CHEM 2008: New Tools for Learning

Campus Highlights Abilene Christian University Azusa Pacific University Geneva College George Fox University Hardin-Simmons University Mount Vernon Nazarene University Oklahoma Christian University Olivet Nazarene University Palm Beach Atlantic University Taylor University

Here is just a sampling of how the membership is leading the charge in using technology to advance the cause of education. For more information, go to each institutions home page listed at the end of each section.

Abilene Christian University, Abilene, TX

Mobile Learning Experience Begins for Freshmen

Approximately six months after Abilene Christian University announced its intent to bring mobile learning devices into the classroom, every member of the freshman class was presented with an Apple iPhone 3G or iPod touch this weekend. This deployment to more than 950 students marks the first time that a university has introduced these mobile devices as learning tools on such a large scale.

These new ACU Wildcats began their mobile learning experience Aug. 16, using the latest in mobile technology for everything from class schedules and maps to in-class, real-time surveys.

This was a big weekend for everyone, said Phil Schubert, ACU executive vice president. Of course, we are extremely excited about the students receiving their devices and beginning their school year, but we also are excited about involving our technological partners and supporters in this historical event. They have all played an important role in where we are today.

In addition to Apple, AT&T and Alcatel-Lucent, other partners and supporters of Abilene Christian's mLearning initiative consist of technology leaders specializing in higher education applications, including Google, Turning Technologies, eMantras, Dipity and webfirecracker.com.

For more: http://www.acu.edu/news/videos/mobilelearning_launch.html

Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA

State-of-the-art Science Center

APU has recently undertaken its most fiscally significant projecta new $54.7 million science centerwhich reflects the universitys commitment to education and technological innovation.

The facility will include a 90-seat lecture hall, 23 discipline-specific classrooms, 3 general-purpose classrooms, 37 teaching and research laboratories, faculty offices, student study and community areas, and APUs Center for Research in Science.

Additional features include NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) and electron microscope rooms, an ecology pond, and a greenhouse use by faculty and students in collaborative research.

With 7,300 square feet of new labs, the center will enhance undergraduate student research and provide cutting-edge technology to better prepare them for careers in science and for post-graduate study. Construction began in October 2007, and the building is slated for completion in May 2009.

For more: http://www.apu.edu/advancement/projects/sciencecenter/

Campus-wide Comprehensive Software: The Eiro Project

In October 2007, APU launched the Eiro Project, which involves the implementation of a new administrative system, PeopleSoft 9.0. Named for the Greek term that means to join or connect, this project brings comprehensive software from Oracle PeopleSoft to serve APUs people-centered needs and offers the university the advantage of operating with innovative, cutting-edge technology. The new system not only supports the core functions of the university, such as finance, human resources, students, and customer relationship management, but also allows departments to work together more closely to serve students.

PeopleSoft 9.0 offers students easier access to records and information and place a new university portal equipped with world-class technology at their fingertips. The software streamlines processes such as academic advising and registration, increasing efficiency and convenience.
The new system also places a variety of tools at the disposal of APUs faculty and staff: from the convenience of online features such as time card keeping and expense reporting, to integrated technology designed to improve the classroom experience.

For more: http://www.apu.edu/eiro/

Geneva College, Beaver Falls, PA

First Cardiovascular Technology Graduate Program in the Nation Offered

Anticipating the needs of the future, Geneva College launched the first Cardiovascular Technology (CVT) graduate degree program in the nation. Drawing on Genevas long-standing affiliation with INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., the program offers students a M.S. degree in Cardiovascular Sciences. Genevas incoming freshmen will now have the option of obtaining a B.S. (in four years) or a B.S./M.S. degree (in five years) in CVT. Students coming into the program with another B.S. degree can complete the M.S. in two years. The program will launch in the fall 2008 semester.
Cardiovascular technologists are allied health professionals who work directly with cardiologists to perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the laboratory setting. Their assistance has become vital in the growing trend toward non-surgical solutions for a variety of cardiovascular diseases. The burden on cardiologists and their support staff will only increase as the baby boomer generation ages and cardiovascular disease continues to be among the leading killers in our nation, says Dr. Daryl Sas, chair of Genevas Department of Biology.

For more: http://www.geneva.edu/object/cvt

George Fox University, Newberg, OR

Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene, TX

The Search Continues in the International Asteroid Campaign

Initial results of the asteroid search pilot program conducted by faculty and students of HSUs Holland School of Sciences and Mathematics were so successful, that it is now expanded significantly. Participants of the International Asteroid Search Campaign include 13 high schools, two colleges, one university, and one private Internet-accessible observatory.

The International Asteroid Search Campaign (IASC) is provided as an educational outreach service program by Hardin-Simmons University, Astronomical Research Institute (Charleston, IL), Lawrence Hall of Science (Hands-On Universe, University of California at Berkeley), and Astrometrica (Austria).
Although the ultimate goal is to field a stand-alone program for high schools and universities, schools currently work through the HSU search platform. Participating schools access HSU Blackboard, where astronomical images from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) have been prepared and placed into folders. After the participating schools analyse the images, the results are returned to HSU where follow up images are coordinated with the Las Cumbres Observatory.

The success of the outreach program has not gone unnoticed in scientific circles. A manuscript to the professional, refereed journal Astronomy Education Review has been invited and is under preparation. Papers are being presented at the Texas Academy of Science (Baylor University; March 2007) Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (NASA Johnson Space Center; March 2007), National Hands-On Universe Meeting (Yerkes Observatory; June 2007), and Global Hands-On Universe Meeting (Tokyo; July 2007).

Campaigns for fall 2007 and spring 2008 include searching for Kuiper Belt objects (ice and rock boulders found 40 50 times as far from the Sun as earth) and supernovae (exploding stars in galaxies hundreds of millions of light years from Earth). Another campaign under design and testing is a search for comets that have wandered into near-Earth space.

For more: http://iasc.hsutx.edu/

Mount Vernon Nazarene University, Mt. Vernon, OH

Mobility Leading to Momentum and Meaning

The University has been busy phasing in technology upgrades and innovations, introducing everything from wireless networks to video conferencing and walking computer labs. The result, according to Director of Information Technology Services Tim Myatt (82), has been a more mobile MVNU.

We want to increase mobility, Myatt said. One of our primary goals is to facilitate learning by helping students and instructors to be more mobile.

Myatt and others have introduced several changes in recent months, but none has been more visible than the recent upgrades to the Universitys wireless network. Earlier this spring, MVNU expanded its wireless coverage to include all classrooms, conference rooms and common areas, like the cafeteria, the Prince Student Union and residence hall lounges.

Technology is also changing the way instructors and students in Adult and Graduate Studies (AGS) conduct classes. Beginning this year, many AGS programs will issue students tablet PCs, which are lighter and more versatile than traditional laptops. Since students equipped with tablets will be a lot more mobile than their laptop-lugging classmates, it now makes sense to install wireless networks in AGS classrooms.

Another technology upgrade is taking place in AGS, but this one is actually aimed at making students less mobile that is, a new video conferencing system will eliminate the need for students to drive long distances to class. Instructors will deliver lectures live from the Mount Vernon campus, and via two-way video and audio feeds, students at campuses throughout Ohio can listen and interact.

Oklahoma Christian University, Oklahoma City, OK

Oklahoma Christian Offering MacBooks

Oklahoma Christian University (OC) officials announced that the university will begin providing Apples MacBook to incoming freshmen and faculty who attend a new student orientation this summer. Current students will be offered a program where they can trade in their used laptops for a new MacBook for a modest charge. Included with each MacBook will be the students choice of an iPhone or an iPod touch.

Oklahoma Christian has been a technology leader in campus mobile computing nationally, said John Hermes, chief technology officer. In 2001, OC became the first completely wireless campus in Oklahoma and one of the few in the country. That program has helped ensure that students had the technology necessary to combine digital fluency with the strengths of a liberal arts education.

Looking to the future, OC must keep pace with the technology needs and expectations of students and faculty, Hermes said. By offering the MacBook, we are addressing the needs of those students and faculty who are better served by a Mac OS platform. The MacBook allows us to boot multiple operating systems, including Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. Given the technologically advanced state of our students, this new platform satisfies their desire to access academic content outside the classroom.

The MacBook initiative enhances Oklahoma Christian's learning opportunities and its ability to better meet the needs of current students by assisting faculty with additional ways to deliver academic content through iTunes U. OC's wireless network, which covers all campus buildings and residential areas, allows users to access information from anywhere on campus.

For more: http://www.oc.edu/apple/

Olivet Nazarene University, Bourbonnais, IL

Technology Updates the Library and Changing its Face

After a summer remodeling session, Benner Library and Library Resource Center has visibly changed. The library now is equipped with cozy booths, more learning labs and, perhaps most sought after by students, more outlets for connection to the Internet.

This trend of providing for students changing needs isnt limited to libraries, however. This generation of Web-savvy, Facebook culture is changing, well, the face of many aspects of university life and its not just at Olivet.

Universities across the country are revamping Web sites, reorganizing student housing and teaching classes differently than ever before because students today are flexible, global and technology-minded. The emphasis on staying ahead of the technology curve extends across campus.
I'm thankful for ONU's commitment to technology. [It] really improves the student's educational experience, shares political science professor Dr. David Van Heemst.

Were able to watch excerpts from a presidential address, read sections of a proposed bill in Congress or view a news report regarding a major Supreme Court decision. The venues of technology help make politics come alive for today's student.

In addition, Olivet students utilize access to funds electronically through Tiger Dollar accounts and can find grades, financial information and even a class syllabus via their Facebook page, which can be linked to Blackboard the campus Web site for students and faculty.

For more: http://www.olivet.edu/news/

Palm Beach Atlantic University, Palm Beach, FL

Pharmacy Students Pilot Tablet Computers

Starting this year, first-year students in Palm Beach Atlantic Universitys Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy will have these educational aides and more with their personal tablet computers.

Course content documents are available 48 hours before a lecture for students to import into their tablets using Microsofts One Note software. The software makes it possible for students to take notes with a synchronized recording of the lecture. When students later review the material, they are able to select a portion of the notes and One Note will play back that part of the lecture. Students who want to review the entire lecture can transfer the recording to a device such as an iPod for convenience. In addition, faculty now has tablet-like tools to provide annotations and diagrams during lectures on the same set of notes the students are working on.

The computers will do more than help students excel in the rigorous coursework that constitutes pharmacy education, it will help them in their careers as well.

PBA One of 39 Schools Nationwide Selected as HP Technology Grant Recipient

Palm Beach Atlantic University was selected as one of 39 two- and four-year colleges and universities in the United States and Puerto Rico to receive a 2008 Hewlett-Packard Technology for Teaching grant, which is designed to transform teaching and improve learning in the classroom through innovative uses of technology.

The University will receive an award package of HP products and a faculty cash award valued at more than $77,000. Each of the HP Technology for Teaching grant recipients will use wireless HP Tablet PCs to enhance learning in engineering, math, science, or computer science.

HP is awarding 149 two- and four-year colleges and universities, and K-12 public schools in the United States and Puerto Rico more than $7 million in mobile technology, cash and professional development as part of the 2008 HP Technology for Teaching grant program. Since 2004, HP has contributed a total of $60 million in HP Technology for Teaching grants to more than 1,000 schools in 41 countries worldwide. During the past 20 years, HP has contributed more than $1 billion in cash and equipment to schools, universities, community organizations and other nonprofit organizations around the world.

For more: http://www.pba.edu/media/news-releases/hp-technology-grant.cfm

Taylor University, Taylor, IN

Educational Technology helping to change teaching techniques

The Indiana University is one of its regions leaders in the use of technology in the classroom. Each year, the Educational Technology Center holds a two-day seminar that draws faculty members from all over the campus as well as nearby campuses. Blackboard is used extensively by professors in their classrooms and we are beginning to experiment with one day of class (in selected settings) being a virtual day with lectures and assignments online. The ETC Technology is changing education. New Web-based applications and digital devices are emerging at breath-taking speeds. The ETC also provides assistance and training for faculty, staff, and students in its high-energy campus Kinkos environment.

For more: http://www.taylor.edu/academics/supportservices/etc/