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Spring 2004

Daniel Boye, Davidson College (Physics)
Environmental Noise and Architectural Acoustics: Field Studies with a Tablet PC

This initiative will develop new curricular material using TabletPC's to help non-science major students explore concepts in much the same way that scientists do. The emerging technology of Tablet PC's overcomes many problems of mobile data acquisition and analysis that have made field studies in the past an awkward and cumbersome activity. The new curricular material will be used primarily in the Musical Technology (Physics 115) course and will likely see use in the physics department's other courses which satisfy the non-lab core requirement in the sciences. The exercises assigned to students will be organized in three parts. The first will help familiarize the students with the Tablet PC and the sound recording and analysis software. The focus for this part will be on architectural acoustics. The second part will use the sound level meter and Tablet PC to measure integrated noise levels in different locations. The third part will be a project of each group's design addressing an issue of either environmental noise or architectural acoustics.

Proposal
Report and Project Home Page: http://webphysics.davidson.edu/faculty/dmb/TabletPCs/tabletPC.acoustics.htm

Romi L. Burks, Southwestern University (Biology)
Applications for Learning Management System in the Liberal Arts & Sciences

In a digital age, one almost cannot avoid some integration of technology into their pedagogical thinking. However, different disciplines or varied student composition of classes requires different tools when applying technology to classroom endeavors. One learning management system is unlikely to fit the mold of every faculty member unless it contains every function imaginable, yet it is difficult to find the time independently to assess the different products. In Spring of 2004, I propose to evaluate the utility of different learning management systems by using the information compiled at www.edutools.info, the collective experience of faculty at ACS institutions and the familiarity of the ACS Technology Center. Using volunteers groups from both a non-majors class (Environmental Science) as well as an upper-level Biology Course (Invertebrate Zoology), I will be able to test the applicability of different functions in disseminating information to students as well as retrieving information from them. Through this project, I hope to increase awareness about how decisions are made about incorporating technology into a classroom and provide a website where ACS faculty (across disciplines and that teach different student groups) can go to contrast learning management systems.

Proposal
Final Report
Project Home Page: http://www.southwestern.edu/~burksr/acstechgrant.html

Tim Cutler, Austin College (NITLE Southern Region)
Internet Music Theory Database

Like other music teachers, I spend a great deal of time finding appropriate examples of harmonic and contrapuntal techniques for my courses in tonal music theory. Presently, there are few sources that offer help. The purpose of this project is to create an internet database of music theory examples to remedy this situation. Such a database could save teachers hours of preparation time, and it also would be useful to music students wanting to further their theoretical studies independently. The database will consist of score excerpts in Finale notation accompanied by sound files, organized into specific harmonic and contrapuntal subjects. There will be approximately thirty chapters, each devoted to a specific harmonic or contrapuntal technique.
The title, movement, and measure numbers of each excerpt will be clearly marked, and some examples will include a brief comment about an unusual or interesting feature. Each chapter will include both typical and atypical examples of the topic. I will supply the initial excerpts, but eventually I would like others in the music theory and music education community to contribute their favorite examples. Thus, the Internet Music Theory Database will be an ever-growing resource for music teachers and students.

Proposal
Final Report
Project Home Page: http://www.colleges.org/techcenter/music/theory/

Craig Hultgren, Birmingham-Southern College (Music)
ACS New Music Ensemble Learning Object Preparation

Luna Nova On-line Music Modules
This project will expand the series of on-line music resources for use in classes and as general reference tools that the Orpheus Alliance, the music collaborative of the Associated Colleges of the South, created last year. The grant will allow Luna Nova, the resident new music ensemble of the ACS, to record in both audio and video compositions by Igor Stravinsky, Olivier Messiaen, and Elliott Carter for inclusion in on-line study modules of these pieces. These modules for include performance analysis as well as recordings of Luna Nova's performance of the works. Additional divisions within the modules address performance practice issues which will be of particular interest to students of the cello, piano, and other instruments in the ensemble. The recording will be done on the campus of Birmingham-Southern College on June 18 through 20, 2004.

Proposal
Progress Report
Home Page URL: http://www.lunanova.org/index.html

Mary Grace Neville, Southwestern University (Economics & Business)
Business as an Agent of World Benefit: On-Line Conference Curriculum Unit

Business as an Agent of World Benefit is a world inquiry and global dialogue project (see www.weatherhead.cwru.edu/bawb/ for more information) exploring the positive intersections of business and society. Rooted in participatory and anticipatory learning theory, a pedagogical approach is being developed for bringing the world inquiry into college classrooms. Specifically, this ACS Technology project develops a curriculum unit to use in conjunction with a series of global, on-line conferences that bring together people from diverse cultures, across a broad landscape of business and society, and sharing a common objective – making this interconnected world a “better” place for everyone. The teaching module will be available for review and piloting by May 2004 and completed for classroom use by summer 2004. Materials are targeted primarily for business students and faculty; however materials are also adaptable for related disciplines such as urban development, globalization, environmental studies, and sociology.

Proposal
Teaching Module

Alfons Teipen, Furman University (Religion)
Introduction to Islam: "Lecture - Documentaries" on DVD for Inter Institutional Collaboration

I plan to produce one or two "lecture - documentary" DVDs, each 50 minutes in length, dealing with the Life of Muhammad, and the Qur'an from a historical - critical and theological perspective. The materials, to be recorded on DVD media, and possibly also hosted on the Web in MS-Producer or other, non-proprietary format, will be made available to the three collaborating institutions during the Fall of 2004 and will be shared with interested ACS institutions. Together with the DVDs, I will produce Web based materials that allow students and teachers to further explore the subject matter discussed in the “lecture -documentaries;” these web materials will include further readings, maps, images, and links to pertinent materials, as well as interactive quizzes on the materials.

Proposal
Report
DVs are available upon request.

Summer 2004

David Asbury, Southwestern University (Music)
The ACS Midi Network

The project involves the creation of a web portal under the auspices of ACS that will serve as a storage, distribution and information center for new sampled sound libraries and those in the public domain. The portal will focus on platforms presently used by ACS member institutions in their music labs and in faculty studios. The creation of this website will help to facilitate communication and sharing amongst our institutions and further enable our student and faculty musicians to become more fully engaged in the use of sampled sound midi based technology. The project further proposes to conduct a survey regarding the current status and future plans of member institution's labs and studios. Faculty members and students most directly involved with the labs/studios will be encouraged to participate in the 2004 summer workshop where strategies regarding the needs of each institution can be addressed in an open discussion format. Another component of the workshop would address current trends in software synthesizers and sampling.

Proposal
Interim Report
Final Report
Project Home Page: http://ssfa.southwestern.edu/midinet/

Michael Dorcas, Davidson College (Biology)
Floral and Faunal Identification Made Easy: a Novel Approach to an Old Problem

Training students in conservation biology requires a hands-on, in the field approach in which students develop projects that are applicable to specific conservation problems. Many of these projects require the ability to quickly identify local flora and fauna (e.g., trees, frogs, flowers). Unfortunately, considerable training is often required before students' identification skills can be considered reliable and time to conduct proper training often reduces time available for actual completion of the project. Dichotomous keys, the traditional method utilized for identifying species of animals and plants, usually require knowledge of characters that are difficult to ascertain correctly without extensive training. I will develop a revolutionary method of faunal and floral identification that surpasses traditional identification techniques. This method will be based on web-based programming and will be usable on the World Wide Web and as a portable identification system that can be carried easily into the field via Pocket and Tablet PC's. The proposed work will be carried out in collaboration with Mur Muchane, Davidson's Director of Instructional Technology, Davidson's Instructional Technology.

Proposal
Project Report
Project Home Page: www.bio.davidson.edu/snakes
Home Page: www.bio.davidson.edu/dorcas

Maha Zewail Foote and Gulnar Rawji, Southwestern University (Chemistry)
Web Based Tutorials for General Chemistry

The goal of this project is to develop and evaluate web based tutorials for use in a General Chemistry course. The set of tutorials proposed here would allow students to do more exercises without using a lot of class time, visualize three dimensional molecular structures, self-test, perfect their problem solving skills, and assess their understanding of the material. A set of questions will be developed for chemical topics with which students seem to have difficulty understanding followed by several problems that give instant feedback.

Proposal
Final Report

Terry Klefstad, Southwestern University
Music Literature Web Site and Online Listening

Dr. Klefstad will be creating a password-protected web site for use in her Music Literature classes. The web site will include, in addition to the syllabus, course handouts, and useful links, on line listening examples to supplement the listening examples in the compact disc set that the students purchase along with their textbook. The web site will allow Dr. Klefstad to expand her listening list, assign extra listening examples before they are covered in class, and cover a more broad range of music in all four semesters of her Music Literature classes. The project for Summer 2004 will be to develop web sites for Music Literature 2, which covers late romantic to modern music, and Music Literature 4, which covers baroque music. These web sites will then be used as templates during fall 2004 to develop sites for the spring Music Literature classes. If you are interested in developing a similar site for your course, contact Dr. Klefstad. Her e-mail address can be found through the Southwestern University web page.

Proposal
Project Report
Project Website: http://www.southwestern.edu/~klefstat

Shane Pitts, Birmingham-Southern College (Psychology)
Critical Thinking in Psychology

The development and refinement of critical thinking skills is at the very heart of a liberal arts education. Virtually every educator affirms the value of such skills, yet a large body of research literature points to the regrettable conclusion that critical thinking is not an inevitable outcome of higher education (e.g., Bensley & Haynes, 1995; Langer & Applebee, 1987). Unlike many areas of inquiry, psychology is a discipline that is particularly plagued with the dissemination of myths and other forms of haphazardly gathered information which often results in the uncritical acceptance of “facts” and theories about human behavior. The proposed project will develop materials and resources aimed at educating students (and the general public) about a range of critical thinking skills and attitudes and various barriers to thinking critically about human behavior. In essence, the proposed project will be directed at the consumer of psychological information. The product of the proposal will be an extensive, multi-layered web-site consisting of a number of sub-components including, but not limited to guidelines to critical thinking, biases in human reasoning, judgment and memory, “best-practices” examples, informal fallacies and examples of pseudoscientific and unsubstantiated claims about human behavior. The site will also include a substantial set of links to critical thinking sites on the WWW as well as an extensive bibliography of printed resources. While a number of critical and skeptical thinking sites are currently available, few address specifically issues within psychology. Even fewer include information on why people often fail to think critically about human behavior or on the variety of roadblocks that impede such thinking. Likewise, unlike most sites, I plan to offer numerous examples and practice questions for each concept covered in the site. Finally, there will be information specifically designed to assist psychology instructors (and others) on infusing critical thinking into their classroom.

Proposal
Final Report

Carl Robertson, Southwestern University (Modern Languages)
Chinese Language Video Clips Project

This project will establish a website for web-based video clips and exercises to complement Chinese language classroom activity. There are a number of prepared transcripts for Chinese films that are useful in the language classroom. These films generally contain authentic, everyday conversations. Web-based multi-media activities will help students prepare for class exercises and review the material afterwards. These films will help to establish contexts and application of textbook material. The project will establish exercises and quizzes. Exercises will help students prepare for viewing and using the information, the quizzes will reinforce what they have learned. These multi-media exercises will be available to the students through password and will be available to other ACS college programs through arrangements made with Dr. Robertson.

Proposal
Report
Project Home Page: http://lux.llc.southwestern.edu/~modlangs/chinese/index.html

Matthew Weeks, Centenary College (Psychology)
SurveyStop: An Online Facility for Easing Students' Survey Completion

(Note: Dr. Weeks and Michael Futreal, Webmaster, Centenary College are collaborating on this project.)

In psychology and related disciplines (e.g., business management, human resources, political science, exercise science), measures of individual differences are prominent topics of discussion. For example, in Introduction to Psychology, coverage of such topics as self-esteem, depression, locus of control, and attitudes are frequently facilitated by students’ completion of the survey materials. However, completion and scoring of the surveys can take valuable class time. We will develop an interactive website allowing course instructors access to a survey materials online. Students will be able to visit the site, complete a survey, and then the instructor can download the data for class discussion. On the Website, surveys will be arranged categorically.

Proposal
Report

Erika Zettl, Southwestern University (Modern Languages)
Developing Slide Presentations for Spanish Language Instruction

The purpose of this project is to develop power point presentations covering the vocabulary and grammar studied in first through third semesters of Spanish: specifically covering chapters Ante Todo through eighteen from the text Puntos de Partida: An Invitacion to Spanish 6th edition (McGraw Hill). These slide presentations are intended as supplemental material to be used by students and faculty.

The vocabulary slides provide visual aids to introduce new words, tell stories and, generally, encourage production of target language. Students do not sit and watch; rather they answer questions, discuss topics and practice according to the prompts. The grammar slide presentations focus on reviewing topics covered in the text, contain unique follow up activities and provide answ2/21/07a is to create a central web page that contains these slide presentations. Students are able to access these presentations with the possibility of downloading and printing the grammar slides to use as reference materials. Faculty also access this page and, according to personal teaching style and classroom requirements, use the slides in or outside of the classroom as well as adapt or add to the slides.

Proposal
Interim Report
Final Report

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