Greetings and welcome back from Academic Technology!
We hope you had a restful break! As we all prepare to return to campus for the spring semester, we wanted to reach out about how Academic Technology can support you and your students. We are your Academic Technology team and are ready to assist you with technology-enhanced assignments you might be considering for your classes. We can also assist with using Moodle, our learning management system.
WHAT’S NEW
Gradescope
Gradescope is a product that will help speed up grading as well as help you provide quality and consistent feedback. If you would like to try Gradescope, please let us know. If you’d like a preview of Gradescope, click here for a 15 minute demo video.
Tech Tuesdays
We’ll be hosting “Tech Tuesdays” during the 2024 Spring semester. Beginning the 2nd week of the semester, every Tuesday at Noon (excluding faculty meeting days), please come to the computer lab in the Bosler basement to learn about various academic technologies. You can pick and choose which to attend based on your interests. We’ll be providing treats like cookies, brownies, doughnuts, etc. RSVPs are not required but are helpful. The RSVP form also has the schedule of topics, so please take a look.
Moodle Tutorials & Guidance
We have a series of video tutorials to help get you started on the frequent Moodle questions. If you would like to meet up to work through specific Moodle questions our staff are available for consultation.
AI
AI is continuing to evolve rapidly. Academic Technology encourages faculty to contact James or Todd for support of possible uses in classes and scholarship.
- Todd’s blog post details examples of how he’s used Generative AI.
- This Generative AI Tips blog post can help get you started.
- Locally hosted open source instance of Stable Diffusion in the makerspace. The link to Stable Diffusion only works while you are on-campus.
- Integration of text to image generative AI in our subscription to Photoshop
- Text generated AI is publicly available via OpenAI, Bing, Bard, and Claude.
- Locally created Japanese AI chatbots at Dickinson. (fyi, in development only available on campus)
Media Center Spaces and Equipment
- Quest 2 (Virtual Reality headset) – stop down and try an immersive experience
Classroom Equipment
Please let us know if you’d like someone to come to your classroom and help you learn how to use the equipment. We’re all happy to help get you acclimated to your teaching environment.
Urgent CLASSROOM ASSISTANCE: If you have an urgent technology problem in your classroom, please email helpdesk@dickinson.edu with the nature of your problem, the room and building of your class, and your cell phone number (if possible), and we will help as soon as possible.
Technology Enhanced Assignment ideas
If you are interested in technology enhanced/multimedia assignments similar to projects listed below, please contact one of us as soon as possible to schedule a consultation to plan the assignment, schedule classroom multimedia presentations/workshops, and discuss any equipment needs.
- Digital storytelling – Students transform their research into an engaging and informative project. Can take many forms
- Podcast – Black Music Matters
- Short Documentary – Human Place in Nature
- Infographic – Making the Case for Bike Racks
- Storymap –Dickinson Farm
- Class or scholarly websites –
- Civic Engagement – Carlisle Parks History
- Student Research – Mapping the Global Medieval Ages / Sexualization Paris 1900’s
- Science Lab – Chemistry in the Kitchen
- Scholarly site (as standalone or companion to book/article) – Michael Field
- Digital bookmarking, class annotations and collaborative writing
- Digital collaboration workshop notes
Please let us know if you would like to meet to discuss projects for your classes or the spaces or equipment that we have available for you and your students. We’re looking forward to talking to you about how we can help you in your upcoming courses.
Best wishes for a great fall semester from the entire Academic Technology team,
James D’Annibale, Ryan Burke, Todd Bryant, Anna Kerstetter, Brenda Landis, and Tom Smith
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