Scott Hamlin, Wheaton College

Scott Hamlin adds his perspective to those of other planners on the NITLE Summit’s theme, “Advancing towards Liberal Arts 3.0.” Hamlin, a Summit planning group member this year and also a presenter in the digital humanities breakout session, is Director of Technology for Research and Instruction at Wheaton College. His thoughts:

Whether it’s a new epoch for liberal arts colleges or a soup that we are trying to perfect — I think there can be little doubt that “times they are a-changing” for liberal arts institutions. We are living through a time and in an environment with the potential both to disrupt and to transform the liberal arts college culture — a culture that traditionally includes things like high cost education, a residential four-year undergraduate experience, small student populations, low student-teacher ratios, a value placed on face-to-face, highly personalized interactions, etc. This kind of experience has to change, it seems, when pitted against tough economic times, social and professional interactions that are increasingly mediated through technology, and a trend toward decentralizing the way we access information and technological tools. Indeed, much has changed already.

The members of our classrooms are changing. We’ve been talking for years now about our students as digital natives — a generation who have grown up online, an environment that has shaped them, impacting how they learn and what they expect of library, information services, and (more broadly) their educational experience. It’s true that some characterizations of our students have led to false assumptions, gross generalizations, and oversimplifications, but I think the kernal of the idea is essentially correct. Our students have changed. Read the rest of this post »

Collaboration, Technology, Information Literacy – will this be on the test?
Definitely… So, how high will you score?

Or, to put it another way, when we as technologists and librarians partner with the faculty to enrich an assignment, a course, or an entire curriculum, how do we know what grade to give ourselves? How do we assess the effect of these collaborations on student learning outcomes?

At the upcoming “NITLE Summit 2010: Advancing toward Liberal Arts 3.0,” Sondra Smith (St. Lawrence University) and I invite you to explore with us the assessment question at all scales – from the assignment to the institution. Using post-project video interviews with faculty and students at Colgate University, we evaluate the effectiveness of our support, the engagement of the students, and the depth of their understanding as judged by their professors. Projects to be highlighted include the Marginalized Conflicts Podcast Series (see https://sites.google.com/a/students.colgate.edu/podcasting/Home ) and Introduction to Anthropology poster projects (see http://offices.colgate.edu/Video_Console/Preview_Player.asp?VideoID=478 ).

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Dave Baird
Director, Academic Technologies
Colgate University

Author: Giovanni Maria Cassini 1790

When push comes to shove, it’s awfully good to know you have a GIS buddy to watch your back. For several years now, the NITLE GIS e-mail list has linked educators in common conversation to better exchange information, share resources, and mull over such heady topics as spatial literacy and the role of spatial technologies in the liberal arts curriculum.

As I write, there are over 250 subscribers to the GIS-list who come from NITLE Network colleges and universities, non-Network institutions, and related organizations. This number will surely grow as spatial studies gain importance in non-traditional disciplines (e.g., History, English, Global Studies) and interactive online mapping technologies evolve.

To understand where we are today and what we might yet become as a community, perhaps a birds-eye view would be helpful….

Read the rest of this post »

What do you think of when you hear the words “technology for teaching and learning”? Conditioned by my work at NITLE, I think of web 2.0 technologies–social, collaborative, in the cloud and out of the classroom.  The reception of a recent presentation with my colleague Nancy Millichap at the 2010 AACU annual conference, reminded me that I might hold a minority view. Read the rest of this post »

Gabriela Torres, Wheaton College, Shares Ideas via Videoconference

Innovative faculty at NITLE colleges are sharing their ideas about using technology in their teaching with other faculty who have similar interests. To do so, they are using these interactive videoconferences to share their practices, notably those in the “Special Topics in Digital Teaching” series. (In January, Rebecca Davis and I offered a breakout at the AAC&U Annual Conference on this topic. Our presentation was called “Virtually Anywhere:  Sharing Effective Practices for Innovation in Liberal Education.”)

By sharing knowledge and insights, liberal arts colleges can embrace and take advantage of the current dramatic changes in technologies and the information environment. Yesterday afternoon, for instance, Michael Taylor, assistant professor of political science and director of the Center for Mobile Research and Social Change at Seton Hall University, discussed the uses of smartphones in the classroom across multiple disciplines (see “Teaching with Mobile Devices: Smartphones“). Taylor presented the use of mobile devices in student projects including digital storytelling, mapping, polling, and in-field data collection. Twenty-three participants from 20 campuses participated in the session, enabling Professor Taylor to share a sense of his and his campus’ innovative work with interested others from across the country. The participants were able to learn about other parts of the Seton Hall community as well, since innovations like Professor Taylor’s call for partnerships across the campus, involve professional staff from different areas such as technologists and librarians, and demand coordination at the administrative level if they are to succeed.

NITLE is always looking for ways to support this kind of sharing and cross-fertilization between liberal arts colleges and their diverse faculties. From virtual videoconferences to the upcoming NITLE Summit for campus leaders, we seek to provide venues for discussion and platforms for developing collaborative partnerships. Your ideas about how NITLE can best nurture creative exchange between practitioners of liberal education are welcome. (And, of course, those in the NITLE Network are welcome and encouraged to register for the Summit. Early registration ends tomorrow!)