Can You Dig It? is a teaching model built upon a computer
simulation of an archaeological "dig" at the Pueblo Grande
museum in Phoenix. Students are required to use their math,
reading, and English skills, together with critical
thinking, to manage the "dig" and analyze the finds. The
project is a team effort by Chas Moore, Rick Effland,
Tim Florscheutz, Joan Massey, Nancy Hellner, Raquel
Leyva, Philip Carrillo, Victor Cornell, Laurel
Howard, Litsa St. Armand, and Gail Mee.
In the
Business Department,
Patricia Harris is
piloting a network-related course where students can access
class materials by modem rather than be required to work in
the computer lab. For Service Learning projects, some of her
students are volunteering at local schools and non-profit
agencies by helping computer users, configuring and
maintaining networks, and programming client-server
applications. Harris is also working on distance learning by
incorporating a classroom on the Internet at MCC's
Diversity University where students electronically meet,
work on projects together, and leave messages for other
students or instructors.
Elizabeth Dorland is promoting the use of a new
multimedia "cart" for classroom use of computer technology
in biology. On the cart is a Macintosh Powerbook, a
projection system, a video disc player, and a CD-ROM drive.
The system also includes a serial interface to laboratory
measurement devices, so that data (i.e. pH, temperature,
pressure) may be collected and then analyzed on the
computer. Software used for classroom demonstration (also
available to students from the
Information Commons server)
includes animation programs for organic chemistry, IR Tutor
for learning about organic reaction mechanisms, and Beaker
for learning organic structures.
Biology instructors Brad Kincaid and Peggy Johnson
are co-principal investigators along with ASU Professor A.E.
Lawson on a National Science Foundation funded project called
BioApps. The goals are to increase "biological literacy" and
reasoning skills by integrating computer applications into
biology lab exercises. Programmer Ali Bouhouch is
developing object-oriented applications within NeXTSTEP, the
UNIX-based operating system which runs on both NeXT and
Intel 486 computers. NeXTSTEP offers enhanced display
capabilities, networked management, and the programming
tools provide blocks of re-usable code for common functions
such as graphing and report writing. Kincaid and Johnson
designed a detailed evaluation process for the BioApps
project so that their results "will document the efficacy of
technology for inquiry-oriented instruction and provide a
model for the use of technology in science education."
We lack sufficient space to print all of the ways Rick
Effland is using technology in anthropology courses! With
more than 30 software programs in use, Effland is now
leading his students into the world of researching and
publishing on the World Wide Web (WWW). This spring his
students will build a WWW information collection on
Southwest prehistory, history, and contemporary Native
Americana. Effland and his students have been developing
their own series of multimedia software on both Macintosh
and NeXT computers, augmented by a package of applications
developed by the
University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB).
The Mesa Library/Information Commons
is moving into
the World Wide Web, by providing access to students via
networked workstations and by posting campus-wide
information through a Web server.
Frank Gonzalez
and
Lance Francis
have been instrumental in promoting the use
of the Internet. Gonzalez also developed the Internet
Tryptik on Social Issues.
Ken Costello supports numerous projects and services
through the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). When not
editing videos for seminars or preparing visuals for faculty
to use in lectures, Costello also develops multimedia
applications that integrate his knowledge of Macintosh,
NeXT, and Amiga computers. Currently, Costello is developing
a program for three-dimensional molecular modeling as well
as an interactive application for learning the set-up of
audio-visual and computer equipment.