Innovative Instructional Technology Faculty Grants are awarded twice each academic year. Up to 10 grants with a maximum of $5,000 each are available from UA's Office of Academic Affairs each term for the creation and development of cutting-edge uses of instructional technology.

According to Dr. Hank Lazer, assistant vice president for undergraduate programs and services, the grants are provided in support of additional staffing, equipment, computer software, and programs that will challenge faculty to develop new approaches to classroom instruction that can serve as models for other instructors.

Winners of the next round of awards will be announced in November. Proposals for the next round of grants are due by Thursday, Nov. 15. Interested UA faculty members are encouraged to go online to http://provost.ua.edu/itg/ or contact Lazer in Academic Affairs, hlazer@aalan.ua.edu, 205/348-4893, for more information.

Last fall’s recipients included: Dr. Milla Boschung of the College of Environmental Sciences (HES); Jan Brakefield, HES; Dr. Sandra Braman, College of Communication and Information Sciences (C&IS); Dr. J.W. Harrell/Dr. Stan Jones, College of Arts and Sciences (A&S); Dr. John Higginbotham and Dr. Alan Blum, College of Community Health Sciences (CCHS)/Dr. Jeri Dunkin and Dr. Sharol Jacobson, Capstone College of Nursing; Dr. Jeff Jackson, College of Engineering; Mildred Switzer, HES; Dr. Bailey Thomson, C&IS.

Presenters and projects for the Nov. 1 event include:

Jan Brakefield (HES-Consumer Sciences)

The Personal Estate Planning and Taxation course will present a concise, integrated overview, highlighting the essence of concepts and strategies particular to estate planning. Many pedagogical devices will be used to aid comprehension. Numerous examples, case analysis, and application exercises will be employed. Because estate-planning techniques presuppose a familiarity with many fundamental legal concepts, including taxation principles, the material will be presented sequentially beginning with basic legal tax and nontax policies. All personal estate-planning techniques will be explored. The course will have wide appeal, as all students will have a need for employing wealth transfer strategies regardless of their chosen profession.

Dr. Stanley T. Jones and Dr. J. W. Harrell (A&S - Physics and Astronomy)

Jones and Harrell are proposing to radically change the way in which calculus-based introductory physics courses are taught. Instead of separate lectures and laboratories, they are proposing to integrate the lecture and laboratory in "studio-type" laboratory classrooms. Classrooms would be equipped with computers and data acquisition equipment and software. Each week, classes would meet for two 2-hour blocks and for one hour of computer-assisted recitation/tutorial work. A typical 2-hour section would consist of about 60 students and would be team-taught by a faculty member and a GTA, along with the assistance of an upper-level undergraduate TA. The traditional lecture would be largely replaced by interactive, team-oriented learning. Instructors would assist students with computer-based data acquisition and analysis, simulations of physical concepts, and problem solving. The 1-hour recitation/tutorial section would also consist of 60 students and would be taught by two GTAs. In this proposal, Jones and Harrell are asking for summer support for a GTA to assist with testing and developing the data acquisition equipment, software and simulation programs, and to help write activities for the pilot offering of this course. They are also asking for a laptop computer that will be interfaced with the data acquisition equipment and that will be used to run the software.

Dr. John C. Higginbotham (CCHS - Rural and Community Medicine)

The purpose of this grant is to develop an online course, to be offered on- and off-campus, that will enhance the ability of students and practitioners in the health sciences to communicate their research findings in writing and to understand the procedures associated with publishing and career advancement. Through the learner-centered focus on WebCT, students from medicine, nursing, and other health-related fields will learn the parts, purposes, and organization of the sections of a scientific article; be introduced to the principles of style for writing in the health sciences; gain awareness and skill in the location and use of such online resources as conducting literature searches and locating style guides and publisher sites; and acquire effective strategies for dealing with journal editors and reviewers. Through the use of streaming video, students will be able to view discussions among the instructors regarding reasonable approaches to the writing and publishing journal articles and their viewpoints on how publishing affects one's career. Efforts will be made to individualize instruction and advice for students from various disciplines when disciplinary perspectives differ. Those who complete the course will be equipped to prepare an article for publication, select an appropriate journal, and negotiate the steps of the publication process. As an inducement to take and complete the course, students will be offered the opportunity to have one of the course instructors critique one manuscript for them prior to submission for publication.

Dr. Jeff Jackson (Engineering - Electrical and Computer)

It is the intent of this proposal to investigate the development and distribution of a tutoring system capable of CD-ROM or Internet delivery to augment regular lecture and laboratory material. The tutoring system will supplement course lectures by providing additional coverage of course material, example problems and laboratory tutelage. Such a system would have application to many large-lecture format courses in many disciplines. The large-lecture format introduces the typical problems of minimal interaction between the instructor and the average student, difficulty in coordinating lab material, and often the need for additional tutoring sessions outside the regular lecture. The results of this effort shall be the integration of digital streaming video, audio and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations into the tutoring system and the construction of a server for hosting the proposed system. The delivery mechanism shall be CD-ROM and/or Internet delivery.

Dr. Bailey Thomson (C&IS - Journalism)

This course, The Alabama Constitution: 100 Years of Controversy (Mass Communication 495-595-Special Topics), will examine the background of the 1901 Alabama Constitution and current issues surrounding the document. The professor, Dr. Bailey Thomson, will use 15 high-quality videotapes to supplement the course's rigorous readings and discussions. Each 50-minute tape will focus on an issue and feature a leading scholar, or expert, who will join Thomson in a conversation. The University's Center for Public Television and Radio will produce the tapes, incorporating photographs, archival clips, and graphics to enhance the studio presentations. Meanwhile, the College of Communication will offer the tapes to as many as a dozen other Alabama universities and colleges to use simultaneously next fall. Each school will be responsible for listing the course and providing a teacher of record. Thomson will use the Internet to connect his class with the others so that participating schools in this project may share readings and ideas. He will also use a list serve for students across the state to comment on the issues. Because the course is interdisciplinary in outlook, participating schools may list it as communication, history, or political science. After this initial offering, the University will convert the course to a distance-learning course, while retaining all rights to this content and its future use.