Five faculty members in four MUSC colleges have been awarded small grants to enhance their use of educational technology for teaching-learning. Funds were awarded through the University's Information Technology Innovation (ITI) Grants program, which is in its second year. The primary purpose of the ITI internal grants program is to develop and strengthen the faculty's use of educational technologies for teaching and learning.
Paul M. Darden, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics in the College of Medicine, will be modifying a course on immunization delivery and evaluation for web delivery. David Scott Snyder, M.A., assistant professor in the Department of Health Administration and Policy, College of Health Professions, has received funding for the first phase of a project to integrate desktop video conferencing into the delivery of academic courses. Nannette Turcasso, Pharm.D., and Jason Cooper, Pharm.D., Department of Pharmacy Practice, College of Pharmacy, plan to bring drug information training to the web. David A. Whittaker, DMD, Department of General Dentistry, College of Dental Medicine, will develop a system for mounting and photographing different views of individual teeth and create a database of the images.
Darden
received $3,000 to support moving a paper-based immunization curriculum
for pediatric residents to the World Wide Web. He was one of the leaders
in the creation of “TIDE: Teaching Immunization Delivery and Evaluation.”
The course was developed as part of a cooperative agreement between the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Immunization Program
and the Ambulatory Pediatric Association. Once the course is web-deliverable,
Darden plans to explore the feasibility of using the curriculum to educate
private providers, offering CME credits for their participation.
Snyder
received $9,000 for his project, “The Integration of Desktop Video Conferencing
in a Course Involving Off-Campus, Executive Doctoral Candidates.” He will
use the funds to establish the initial network infrastructure components
required to link students in the Doctorate in Health Administration program
to each other via real time audio and one-way video and provide the capacity
for real time on-line conferencing, file sharing and instruction via the
Internet.
Turcasso
and Cooper received $2,600 to develop
10 lectures of web-based instructional content for the advanced drug information
course in the College of Pharmacy. Course content covers clinical references
and basic concepts of critical literature evaluation. Upon completion,
this course will be the first formalized Web-based instruction offered
in the College of Pharmacy.
Whittaker's
project, “Development of a Rotational Model for the Study of Individual
Teeth,” is a response to the increasing scarcity of real teeth for use
in dental education. He received $11,000 to create a database of images
based on series of photographs allowing rotational views, taken in different
planes, of the various descriptive features of teeth.
Whittaker's model will have widespread applicability throughout the dental curriculum.
The proposals were evaluated using the following criteria:
- Clearly defined aims and expected deliverables/outcomes.
- Degree to which the proposed project contributes to the educational mission and priorities of the university, college, and/or department.
- The project faculty's capacity for successfully implementing the project, including evidence that the project will contribute directly to enhancing the applicant's and/or other faculty's skills in using the proposed technology for teaching-learning.
- The potential for replicability in other courses or departments.
- Clearly specified plan for measuring the project's impact.
The ITI grants program is administered through the Provost's Office. The ITI subcommittee of the University Educational Infrastructure Committee serves as the review committee for the awards. Members of the subcommittee are listed in the accompanying box. Copies of funded ITI proposals from 1997 and 1998 are available in the library at the main circulation desk on the second floor.
The deadline for the next review cycle is March 1. A copy of the complete guidelines and format for applying for an ITI grant may be obtained from Marcia Higaki, Office of the Associate Provost for Education, Rm. 200G, Administration Building, 792-1928.
Questions may be directed to Professor Nancy McKeehan, chair of the ITI Subommittee, 792-7672.
ITI Subcommittee
Nancy McKeehan, MSLS, Library & Learning Resources—Chair
Thierry Bacro, Ph.D., College of Health Professions; Gail Barbosa, Ph.D., College of Nursing; Elizabeth Bear, Ph.D., College of Nursing; Kathy Chessman, Pharm.D., College of Pharmacy; Richard Gadsden, Jr., B.S., CCIT; Robert Gellin, DMD, College of Dental Medicine; Richard Hernandez, MPH, College of Health Professions; Ronald Nickel, Ph.D., College of Pharmacy; Elizabeth Pilcher, DMD, College of Dental Medicine; Michael Schmidt, Ph.D., College of Medicine; Tracy Smith, B.A., S.C. AHEC; Thomas Trusk, Ph.D., College of Medicine; Vickie Womble, MLIS, Enrollment Services