Biotechnology and the Future: Equipping Students for Complex Ethical Discussions
Jensine Andresen
STH Instruction, School of Theology

The interdisciplinary nature of bioethics, and the increasing scope of BU's resources in this area, renders it imperative that students have access to an on-line resource consolidating courses, conferences, and research from the Schools of Theology, Arts and Sciences, Public Heath, and Medicine. Student interest in bioethics is growing on campus, witnessed by the growth of formal student organizations, e.g., The Bioethics Society of Boston University (BSBU), which provide background for pre-professional students envisioning future careers in law and medicine. We propose here to construct a web site that will supplement coursework for undergraduate and graduate students alike, while publicizing bioethics resources at BU to prospective students and the general public. The project utilizes BU Encoding Stations so that students can download bioethics conference footage in short segments and at their own convenience.

Creating a Vernacular Dance and Drama Web Movie Archive: Phase 1-Digitizing Analog Video Tapes of Seasonal Displays
Anthony Barrand
The University Professors and
College of Arts and Sciences Department of Anthropology

The PI created a 25-year film and video archive of his own field recordings of vernacular dance and drama forms. They are in a variety of formats totaling 325 hours. Selections are the core of the BU course: "English Ritual Dance and Drama". If the archive was available digitally, students could work directly with multiple samples and learn folkloric research skills such as movement description, comparative analysis, and notation. I'm seeking a PowerMac G4 package for Phase 1 to digitize and put on the web the portion most useful for teaching purposes.

Building Strong Writers In International Health Through Interactive Electronic Media
Rob Fredericksen
Department of International Health, School of Public Health

Teaching students to become powerful writers in international health requires the use of interactive visual tools to illustrate complex processes such as selecting topics, honing a research question, structuring content, strengthening arguments, and revision. Existing in-classroom tools intended to help students visualize these concepts lack a truly interactive component.

We propose a web site which unites 20 interactive tutorials on writing-specific subtopics, showcases student papers, and acts as a forum for moderated real-time discussion on writing issues and paper topics. The site will provide in-class writing exercises for International health writing program courses, using an interactive "Smart Board" as a canvas for rehearsing writing skills, broadcast from a laptop console.

Read the Principal Investigator's post-project summary

Show Me: An Electronic Information Literacy Tutorial Module 1: The Information Search
Carol Gordon and Linda Plunket
Educational Resources Library, School of Education
Mugar Memorial Library

Electronic information delivery facilitates and complicates access. Users need support to effectively use on-line resources. Going beyond library instruction and on-line help, Show Me is conceived as a differentiated, "just-enough-just-in-time", contextualized program that empowers learners to identify needs and prescribe remediation. The proposed project develops the first module, The Information Search, using Dreamweaver4, Flash5 and Fireworks. A self-assessment instrument links to a demonstration tutorial on electronic searching and serves as a prototype for librarians to develop subsequent, subject-specific modules. A post-assessment gives feedback about competency to students and/or instructors and links to appropriate parts of the tutorial.

Web-based Enhancement of Physics Laboratory Experiments
Ulrich Heintz
Physics Department, College of Arts and Sciences

Laboratory exercises are an essential component of many introductory physics courses. Yet, student interest is often low and preparation poor so that the educational potential of the laboratories is not realized. I propose to create web-based pre and post lab exercises to accompany these experiments. The pre-lab will include illustrations of the underlying principles and the experimental setup and an online quiz, due before the laboratory session. The post-labs will help the students analyze their data and another quiz tests the understanding the students gained. Both on-line submissions will contribute to the students' grades. The goal is to make preparation for the lab and analysis of the data more interesting and easier to include in the grading process.

Laboratory at a Distance: Hands-On Experiments Via Distance Learning
Mark Horenstein
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering

Distance learning via the Internet is rapidly becoming a medium of choice for the delivery of engineering courses. The weakest link in the quest for on-line courses of quality lies is the difficulty of delivering hands-on laboratory experiences with face-to-face interaction between student and instructor. This proposal describes a hands-on "lab-at-a-distance" approach for the course ENG EK307 (Electric Circuit Theory). EK307 is a core course for all undergraduate degree programs in the College of Engineering and also is mission-critical to the Late Entry Accelerated Program which allows individuals with a non-engineering bachelor's degree to earn a Master's degree in engineering. A combination of technologies, including Web camera, two-way Internet audio, Internet-linked PC oscilloscope, and the Course Info chat room, will be used to facilitate the hands-on nature of an experimental on-line laboratory component for EK307

Geographic Information Systems and Community-based Health Initiatives
Patricia Hynes
Department of Environmental Health, School of Public Health

Low income neighborhoods and communities of color have long borne a disproportionate burden of environmental problems and the health consequences that flow from them. From lead poisoning to asthma and childhood injuries, almost every environmentally-related health problem concentrates in inner cities. The course Environmental Health 807 has focused on documenting these problems with descriptive statistics and has stressed the need to find solutions that empower the neighborhoods most at risk. We recognize the need to add a geographic component to the course and course projects because the environmental health issues we document are lived locally and experienced spatially. Spatial presentation of data can add a unique visual dimension to the comprehension of a geographically determined or located problem and thus add to problem definition, study design, and problem solution. This project will assist students to undertake projects with community-based organizations in the Boston area to address environmental and health issues which confront them. Using a Geographic Information System (GIS), students will collect data, map it and report findings based on these maps to the client neighborhood group. These organizations will then use the results of these projects to achieve their own goals and objectives. Project activities include recruitment of community groups, development of community-based projects, selection of appropriate GIS technology and data sets, mapping relevant environmental health data accompanied by a written interpretation, and presentation to community and to others at the School of Public Health. Evaluation will include community groups as well as students. Our goals are to develop model methodologies that will both give students increased GIS skills in a context of a project-based, community-based course and to assist low-income community groups to achieve their own environmental health goals.

Read the Principal Investigator's post-project summary

An Interactive, Web-Based Mathematics Placement Exam System
Eric Kolaczyk
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Arts and Sciences

With the start of each academic year, the Department of Mathematics and Statistics is faced with the task of helping to place on the order of 2000 incoming students into appropriate levels of introductory mathematics classes. Up until now this work has been aided by the use of diagnostic examinations conducted with paper and pencil or, more recently, a very simple web-based version. We would like to replace the current approach with a more interactive and flexible web-based system, integrated and available across departmental, college, and university levels in such a way as to aid not only in the placement of incoming students but also students in general seeking help with choosing courses at or beyond the introductory level. We propose to do so by building a question database, linking it with an interactive decision tree structure, and packaging this with an appropriate web-based interface. Our experience and an initial feasibility study suggest that this may be done using software and tools already available on the university system (e.g., WebCT courseware will be used to house the database and interactive exam structure). Funding is requested for the salary of a graduate student to do the necessary programming.

Improving the Visual Component of Biological Anthropology Lecture Courses
Laura MacLatchy
Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences

The new biological anthropology undergraduate track relies heavily on its introductory course, AN102. This course has doubled in size, with three professors alternating teaching it instead of one. The dynamic subject material benefits from a highly visual presentation, but conventional approaches are less flexible, lead to a less "streamlined" lecture and are harder to coordinate among faculty than are computer-based ones. We propose to develop a single, digital data base that will allow us to easily update information and produce seamless PowerPoint presentations of text, figures and even short film clips. Course outlines, assignments and newly digitized figures will be available on the web to more efficiently disseminate information to students.

Construction of a Web-based Hematology Library for Medical Students
Karim Malek and Lewis Weintraub
Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine

Peripheral blood and bone marrow smears examination is essential in the evaluation of commonly encountered hematological disorders. The Biology of Disease course currently uses a series of clinical scenarios (case developments) to teach medical students how to integrate the smear findings in the diagnosis and management of such diseases. Unfortunately, time allocated to case developments is extremely limited, adversely affecting the students' performance on their National Boards, or during their clinical clerkship. We propose the construction of a web-based Hematology library to guide the students through the methodology of smear reading. The library will illustrate the normal cellular morphology and morphological anomalies as seen in various hematological disorders. The website will also extend the BOD Course in providing the students with a larger number of clinical case developments, thus better bridging their academic knowledge with clinical practice.

Integrating Global Positioning and Geographic Information Systems Technology into Physical Geography Education at Boston University's Sargent Camp
Nathan Phillips
Geography Department, College of Arts and Sciences

Mapping is fundamental to Physical Geography; yet currently, this course (GG104) relies on outdated, printed maps, with little student experience with natural environments. I propose to implement Global Positioning and Geographic Information Systems technology in GG104, applied at Sargent Camp. Students will collect and combine Global Positioning System data with a Geographical Information System for semester projects ending in class presentations. The results will be (1) skills development in geographic information technology, (2) an understanding of the role of new technologies in Physical Geography research, and (3) a growing geographical database on Sargent Camp in support of future Physical Geography education and research

Intelligent Tutorial System for Quantitative Analysis of Human Movement Education
Carole Tucker
Department of Physical Therapy, Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Quantitative movement analysis (QMA) is used to quantify aspects of human movement for clinical and research applications. QMA requires knowledge of biomechanics, human movement, as well as data acquisition concepts and technology. Students with varied levels of preparation from diverse academic backgrounds often perform QMA. This project proposes to develop a computerized Intelligent Tutorial System (ITS) on QMA that supports inter-disciplinary collaboration and learning in QMA. The ITS will provide students with the means to enhance their specific knowledge gaps within a unifying framework, and to assist students in developing broader comprehension of QMA in movement science research. future Physical Geography education and research

Document last updated 9/25/03