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Digital Groundbreaking for Digital Learning and Media Center

By db on May 4, 2012

Today marks the “Digital Groundbreaking” for Colgate’s Digital Learning and Media Center (DLMC), opening in the Fall, 2012 semester on the fifth floor of the Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology. The renovation is made possible by a generous gift from Dr. Anita Grover, MD ’74 and Tom Hargrove, P ’14.
The Collaboration for Enhanced Learning (CEL) and the Digital Media Team have been working with faculty over the past ten years, making do with the technologies and spaces available, from the basement of McGregory Hall, to borrowing space from our generous colleagues in Little Hall, to a temporary setup in the Batza classroom, Case-Geyer 560).
During this time, we have seen dramatic growth in the number of courses and student projects involving digital media assignments, evidence for the claim that effective communication with digital media is an emerging critical skill for the Liberal Arts graduate.
2004 – 19 student video projects
2008 – 109 student video projects
2010-2012 – averaging 200 projects per year
The Digital Learning and Media Center will provide a collaborative, dynamic space where students and faculty can work together on digital media projects, where faculty can teach interdisciplinary courses that incorporate digital media assignments, and where technologists and librarians can deliver workshops to faculty, staff, and students alike.
The Digital Learning and Media Center is strategically located in two ways: first, it will be instantly visible upon entering the 5th floor of Case-Geyer; second, it will be adjacent to a suite of offices that will be occupied by members of CEL and the Digital Media team, who will be available to assist students with their projects.
The facility will provide one-stop shopping for students, where they can:
  • ·      check out equipment to record content (cameras, audio recorders, etc);
  • ·      receive instruction from faculty, IT and Library experts;
  • ·      edit their work on high-end Macintosh computers;
  • ·      present the final product using state of the art projection and audio facilities.


Michael Coyle: Airplay + AppleTV + iPad = Instant Jazz

By zlatko grozl on May 1, 2012
Airplay is Apple’s proprietary wireless networking platform that allows users to wirelessly stream music to a pair of speakers connected to an AppleTV, configured on the same wireless network.  The music is streamed directly from most iPhone, iPad, or iMacs via the wireless network, through the AppleTV and finally through stereo speakers connected to this fantastic $99 AppleTV.
Since Michael expressed a need to move around the classroom while still having control of the AV equipment in the room, IT installed an AppleTV with a pair of speakers in Lawrence 310.  To test the system, Professor Coyle was issued an iPad 2 and was encouraged to experiment and play Jazz music in an ad-hoc fashion while teaching his course.
The experiment has been a success so far, but that’s not to say that our testing is complete.  We are still unsure of how Apple’s proprietary wireless platform will impact Colgate’s wireless infrastructure, as more users learn about this technology.  But enough of the details – let’s see what Prof. Michael Coyle had to say:

Flipping/Inverting the College Classroom

By Ray Nardelli on April 30, 2012

Inverting the classroom is a form of blended learning which encompasses any use of Internet technology to leverage the learning in a classroom, so a teacher can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing. This is most commonly being done using teacher created videos that students view outside of class time.

The traditional pattern of college education has been to have classroom lectures, in which the professor explains a topic, followed by homework, in which the student does exercises. In flipped or inverted teaching, the student first studies the topic by himself, typically using video lessons created by the professor or shared by another educator, such as those provided by the Khan Academy.

In the classroom, the pupil then tries to apply the knowledge by solving problems and doing practical work.  The role of the professor is then to tutor the student when they become stuck, rather than to impart the initial lesson. This allows time inside the class to be used for additional learning-based activities.

Inverting the classroom allows more hands-on time with the instructor guiding the students, allowing them to assist the students when they are assimilating information and creating new ideas (upper end of Bloom’s Taxonomy).

Robert Talbert, PhD, Associate Professor of Mathematics at Grand Valley State University presents a seminar on how he implements the inverted classroom.  “AMATYC Webinar: Flipping the College Classroom”

Watch in YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nRCeZh0sMQ


iPad Apps for Professors

By Ray Nardelli on April 27, 2012

Instructional Technologists Ahmad Khazaee and Zlatgo Grozl present 10 apps that can be used for teaching, research, and personal productivity.

Poplet — mind/idea mapping solution
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/popplet/id374151636

Dropbox — file storage and synchronization
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dropbox/id327630330

PDF Reader Pro — PDF reading and annotation tool
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pdf-reader-pro-edition-for/id364502063

Doc Scan HD — document scanning
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/doc-scan-hd-pdf-scanner/id467016332

QuickOffice Pro HD — office suite with Google Doc/Dropbox support
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quickoffice-pro-hd-edit-office/id376212724

Pleco — free Chinese dictionary with additional features
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pleco-chinese-dictionary/id341922306

Human Japanese HD — Multimedia solution for learning Japanese
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/human-japanese-hd/id419031017

Flipboard — newsreader magazine
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flipboard/id358801284

Google Currents — newsreader made by Google
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/google-currents/id459182288

Notes Plus — note taking software with many features
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/notes-plus/id374211477

Dragon Dictation — powerful voice dictation tool
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764

Paper by FiftyThree — sketching app
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/paper-by-fiftythree/id506003812

iBooks – free book reader
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193

Google Search – Google docs, goggles and search all in one
http://itunes.apple.com/app/google-mobile-app/id284815942