Author: Eric Behrens

Academic Technology, Mobile Devices, Trico

Haverford hosts “Tablets in Teaching Forum”

Eric Behrens

Our I.T. friends at Haverford College graciously welcomed all Swarthmore faculty and staff to attend their “Tablets in Teaching Forum.” A series of Haverford professors were joined by an Apple engineer to showcase a variety of classroom practices enabled by the use of tablets. Paper-free Grading and Stylus-driven Electronic Blackboards: Transitioning to an Android Tablet Casey Londergan, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Haverford College iPads, Panopto, and Styli – Better Living Through Cooperation Mark Schofield, Visiting Associate Professor of Chemistry, Haverford College iPads in the Classroom Ken Koltun-Fromm, Professor of Religion, Haverford College Transforming Education with the iPad Mike Wolk, Systems Engineer, Apple Continue reading Haverford hosts “Tablets in Teaching Forum”

Blackboard, Moodle, Software

Blackboard goes offline

Eric Behrens

At 11:00 AM, the Tri-co shutdown its shared instance of the Blackboard course management system. In a two-step process, Swarthmore Professor Aimee Johnson (Math) and Haverford CIO Joe Spadaro pressed the “enter” keys that shut down the Blackboard services for the final time. On a separate screen, the assembled group of onlookers verified that Blackboard was no longer available. The shutdown is the conclusion to a period of over 11 years where Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore Colleges shared a single instance of Blackboard for all of their students, faculty and staff. All three schools have already switched to Moodle, … Continue reading Blackboard goes offline

Academic Technology, Web Projects

Announcing Summer Educational eProject Development (SEED) recipients

Eric Behrens

The ITS academic technology team is pleased to announce the eProjects selected for collaborative development this summer. We are grateful to all 16 submitters, who proposed a diverse and creative collection of projects for us to consider. For our inaugural year, our team of professional staff and student workers will be taking on these six projects: Enhancing Physical Chemistry Lab with Digital Video, Josh Newby. The project will involve in-house production of two pre-lab videos that substitute for in-class lectures. The Hoodoo-Conjure Online Database, Yvonne Chireau. The project will result in a publicly searchable database and historical information on practitioners … Continue reading Announcing Summer Educational eProject Development (SEED) recipients

Academic Technology, Workshops and TrainingLeave a comment

Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s talks on academic technology

Eric Behrens

Over two days in July, Dr. Ruben Puentedura, a noted consultant and speaker on educational technology, gave four presentations at a summer mini-conference sponsored by ITS. The topics of the sessions covered areas in which Puentedura sees untapped transformative educational potential: mobile computing, data visualization, gaming, and use of web 2.0 tools in support of communities of practice. Continue reading Dr. Ruben Puentedura’s talks on academic technology

Academic Technology, Blackboard, Moodle

Trico to transition from Blackboard to Moodle

Eric Behrens

As you may be aware, the Tri-Colleges have been conducting a major product review of our Learning Management System (LMS), Blackboard, and a popular alternative, called Moodle. Blackboard is the dominant commercial software company in higher education. Moodle is free, open source software that has been adopted by many institutions of higher education, including most liberal arts colleges. At this point, we are prepared to announce that the three schools decided to undertake a project to convert from Blackboard to Moodle over the next two academic years. More information will follow in the coming months as the full project plan … Continue reading Trico to transition from Blackboard to Moodle

Academic Technology, Media Center

ITS welcomes Dan Berlin to the Media Center

Eric Behrens

Please join ITS in welcoming Daniel Berlin to our staff. Dan is our new media center associate. Dan is tasked with keeping the Beardsley Media Center in good working order and supporting the faculty, staff, and students who are working on video, audio, imaging, and printing projects in the Center. Dan graduated from University of The Arts, College of Media and Communication in Philadelphia with a BFA in Writing for Film and Television. In addition to his work in the Beardsley Media Center, Dan freelances as a videographer, editor, stagehand, boom operator, and all-round A/V specialist. Stop by the Beardsley … Continue reading ITS welcomes Dan Berlin to the Media Center