Application || 1998 - 1999 Project Descriptions || 1999 - 2000 Project Descriptions
2000-2001 Project Descriptions || 2001-2002 Project Descriptions || Buffalo State College2000-2001 TIP Challenge Grants
The winning proposals fulfilled the original aim of the TIP program to foster "realistic, substantive involvement of broad-based groups of faculty and professional staff…to infuse technology into instructional practices" at Buffalo State. Following are executive summaries of the projects funded under the 2000-2001 TIP Challenge Grant program.
Project Title: "Data Acquisition and Analysis Technology in Teaching Application"
Project Coordinators: David Henry - Elementary Education and Reading, Robin Harris - Earth Sciences and Science Education
Project Collaborators: Dewayne Beery - Physics; Nancy Chicola - Elementary Education and Reading, Stan Wegrzynowski - Buffalo Public Schools Science Director, Richard Batt - Earth Sciences and Science Education
The Data Acquisition and Analysis Technology in Teaching Applications (DA2T2A) project will provide training and equipment for Buffalo State education students to design and implement learning centers that are based on data acquisition technology. This technology allows students as young as primary grades to easily gather large amounts of data, such at position, velocity, temperature, light intensity, acidity of a solution, force or weight, sound frequency and intensity, and heart rate. With easy access of data, students can use inquiry methods to develop powerful science and math ideas. Buffalo State Science Education and Elementary Education students will master the use of this equipment and then design learning centers that guide K-12 students in meaningful learning. The BSC students will use the learning centers in their field experiences, exposing local teachers and administrators to these powerful learning tools. Selected BSC students will be invited to present their learning centers to BSC faculty, local area teachers, and their fellow BSC students.
Project Title: "T.U.T.O.R.: Teaching Using Technological Online Resources"
Project Coordinator: Gail Wells - Minority Student Services
Project Collaborators: Roswell Park - Academic Support Services, Charles Kenyon - Student Affairs
This proposal will deliver a Web-based supplemental instruction program to Buffalo State College students through the use of Tutor.com; the first distance-learning company to offer real-time Web-based connections between instructors and learners in hundreds of subjects. This pilot program would engage mathematics tutors from the Academic Support Programs Unit (ASP) who are interested in developing a learning partnership as on-line tutors to students. On-line tutors would receive training that familiarizes them with the relevant course syllabi and the expectations of individual faculty members. The Project Leader, who will be responsible for the program logistics, will facilitate training. Faculty will receive periodic feedback from the tutors in order to adjust their approach to the course material as needed. By employing the services of Tutor.com, the college would receive both a weekly and monthly report tracking who is using the system, the volume of usage as well as the effectiveness of the supplemental instruction. As a further benefit, students will have the flexibility to access Tutor.com from either a campus lab or from their home computer.
Project Title: "A Multidisciplinary Conference: Opportunities and challenges: Using Technology to enhance Higher Education Instruction and Learning"
Project Coordinator: Carmen Iannaccone - Exceptional Education
Project Collaborators: Angelo Conorozzo - CDHS, Timothy Gallineau - Educational Foundations
The theme of the proposed conference "Opportunities and Challenges: Using Technology to Enhance Higher Education Instruction and Learning" will help to identify, analyze, and discuss opportunities and challenges that are faced by higher education personnel in implementing and using technology to enhance higher education instruction and learning. This conference will feature national and local experts who are experienced in the areas of over coming challenges in usage of technology and seizing opportunities to facilitate its infusion in higher education instruction.
Project Title: "The Interactive Classroom"
Project Coordinator: Stephen Vermette - Earth Sciences and Science Education
Project Collaborators: Kelly Frothingham - Geography and Planning, Kimberly Irvine - Geography and Planning, John Freidhoff - Great Lakes Center, Mike Jurewicz - Instructional Resources
The college and individual academic departments have taken great strides to introduce and incorporate new teaching technologies into the classroom. While faculty are incorporating these technologies, they are most often used as ancillary equipment and have proven to be somewhat awkward as the instructor moves between technologies. Smart Board technology allows the instructor to run a variety of multimedia materials from a single location on a large touch-sensitive screen (computer, internet and video). In addition, the instructor is able to highlight key topics and write notes over computer images, show a video, and then create a record of the lesson to be printed or published as HTML pages. The instructor is free to interact with the students (as opposed to the equipment). In short, the power of a computer with the simplicity of a whiteboard. We propose to incorporate the Smart Board technology as an integral part of four courses (Introductory Meteorology - GES 241; Conservation - GEG307; Weather Forecasting - GES 445; and Spatial Statistics - GEG 415). In addition a series of workshops are proposed for faculty/staff and pre-service/in-service teachers, and the Smart Board technology will be made available for use in teacher education classes.
Project Title: "High-Performance Computing"
Project Coordinator: Scott Crass - Mathematics
Project Collaborators: Crystal Cooper - Physics, David Ettestad - Physics, George Hole - Philosophy
The HPC group will establish a multi-platform, multidisciplinary parallel-processing computing laboratory. Initially, the Appleseed program will be installed, which is well-known and used extensively in major universities as well as in industry and government. Later, other parallel computing systems will be installed. Specifically, we plan to use Beowulf for Linux, which started and is still used at NASA. This lab will allow faculty and students to simulate the power of a super-computer, making possible computer applications not currently available on campus. For example, the latest integrated analytical tools will be available for data visualization, archiving, and modeling. This will be possible with the integration of Mathematica and Maple programs into parallel processing format. Users of this high-performance computing (HPC) facility will include faculty and students from Physics, Mathematics, Philosophy, and Computer Information Systems. Faculty and students from a wide variety of disciplines, and perhaps certain members of the non-academic community, could also benefit from this powerful facility.
Direct questions and applications to Nancy Herrmann at ext. 6910,
or e-mail: herrmanl@bscmail.buffalostate.edu
