Center for Teaching

Brooklyn College

Dec. 1, 2005

 

 

 

 

SMARTCLASSROOM

 

To book one of the Smartclassrooms, call or visit the Scheduling Office in 2110 Boylan Hall x 5148.


Keys to the Smartclassrooms are also available from the Scheduling Office.

 

List of Smartclassrooms (probably incomplete):

 

133NE    133NE     214NE    232NE    2207J     2301J    3305J    5301J     4141B     320A    421A    508A


* The lecture rooms in Ingersoll which were just renovated are also smart classrooms, although there is no definite confirmation on this.

 

1141N    1127N    2143N    2127N    3143N    3127N    1310N

 

 

 

 

 

WEBPORTAL

You can access Webportal at  https://portal.brooklyn.cuny.edu

 

After you log in, click the tab Applications to access:

 

·        Attendance Online

·        Student Academic Progress Alert

·        Webgrade

 

PLANNING FOR 2006-2007

THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF

INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY INTO TEACHING

 

The goal is to collect the best, most practical, most effective ways to INTRODUCE technology into everyday teaching. We should avoid pursuing the creation of high-end Websites and concentrate instead on  the BEST PRACTICES on very mundane topics, such as communication protocols between students and instructors (etiquette, format of attachments, how to manage the flow of emails for homework, for instance); uses of email, bulletin boards and chat for cooperative projects; assigning Web-related projects.

We will strive to identify a series of activities, NON-DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC, that enable students to own the learning process so that it fits individual learning styles and interests, promote collaborative learning, and enhance the sense of belonging to a class/community.

Experienced faculty will take turn in presenting their work and ideas, and the group will test the various activities suggested. Non-technology savvy faculty are also encouraged to participate as they will provide the needed feedback on the effectiveness of the proposals.

 

At the end we will produce a manual with a list of practical suggestions, procedures, exercises, activities and other ideas ready to be implemented even by instructors with minimal previous knowledge of technology.

 

1)      Communication protocols. Best, most efficient way to use email to communicate with students.

2)      Collaborative activities: research, joint-learning, group writing. Have students use email to communicate and work on collective projects.

3)      Experiences in the use of bulletin boards: how to structure meaningful online discussions (ex.: hierarchical vs. non-hierarchical postings). How to avoid the chaos of unorganized, random postings.

4)      Organizing meaningful sessions on chatroom/virtual classrooms: what is the goal of synchronous communication?

5)      Web-related projects: individual work (research, bibliographical, data collection) that allows students to follow personal inclinations, interests and style.

6)      Technology literacy requirements for students: gateways toward the development of blogs, wikis* e-portfolios.

 

 

 

 

Below is an example of an expanded list of topics concerning the basics of email use that could (or maybe should) be addressed by the workshop.

 

·        Using email effectively to communicate with students.

a.      Advantages of using multiple email accounts, one for each separate course.

b.      Is it possible to have multiple BC accounts? Alternatively, create accounts on Yahoo and similar services.


  • Communicating with students: protocols and etiquette, common-sense criteria and guidelines for students:

    • Should we try to establish some set of recommendations for practices so that students will know the basics of etiquette common throughout the college?
    • No-unsolicited emails policy?
    • Allow students to contact instructors for personal communication (excuses for absences, delays with papers, “could you tell me what we did in class today”-type requests?) Yes or No?
    • Guidelines on style: adopting the norms of formal, professional communication (no “hey prof,” “whazzup,” and “send homework pls.”) They will have to follow this discipline when they get a job.
    • Request they always write “From STUDENTNAME” in first line of email message (they always forget to sign, sometimes they send emails from friends’ accounts, often they have multiple accounts.)
    • When they reply, they must return original message.
    • Instructions on attachments: protocol for naming files for easy identification of author.
    • Protocols could be made available to all instructors (download from website) and given to students with the course syllabus.

 

* What Is Wiki? Wiki is in Ward's original description: The simplest online database that could possibly work. Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly. Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself. Like many simple concepts, "open editing" has some profound and subtle effects on Wiki usage. Allowing everyday users to create and edit any page in a Web site is exciting in that it encourages democratic use of the Web and promotes content composition by nontechnical users.