15 of the First Female Professors in History
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
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Campus Technology: Prof: 'Engage Students Through Their Laptops'
This fall the University of Michigan will roll out an interactive presentation tool called LectureTools, created by one of its own professors, to more than 4,000 students. The software is designed to keep students engaged during presentations using laptops and smart phones, especially in large lectures.
"The key is to engage students through their laptops or cellphones, so they don't drift off onto social networking sites," said Perry Samson, an atmospheric science professor. "We've shown we can do that."
Samson began LectureTools as a research project at the university with funding from the National Science Foundation in 2005 with the goal of increasing student engagement and participation. LectureTools, the Ann Arbor, MI-based company, was founded in 2010, and the software's new version was developed that year.
Feature of the software include:
The ability to import PowerPoint slide shows;
Interactive questions, which lets students answer inquiries by the teacher via laptop or mobile device;
A variety of question types;
Teacher previews of interactive activity results in real time;
Bookmarking of slides to be reviewed later;
Recording and archiving of student activity during class;
Showing results using graphics to reveal trends; and
Note-taking capabilities for students.
It also offers a student inquiry tool, so students can ask the instructor questions electronically. Answers are shown alongside the presentation anonymously. Through a presentation dashboard, which allows the teacher to keep track of student comprehension, the instructor can also see and respond to incoming questions and interactive activities.
LectureTools is free for instructors, but there is a $14.99 per term cost for students. Other pricing options include $24.99 for two terms or $59.99 for five years.
University of Michigan has three campuses, in Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Flint. Enrollment is about 60,000. LectureTools will be used in about 20 classes to start.
For further information, visit the LectureTools site.
About the Author
Tim Sohn is a 10-year veteran of the news business, having served in capacities from reporter to editor-in-chief, of a variety of publications, including Web sites, daily and weekly newspapers, and consumer and trade magazines. He can be reached at twcsu@aol.com
The Chronicle of Higher Education: Major Libraries Join Controversial Project to Publish ‘Orphan’ Books Online
August 24, 2011
Several libraries today pledged to follow the University of Michigan’s lead in making available on their campuses digital copies of books whose copyright holders cannot be found to ask for permission. The libraries jumping in today are the University of California Libraries, and libraries at Cornell, Duke, Emory, and the Johns Hopkins Universities. The Universities of Florida and Wisconsin recently did the same. The libraries are all part of the HathiTrust consortium that places digital copies of books into a shared online repository. At least one publishing official has called the orphan works plan illegal, but the libraries clearly feel they are operating within copyright law.
HBCU Digest: Editorial: Prairie View President Tests Out on Teachable Moment for HBCU Funding
August 17, 2011
Last week, Prairie View A&M University president George C. Wright penned an editorial for the Washington Post’s higher ed blog < http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/hbcu-president-vows-to-teach-the-largest-class-on-campus/2011/08/08/gIQAW4hk2I_blog.html#pagebreak > on his return to the classroom this fall, along with select members of his executive cabinet. Citing budget cuts and the need for shared sacrifice, Dr. Wright says that he is “nervous and excited” to return as an instructor for an American History lecture course. Boasting 300 students, it will be the largest class on the PVAMU academic slate.
Dr. Wright’s sacrifice is genuine, and strong PR for the movement of institutions facing the reality of more desire and creativity than financial resources. A president returning to his academic roots is a hearty slice of American resolve.
But while his sacrifice may be well-intentioned, it may be among the most counterproductive acts of HBCU leadership seen among the growing tide of discontent and opposition of these institutions.
While PVAMU students will welcome Wright back to the classroom this fall, opposing legislators and pundits of historically black colleges and universities will have one more weapon with which to aim at the veracity of these institutions. For those who say HBCUs are irrelevant within today’s access and opportunity in American higher education, they’ll be able to cite Prairie View as one example of HBCUs no longer making good on the benefit of smaller class sizes and attentive faculty, a critical commodity in the argument for HBCU recruitment and retention.
Critics, perhaps illegitimately, will be able to question the ability for a university president and provost to effectively serve in executive roles while handling course loads, which in Dr. Wright’s case, will be six classes. What lobbying, development opportunities or partnerships with community will be delayed or missed as a result of their teaching obligations? How many individual circumstances requiring upper-level approval or oversight, which at most HBCUs is already stretched thin, will be affected as a result of the transition?
Most of all, the executive-academic hybrid model will give further justification for the HBCU fallacy of doing ‘more with less.’ While its has proven a reality in the matriculation and success for generations of HBCU students and graduates, it is a fast expiring adage in lean economic times. As an advocate for all HBCUs and the struggle for appropriate financing from state and federal partners, it is Dr. Wright’s duty to fight loudly and consistently fight against budget cuts, and not to acquiesce under the quiet guise of shared sacrifice.
Particularly in Texas, with its legislative powers largely seeking to phase out black college merit and value through inequitable funding and support.
It’s not to say that administrators teaching is altogether a bad idea. We can believe that students in the courses will have the immense benefit of tenured faculty experience, and will treasure the opportunity to couch instruction and advocacy for campus culture in the same class period. In theory, PVAMU student stakeholders will be among the only group in the nation to hold regular audience with the campus CEO.
Certainly, it is laudable that Dr. Wright preserved the livelihood of faculty and staff through his return to the classroom. He is not the first or last president to return to the classroom out of preference or necessity, and his ability to effectively serve in both capacities should not be questioned until time reveals all success and failures of the experiment.
But reality demands much more of Dr. Wright, even in the face of staff reductions and diminished academic offerings. He sacrifice, however well-meaning, could contribute to a larger, unintended sacrifice from the entirety of HBCU culture.
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