staff in the past, and plans are under
way to expand the reach of the center and make its staff
and resources available to other university divisions.
In Walters' class, students and professor will utilize
a Geographic Information System, an interactive digital map
that will allow them to view the Lewis and Clark trail, see
where and how railroads got built and get a sense of the
density of population in particular areas. The map,
displayed on either a computer or projection screen, is
linked to a database so that through simple points and
clicks a user can peel away layers of topography, zoom in
on a particular frontier town or display just a region's
rivers and lakes.
In addition to the GIS map, Walters will expose
students in his History of the American West class to a
wealth of multimedia resources available through WebCT,
including images of period dress, film clips of Western
movies and audio clips of frontier songs. Students also
will be encouraged to incorporate audio and visual
materials into their final portfolios, some of which
Walters expects will become resources for future
classes.
Walters, a professor of history, says that the use of
technology allows him to present more effectively
information that used to come in the form of handouts.
"For this class I can share the geography of the East
and West coasts in a way I couldn't before," Walters says.
"I have talked to some students here who have never been
west; they have no idea. They can find the West Coast, of
course, but don't have a sense of the topography. Using all
this technology enables me to encourage students to do some
of their own thinking about these materials and play with
the data, rather than getting the data strictly from
me."
The enhancements of Walters' class were made possible
in part from a grant by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation,
which is underwriting CER efforts to develop Web-based
resources to enhance students' critical thinking skills in
the humanities. The grant money supports the development of
new digital tools intended to help students analyze more
effectively, write more clearly and take full advantage of
library resources.
The grant already had helped spawn technologic
enhancement to Introduction to Art History I and II,
Introduction to Fiction and Poetry I and II and, more
recently, Great Books: The Western Tradition.
The Center for Educational Resources also administers
the Technology Fellowship Program, which is a minigrant
initiative to help Hopkins faculty develop digital course
resources by combining their instructional expertise with
the technology skills of students. The focus of this
program is to create instructional resources that support
undergraduate education. Faculty and students develop
proposals together to integrate technology into
instructional projects that will enhance pedagogy,
encourage active learning and promote critical thinking or
collaboration among students.
Student fellows receive $4,000 for project
implementation, and their faculty partners receive $1,000
for project design and oversight. The program is available
to faculty and students at Peabody, SAIS and the schools of
Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Nursing, Medicine and
Public Health.
To date, the program has spawned an Italian language
drill program, a robotic simulator for beginners and an
interactive U.S. highway, among dozens of other
projects.
CER also has been the recipient of grant money from
the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which is funding a
project to enhance the introductory biology course,
including the implementation of technology to allow
real-time, individual student input in a large lecture
setting.
One portion of the project was a Classroom Performance
System that is now in four rooms on the Homewood campus.
Like TV game shows that poll an audience, the system can
poll students on multiple-choice questions. Each student
purchases a "clicker" that allows him or her to select an
answer in response to the faculty member's question. The
results of the poll are shown on screens so the instructor
can get instant, accurate feedback. The faculty also can
grade the students on the quiz, as each clicker has a
unique signature so the administrator can see who picked
what answer.
Bruce Barnett, a professor in the Department of
Physics and Astronomy, has used the technology in his
Physics 101 and 102 courses — typically classes with
rosters of upward of 80 students.
"I think it works really well. Students say they like
using this technology a lot more than pop quizzes," Barnett
says. "I can get a good sense of whether or not students
are keeping up with the material. If a sizable number of
students get an answer wrong, I know I have to go over the
concept again."
Mike Reese, assistant director of CER and a senior
information technology specialist, says that the success of
the center is tied into the "brave" professors who first
integrate technology into their classrooms, often inspiring
others to follow suit.
"There is a term we use here called 'early adopters,'
faculty who are really looking to use this stuff. It seems
all you have to do is expose them to technology, and they
turn onto it, people like Ron Walters who are jumping on
the bandwagon," Reese says. "I think what we are beginning
to see with all of our projects is that when we go in and
work with a department or faculty member and make a change
in the way a course is taught, we see those changes are
replicating with other courses within the department."
Reese gave the example of the digital image database
that was first employed in the Introduction to Art History
course. Since its implementation, several other classes in
both the History of Art and History departments have
incorporated a digital image database.
Candice Dalrymple, associate dean of the Krieger
School of Arts and Sciences and CER director, says that
later this year she will approach other university
divisions and offer the opportunity for them to "buy in" to
the center's work at some level.
"We are right now trying to develop a series of
options so that leaders of other academic divisions, if
they are interested, can take advantage of our staff and
resources on a minipartnership basis," Dalrymple says. "I
really think there are a wealth of opportunities out there
to incorporate technology into classrooms and have faculty
collaborate with each other on ways to enhance the learning
process."
Daniel Weiss, Krieger School dean, says that the
center's progress has been a very positive development for
Johns Hopkins.
"CER has been a wonderful addition to our campus,"
Weiss says. "The synergies of teachers using new technology
[and] the opening of Hodson Hall have only reaffirmed our
commitment to providing resources that promote innovate
teaching."
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