Regina Royer, rdroyer@salisbury.edu
Project: Using Handheld Technology in Schools

This mentor project explores the use of handheld computers in the K-16 classroom.  Handheld computers will be integrated into a science classroom at James M. Bennett High School and into Computers in Education (EDUC 319) at Salisbury University.  The purpose of this pilot will be to explore the application of handheld technology in the high school classroom and to guide the education department in implementing use of this technology in both its elementary and secondary education programs.

William Brooke Rogers, wbrogers@salisbury.edu
Project: Enhancing Student Writing and Research Through Computer Based Work-shopping and Publishing

I will augment the teaching of "ART 226: Introduction to Computer Graphic Design" (a course in which design technique and design history run parallel) to include the creation of student-shot and -edited video journals.  Each student will keep a Video Research Journal over the course of one week in the semester in which (s)he will shoot and narrate instances of design as a part of everyday life.  For example, the student might shoot footage of food-products at home or in the supermarket with an eye to a certain aspect of the product packaging design or the point of sale display.  Included might be footage of her eating dinner with her family or talking on-camera about how package design and advertising influences her diet or her spending on food and food-related items.  Other possible topics: Compare the architectural virtues of two different structures on the SU campus and how the design of one space affects student life as compared with the other or Explore the role signage (highway, informational, advertising) plays in contemporary life.  This footage will then be edited and created into a final presentation video that draws on independent student research as to the stylistic forerunners of design(s).

Karen Papke-Shields, kepapke-shields@salisbury.edu and
Kathie Wright, kmwright@salisbury.edu
Project: Forecasting Project Proposal

Because of the increasing emphasis on teamwork by organizations, and subsequently, by higher education, teaching students to work effectively in project teams is an important issue.  This is particularly true of projects involving a technology component.  Our proposed forecasting project is a cross-curriculum, experiential approach to developing a technology application for common business problem, that of creating an instrument to model data trends and produce reliable forecasts.  The solution requires collaboration of students with disparate areas of expertise, pairing Production and Operations Management (POM) students with Information Systems (IS) programming students.  We intend to use this experience to develop a framework and guidelines for communicating responsibilities, managing tasks and resolving intra-team conflicts that can be used for similar interdisciplinary technology projects.  As such this proposal fits within the Professional Development Mentors Program under the three focus areas of curriculum development, instructional strategies and instructional technology.

I will develop a new curriculum program component "Directing/Acting for the Camera" designed as a symbiotic integration of Mass Media and Theatre students into one cohesive unit.  This unit will be a joint venture involving Communications Arts (Mass Media Track) majors and majors in Theatre.  The Mass Media students will function as directors and the crew.  The Theatre students will assume the roles of the actors.  This unit will introduce the directors to the processes and skills required to plan, design and direct drama for the television/film medium.  For the actors, the unit will introduce them to the skills required to adapt stage acting techniques to the camera.