Link to An Academic Technologist’s Toolbox
Electronic Blue Books and Online Testing
Swarthmore ITS supports faculty interested in moving from paper blue books to their electronic equivalents. Swarthmore uses SecureExam software to allow students to take tests on public area computers while providing a safe and secure way of administering tests. Many students prefer typing to writing and the software provides a basic word processor and spell checking tools. Many faculty prefer reading typed papers instead of deciphering handwritten pages. The software prevents students from accessing other programs while taking the test so it is possible to have a “closed book” exam. At the end of the exam, students submit their work and … Continue reading Electronic Blue Books and Online Testing
Moodle Training Over Spring Break
Swarthmore is switching from Blackboard to Moodle next year. The “Introduction to Moodle” training session helps new users transition to our new learning management system. All courses and enrollments are automatically loaded into Moodle, so it is easy to get started developing your courses. In the first half of the class, we will cover logging in, navigation, and adding materials and online assignments to courses. During the second half, participants will have to time to work on their course or explore additional features in Moodle. Next school year will be our last with Blackboard, so this is a great time … Continue reading Moodle Training Over Spring Break
ITS and Academic Technology Highlighted in the Current Swarthmore College’ Bulletin
Several academic technology projects were highlighted in this month’s Swarthmore College’ Bulletin article on the evolution of Swarthmore’s curriculum Gayle Barton, the College’s chief information technology officer was quoted on the issue of “Educating the “Net” Generation”: “The pace of change will continue to increase—as will the volume of information and number of options—so we’ll need to have technologists who can help people choose solutions that fit their needs,” she says. “New tools for communication and self-publishing are becoming increasingly important in the academic arena. Scientists have had literature and data available online for years, but scholars in the humanities … Continue reading ITS and Academic Technology Highlighted in the Current Swarthmore College’ Bulletin
Faculty: here is an idea to make posting student work easier
Here’s an idea for faculty who teach a course that involves posting or presenting student work. Instead of having students e-mail you their weekly presentations, questions, or papers, create a wiki in Blackboard or Moodle and have your students upload and edit their own work. This has the added advantage of automatically allowing other students to to read, add to, comment on, and/or constructively criticize the posted work. It is quick and easy to set up a wiki and then you don’t have to do all the work to collect, transform and then post all the documents for that week. … Continue reading Faculty: here is an idea to make posting student work easier
Supercomputing in Plain English: Online Workshop
Oklahoma University will be offering a series of free online workshops called “Supercomputing In Plain English.” The workshops will be help on Tuesdays at 3PM starting on January 25, 2010. You can follow along with the presenter using a variety of videoconferencing options along with lecture slides and the opportunity to submit questions via e-mail or phone. See the web site for the workshop or get in touch with Andrew Ruether from ITS (aruethe2, x8254) for more information. If you are planning to participate, drop Andrew an e-mail. If we have enough interest we will set up a dedicated videoconference space. … Continue reading Supercomputing in Plain English: Online Workshop
More Moodle Training
ITS will be holding two “Introduction to Moodle” training sessions to help new users transition from Blackboard to our new learning management system. Continue reading More Moodle Training