Spring 2007

Donna Sperry
Professor, Math Department

How long have you been teaching at CSM? Any previous teaching experiences? I have been at the college for nearly nine years, the first two years as adjunct faculty. I also taught at Howard
Community College and Catholic University of America.
How have you used technology in your traditional classes? As of late, I have used Maple in my College Algebra and Calculus classes. It is GREAT software allowing me to quickly graph functions or demonstrate a difficult mathematical concept visually (and if you have ever seen my awful attempt at drawing, you would know how much of a blessing Maple is to my students)!
What impact has the use of technology had on the learning process, the course delivery, and student learning/success? Teaching online, especially teaching MATH online, has made me rethink the entire teaching process. How do you talk about the curve of a function online? How do you know your students are really getting what you're saying? As a result, I have had to get creative using the chat room, white board, and most recently the discussion board (Yes! You use English to talk about math!) to facilitate conversations. My "learning process" explaining math online has energized the course in a way that doesn't really exist in my traditional classes. What software would you recommend to other instructors? What are some of the features/uses
of this software? Impatica is a very easy way of producing your PowerPoint presentations online.

Carolin McManus
Professor, Languages and Literature Department
How long have you been teaching at CSM? Any previous teaching experience? To give you a hint, the computers sitting on the desks of faculty were DOS-based. The interview for my current position took place on Friday the 13th of May 1994. Even though it was a sunny day, I brought an umbrella and opened it in the meeting room (indoors). It proved to be a low tech but effective solution to counteracting the unlucky meeting date.
How have you used technology in your traditional classes? One of the first forms of technology I used was an overhead transparency projector (which involved a complex equipment check-out process). I was amused to see the students take out their notebooks and write down every projected word though they never seemed so moved by a word written in chalk. After that, Pandora’s box opened for me. I added sound recordings of poems read by their authors, videotapes of various renditions of plays and language dialogues. Now I depend upon classroom access to the Internet daily
to supplement my own or a student’s presentations. In addition, each of my course sections is now Web-enhanced.
What impact has the use of technology had on the learning process, the course delivery, and student learning/success? Because visuals and to some degree sound impressions can have a more lasting impact than readings, lectures or discussion, I try to take advantage of the tremendous resources afforded by the Smart Podium technology. For example, a BBC podcast of teachers protesting in Oaxaca in my culture course not only creates a deeper impression of the lethal violence of oppression, but it can serve as a catalyst for discussion and connection of myriad topics using the backdrop of recent real world news. A three-minute podcast or vodcast can be squeezed while taking attendance roll if time is short. In the film course the Smart Podium allows my students and me to contrast various film techniques used in two films, one loaded in the DVD player, the other queued in the computer. In the culture course this week, a presenting student used the Smart Podium to shift from a map of Brazil, to an Internet sound bite of Candomblé music, then to a documentary of the Candomblé religious ritual. A decade ago, she would have had a curling poster board with National Geographic pictures glued to it. A few hours earlier, another student gave a hands-on tamale-making demonstration with a photograph of the aunt who had taught her how to make tamales twenty years ago projected behind her using the document camera. In front of us were the two generations in action passing on a cultural tradition to a class of students who had never tasted a tamale. It has been my impression that students are more engaged in class activities and are gathering higher quality sources for their research since this technology has become available.

Fall 2006

Spotlight on Faculty: Chretien Guidry
Assistant Professor: Fine Arts and Humanities Department

How long have you been teaching at CSM? Any previous teaching experience?
I have been teaching at CSM for seven years.  I also had ten months of student teaching at Westlake High School, Charles County, Maryland.  

Describe one of your most successful endeavors integrating technology in the classroom.
I have incorporated video clips, such as the beginning of the movie the Mummy (1999), to illustrate and reinforce my lecture and discussion on ancient Egypt.  The students not only enjoyed but years later remember the experience and the material.  

What impact has the use of technology had on the learning process, the course delivery, and student learning/success? Technology- used correctly- has enormous impact on the learning process in a positive way and improves course delivery and enhances student learning/success. 

What software would you recommend to other instructors? What are some of the
features/uses of this software? I would recommend using Helix Producer and Audacity. Helix Producer is a great program for streaming/editing video clips and Audacity edits sound and music files for whatever purpose you need. Note: Helix Producer is available in the ITC, Audacity is available as a free download form the Internet.  

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Spotlight on Faculty: Janet Evans-Houser
Adjunct Professor: Fine Arts and Humanities Department

How long have you been teaching at CSM? Any previous teaching experience?
I have been teaching at CSM for four years. Prior to that, I conducted training workshops.

How have you used technology in your traditional classes? All of my classes are web-enhanced. I make use of the companion websites produced by the publishers that provide students with access to activities, webquests and great online resources.  I have also experimented with using blogs as individual student portfolios. In all classes, students are required to give short presentations and I encourage them to use technology and the Smart Podium to do that. I schedule several sessions in computer labs during the semester and show students how access online resources for research papers.

Describe one of your most successful endeavors integrating technology in the classroom. My most enjoyable use of technology was having my history class create a wiki. They divided up into three groups (Renaissance, Reformation and Age of Exploration) and they researched key topics within those broad categories. The wiki software is very easy to master and students enjoyed working collaboratively on the project. Since every contribution could be tracked, it was easy for me to tell who the slackers were. The responsible students really appreciated that feature. The final research project had to be fully documented from reputable sources. At the end of the semester, they presented their wiki to the class using the smart podium to access the Internet.

What impact has the use of technology had on the learning process, the course delivery, and student learning/success? I have to say that the Smart Podium is a tremendous asset. I like to integrate multimedia resources, such as MPEG video clips and image files into my class presentations. Having Internet access is invaluable. I frequently access the course website in class to show students where assignments have been posted. Students respond positively to technology-enhanced classes. Many of them enjoy active learning and web-based activities reinforce their classroom learning. Being able to work on group projects, like the wiki, from remote locations, eliminates the headache of students trying to meet in person to accomplish their work.

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Fall 2005

Spotlight on Faculty: Paula Martino
Adjunct Professor, Fine Arts and Humanities Department

How long have you been teaching at CSM? Any previous teaching experience? I have been a member of the faculty since January, 2004 and was previously a teaching assistant in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at the University of Maryland at College Park while attending graduate school.

What impact has the use of technology had on the learning process, the course delivery, and student learning/success? My students really appreciate that I use my course website for more than basic contact information. They always comment on how useful the site is for keeping up with the material covered in my course and in preparation for exams. I have links to scholarly sources of research information, the course syllabus, the current lecture presentations (including images) for their review, study guides, and guides to properly citing and formatting a research paper, to name just a few of its features.

All of my lectures are accompanied by PowerPoint presentations that provide bullet points of key information, concepts taken from the textbook and assigned readings, and images of art and architecture that I can easily manipulate to show details, make comparisons, to reinforce many of the information presented in the bullet points. This is a much better way of delivering information to the students and making it relevant to the information they read in the textbook and other assigned readings.

As a teaching assistant at Maryland, we did not yet have this technology available in our lecture halls and classrooms and our course websites were limited to providing a copy of the current syllabus. We had to deliver the material the old fashioned way – we show slides and lecture while the student takes notes of what they think is relevant information. Often my ideas of relevant information differed from my students and it was reflected on quiz and test scores. We often resorted to scheduling additional review sessions before major exams to help address this problem but it was more work for everyone than is necessary given the technology that is available in education today.

What software would you recommend to other instructors? What are some of the features/uses of this software? I love PowerPoint for giving lectures and I’ve just recently learned how to integrate sound and video into the presentations to further enhance their content.

I also love the smart podium that is installed in my classroom. If my students’ discussions lead to a work of art or architecture that is not included in my course presentation, then I can easily link to the Internet and very quickly find it to show to them. This ability has led to some really engaging and thought- provoking discussions in my classes.

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Spotlight on Faculty: George Bedell
Assistant Professor, Fine Arts and Humanities Department

How long have you been teaching at CSM? Any previous teaching experience? I have been at CSM for 2 ½ years. Previously, I taught photography and design at Florida State University.

How have you used technology in your traditional classes? Because I teach art, it is very important for my students to look at visual imagery. Lately, the slide projector has given way to the LCD projector – this makes it fairly easy for me to scan photographs and paintings from books and magazines in my own
collection. Also, photography is becoming more and more digital every day, so we now teach Photoshop, plus the use of digital cameras, and high end photo quality inkjet printers.

What impact has the use of technology had on the learning process, the course delivery, and student learning/success? Digital photography happens faster than the traditional process. This has some obvious advantages – students can make more images more quickly. Interestingly, this exact phenomenon causes trouble, too. Sometimes I feel like the students make more “snapshots,” more images with less consideration, because of the immediacy of the new process.

What software would you recommend to other instructors? What are some of the features/uses of this software? My favorite new tool is the Remote Desktop software built into the new Macintosh OS. It allows me to do my demonstrations on the students monitors instead of on the LCD projector, thus assuring they are paying attention and not surfing the web. Also, I can have all of the class look at one student’s project on the monitor, so that we can have class discussions about works in progress.

Describe a time when technology didn't work as well as you expected?
Hmm, I like what I do, but new technology NEVER works as well as I expect it to!

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Spring 2005

Spotlight on Faculty: Tom Russ
Professor, Biological and Physical Sciences Department

How long have you been teaching at CSM? Any previous teaching experience?
This is my fifth year at CSM. I worked at the Community College of Baltimore County (Catonsville) as an adjunct and full-time faculty member before coming here. In a previous professional role, I did a fair amount of training for professional groups (surveyors, engineers, planners).

Spotlight on Faculty: Dr. Barbara Stephanic
Professor, Fine Arts and Humanities

How long have you been teaching at CSM?  Any previous teaching experience? I’ve been teaching full time for 14 years at CSM. Previously, I was an adjunct Professor at CSM and holding positions simultaneously at Georgetown University (5 years), American University (1 year), and Northern VA Community College (3 years).

How have you used technology in your traditional classes? I use the computer for PowerPoint presentations and demonstrations, CDs for interactive exercises, and museum web sites for analytical discussions of specific works of art. 

What  impact has the use of technology had on the learning process, the course delivery, and student  learning/success? It has allowed me to show students works of art from collections all over the world. The virtual tours on museum web sites allow the students to see the works "in situ" and to get a sense of the installations as well as a detailed view of each of the individual pieces. The CD programs often use animation to demonstrate technique and process of different mediums.  The visual impact is far more effective for student understanding than the typical lecture process. 

Describe one of your most successful endeavors integrating technology in the classroom.  Describe a time when technology didn't work as well as you expected. The most successful is the CD interactive exercises. It provides interactive exercises with step-by-step guides for each process outlined in the textbook.  The Technology Services Department's Help Desk is right around the corner from my classroom and the staff will come quickly to my rescue if a piece of equipment does not work. So far, the use of technology in my classroom has been very successful which is why I have developed a Web-based course in Art Appreciation and have added a second Web-based section for this fall.

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   Fall 2004

Spotlight on Faculty: Kathleen Lauber
Associate Professor, Biological and Physical Sciences  

How long have you been teaching at CSM?  Any previous teaching experience? I have been teaching full-time at CSM for seven years in the Biology Department. The majority of my classes are Microbiology (BIO 2010). I have also taught Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology (BIO 1040). Prior to being hired by CSM, I worked for several area community colleges (Catonsville, Carroll, Frederick and Baltimore City) as an adjunct faculty member. I taught classes in Human Biology, General Biology, and Anatomy and Physiology. 

How have you used technology in your traditional classes? For the last three years I have used PowerPoint presentations in my lectures. This enables me to enlarge the pictures and diagrams from the textbook, add pictures from the Internet, and incorporate pertinent information relating to the topics being taught. In the laboratory I use PowerPoint presentations as a review for my students so that they can work individually or as a group when studying for exams. 

 What impact has the use of technology had on the learning process, the course delivery, and student learning/success? Students seem to appreciate the inclusion of the PowerPoint presentations because they make the material easier to view than transparencies. Also, the transitional devices that are available through Microsoft PPT help to keep the students’ interest. 

Describe one of your most successful endeavors integrating technology in the
classroom.  Describe a time when technology didn't work as well as you expected.
Hopefully my most successful endeavor with integrating technology into the classroom will occur in the fall 2004 semester. I have developed a WebQuest, a virtual laboratory to replace two “wet” laboratories in my Microbiology (BIO 2010) course. I decided on this format for several reasons. First, many of today’s students enjoy working at the computer, and this exercise allows them that privilege and the ability to work at their own pace. Second, the preparation time and cost of the two “wet” laboratories is great. With the need to economize being paramount throughout the college, I felt that this would be a way to reduce costs. Third, the ability to have a student do this lab, in lieu of the wet labs (if they have missed the regular lab classes) was very appealing. I will offer this WebQuest for the first time to one of my three lab sections in the fall 2004 semester. If the feedback is positive, I plan to have all the Biology 2010 lab sections doing the virtual labs by spring of 2005. 

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