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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/27/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
June 4, 2004 UWGB students run instructional CD through paces By Cynthia Hodnett
However, they are already playing a role in influencing how students will learn and how teachers will teach.
About a dozen UWGB students are involved with a national project to develop instructional technology for college classes. They are critiquing a CD-ROM that will accompany textbooks from McGraw-Hill publishing company for humanities courses taught at colleges and universities across the country.
Students are reviewing the CD as a part of an instructional technology class at the university.
The CD-ROM is being designed by Creative Myndz, a multimedia design group in Ohio. It will include text about disciplines that are taught in humanities courses such as art, music, theatre, literature, architecture, film and dance. Students will also be able to take practice quizzes on each subject to prepare for actual exams.
"I think this is a good opportunity for us as education students to provide input and ideas that will be used in the classroom," said Jennifer Kopp, a 31-year-old junior from Crivitz. "It's pretty user-friendly and it's something that I would use. I think a lot of students would go to the quiz page just to see how they would do on a test."
Some students have suggested that it would be helpful to include additional information on the CD, such as how students should properly cite information used in a research paper and where to find related information on humanities on the Internet.
Users of the CD also will be able to research the history of each humanities discipline and how it relates to other disciplines.
"It will be a nice addition to the interdisciplinary thing that we already do," said Joyce Salisbury, a humanistic studies professor at UWGB, alluding to the university's curriculum that focuses on practical problem-solving rather than traditional teaching methods to encourage students to apply what they learn to everyday issues.
"The modern student doesn't just learn from textbooks," said Salisbury, who is also writing content for the CD. "How do we get the students engaged in learning? By providing them with the resources that allow them to learn in an interactive way."
The CD is expected to be available for use by summer 2005, said Joe Hanson, a publisher with McGraw-Hill. Hanson estimates that the CD will be used by approximately 750,000 college students.
The goal of the CD isn't to serve as a substitute for textbooks but as a supplement for what will be taught in the classroom, Hanson said.
"It will bring the textbook to life and allow students to interact with the different concepts and basic principles taught in the humanities," he said. "We're trying to couple those strengths to develop more dynamic teaching. We're trying to give students the basic vocabulary as well as to show how it happens in life. Instead of just hearing or reading about the different moves that a dancer makes, they can see pictures in action of what those moves look like."
Hanson said each CD will be packaged with seven different individual textbooks. Hanson won't reveal how much it costs to produce the CD because he doesn't want to provide a leg up for his competitors. However, students won't have to pay an additional fee for the CD when they buy the book, he said.
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