Projects

Table of Contents

Recent Projects

Transition Plan

Developed and implemented a focused, three-month (July - September) comprehensive plan to divide and transition my many responsibilities to different members of Elmira College's Information Technology staff

New Google Sites

After initial hesitation I am all-in with the new Google Sites, though the in-development version reminds me of the early years (circa 2009) of Classic Google Sites when key features were missing but gradually added. Getting started and designing a website is much easier for students and faculty with new Google Sites, though they will need to manage sharing permissions to publicly share any embedded documents in Google Drive. Currently Information Technology is involved in providing training, support, and resources for Nurse Education student ePortfolios and faculty personal web sites using Google's New Site management software.

Canvas LMS (Learning Management System)

Resources for Students and Faculty

Canvas is a major development and resource for Elmira College faculty to enhance their technology skills and provide course resources for their students. I develop, design, and maintain these sites for students and faculty:

and communicate weekly Teaching with Canvas newsletters .

Canvas integrations

To extend integration of websites and applications in Canvas we use a number of LTI tools:

  • Turnitin - originality checking using a Canvas assignment. There are issues with the current integration. IT staff, instructors, and students look forward to new improved integration, available in early 2018.
  • new Turnitin Review - update this section.
  • Respondus LockDownBrowser - secure Canvas quizzes to help students focus on their testing environment and to improve monitoring
  • Google Drive Collaborations - allow instructors to create and share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in their Google Drive through the Canvas interface
  • Films On Demand and Alexander Street Press - embed videos into courses without the hassle of an ezproxy code.
  • A number of publisher integrations that allow instructors to move content and assessment results between their textbook course site and their Canvas course.

Classroom Technology

Mobile apps as response devices

I am working with faculty to evaluate and choose an online tool for assessing student feedback and engagement using mobile devices in a large class setting. The tools under consideration are: Canvas Polls, Google Forms, Socrative, and PollEveryWhere.

Instructional Design

Developing a comprehensive module on course design to assist faculty in organizing their courses. Well-designed courses help guide student through course resources and provide opportunities for engagement and feedback.

Evaluate and recommend a number of tools for webcasting include Snag-it (Mac or Windows), Camtasia (Mac or Windows), Screenflow (Mac), and PowerPoint to assist faculty in recording their lectures as videos and publishing them in Canvas.

Based on search, testing, cost, and ease-of-access and use, recommended Annotate.co as a collaborative online annotation tool for small-size student research groups. Provide training and support.

Based on search, testing, cost, and ease-of-access and use, recommended Coggle.it as a collaborative mind mapping tool for small-size student groups. Provide training and support.

Ongoing Projects

Assessment

Administrative Assessment Committee

I serve on the Administrative Assessment Committee and contribute to the conversation and action on implementing assessment at Elmira College. With feedback from the CIO and IT team I write annual Information Technology assessment plans and reports. The document below is for the 2015-2016 academic year (Elmira.edu Gmail logon is required or the purple section below will be blank.)

Websites - professional and personal

I develop websites with embedded media as an important documentation and communication tool and to keep current with new technologies.

ePortfolios

Elmira College has supported student ePortfolios since 2010 by providing faculty information sessions, workshops for students, individualized training, templates for quick startup, and the website: ePortfolios at Elmira College.

Faculty Web pages

I assist faculty with the development and design of their personal websites directory listing using tools such as Dreamweaver and both versions of Google Sites.

edTPA Video

edTPA is a performance-based, subject-specific assessment and support system used by teacher preparation programs including Elmira College. One of the key assessment requirements is recording a video of teaching in the classroom. To assist students Information Technology provides workshops, seminars, and a comprehensive edTPA video resource includes presentations, visual quick start guides, and tips on effective recordings.

Past Projects

ANGEL to Canvas transition

The transition from the ANGEL (legacy LMS) to Canvas took place from July 2015 through June 30, 2016 when ANGEL was permanently retired. I developed canvas.elmira.edu home page that included an active transition page to keep the College Community of updates. The timeline information was kept to the point and continuously communicated.

Interactive Multimedia Classrooms

In 2013, 2014, and 2015 faculty and administrators planned, designed, and implemented new multimedia classroom technology to provide students and faculty tools to more easily present and demonstrate concepts for learning. As a result of our collaboration 75% of all classrooms were converted to interactive projection technologies.

The site Multimedia Classrooms provides resources for teaching in classrooms equipped with SMART Boards, Promethean Boards, and interactive projectors.

LMS Review

The Elmira College LMS (learning management system) Review process started in November 2014 and ended after several months of many meetings, numerous phone conversations, vendor presentation, surveys, continuous documentation and communication, and extended trial runs during live Spring 2015 courses of the finalists: D2L and Canvas. I was chair of review committee that was composed of faculty and administrators. The Committee worked incredibly hard, especially faculty who had to trial run the software (some both D2L and Canvas at the same time) during the spring term. The process was collegial and interactive and resulted in an unanimous consensus in choosing Canvas by Instructure as Elmira College's next generation learning management system. See the LMS Review site that I developed. Some information is only available to the Elmira College community.