Department Web pages present several problems:"Based on the efforts of the Chief Librarian and the College's recognition of our achievements, AIT was funded through Student Technology Fees for a full-time Digital Course Development Specialist. Although there was initial confusion which caused some delay in the job's classification ... AIT was fortunate in finding Petek Kent, a former Web manager at Brooklyn College (1997-99) and director of internet development for a commercial Internet-based company. Ms Kent‘s background includes experience with an impressive array of development software. Her post baccalaureate education contains numerous courses in the visual arts. We are excited to have her on staff. Her contributions to the College's instructional efforts more than justify the use of STF monies to support full-time staff." Howard Spivak, Director for Library Systems & Academic IT
Digital Supplemental Instruction (DSI) is based upon the concept that there are a number of key cognitive concepts found in courses that students either:
In order to alleviate the cognitive dissonances that occur as a result of these missed learning opportunities, Dr. Sylvie Richards constructed open enrollment Blackboard course sites populated with interactive content based upon the syllabus employed in the course and the textbook used. Each course site has an Interactive Syllabus containing links to additional resources including audio files, video files, learning objects, full online texts, Excel spreadsheet problems/solutions, and animations. Each course site was designed to accommodate all three student learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. The competency levels set forth in Bloom's taxonomy are also factored into the sites' creation.
We are committed to the concept of DSI for these reasons:
(1) Reduce rates of attrition for targeted courses
(2) Improve student performance in these courses
(3) Increase graduation rates
Freshman and sophomore attrition in some gateway-to-the-major courses averages over 50 percent, with attrition highest within the first six weeks of the semester. To address the problem of student retention, Digital Supplemental Instruction is designed as a student-targeted online academic support service that is both cost-effective and competency centered, appealing to a wide range of student learning styles.
The DSI program differs from tutoring initiatives in two major respects. First, the emphasis has been shifted from identification of high-risk students to the identification of high-risk courses. High-risk courses are those traditionally difficult, entry-to-the-major courses wherein student failure and withdrawal rates exceed 30 percent of course registrants. Second, services are attached directly to each course in a 24/7 online multimedia environment: DSI represents point-of-service instruction around the clock.
The ability to log in and obtain immediate support increases student satisfaction and performance. There is no waiting, and the doors are always open. In addition, DSI removes the stigma usually associated with student-support programs, making it more accessible to students who do not wish to self-identify as academically needy.
Brooklyn College's super-sites include:
These were introduced to the full-time faculty who teach the courses; they were encouraged to direct their students to these open-enrollment sites and their multimedia resources. Working with Dr. Richards, some faculty chose to customize a super-site for their course.
Since Petek Kent joined our team in the spring 2004 as the DSI Specialist, AIT has been making significant progress in building an effective alliance with the Learning Center. Thanks to Ms Kent, in time for final exams 2004 a LiveTutor trial was initiated via Bb's real-time chat and built-in math editor. Petek and Nicholas Irons have been meeting weekly with Myra Kogen and Michael LoPorto to advance the LiveTutor project. Ms Kent developed instructions and screenshots for the LiveTutor project and trained Ms Kogen and Mr. LoPorto in how to log in and communicate via chat. (Of course, we have concerns about how this experiment and the Gateway super-sites in general will function in the CUNY Blackboard Enterprise environment, with the added complexity of the CUNY portal's sitting on top of Bb.)
Future DSI plans include creating a plan for student outreach, working with the Learning Center on the Gateway courses they are preparing for summer 2004, and researching alternative chat/math editor approaches. (For the moment, the only math editor the College owns resides inside Blackboard. Not only are math editors expensive, but all of those known to us require plug-ins that (a) cost money and (b) may present installation challenges for students.)
Sylvie Richards has been quite involved with Dean Kathleen Gover's Learning Communities project which targets freshman-year student cohorts. Dr. Richards provided a series of workshops for faculty and students associated with this initiative, introducing them to Blackboard and to the materials AIT produced especially for their courses. These materials were subsequently placed on a CD distributed to faculty and students.
In the fall 2003 Brooklyn College was named one of twelve "Founding Institutions" selected to participate in a national project known as the "Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year." The project, jointly sponsored by the Policy Center on the First Year of College and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), aims to create a model of excellence for the first year of college which public colleges and universities may then use to develop and refine their overall approach to educating new students. Funding for the two-year project is being provided by the Lumina Foundation for Education and the Atlantic Philanthropies. Among the other institutions invited to take part in the project are Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Texas A&M, and the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Sylvie Richards is a member of Vice-President Alan Gilbert's Foundations of Excellence committee; she produced a "best practices" grid for evaluating outcomes assessments of freshman year courses and researched and evaluated rubrics makers.
In the spring 2004 the provost expressed concern about certain issues related to department and faculty Web sites. Some background:
Department Web pages present several problems:
In terms of faculty Web pages, issues include:
The other issues are more difficult to settle (common look and feel; copyright; 508 compliance; fly-by-night Web developers) and require either new College policy or the more vigorous application of existing policies. Perhaps there is a role here for the TLTR.
"Working in a commuter college, I see how students struggle with the size and weight of the electronic devices they have to carry to campus to support their educational and personal needs. With the invention of hand-held devices and smart phones, it is clear that things are shifting in this direction. This raises a question in my mind: what can we do to provide support to our mobile users? Brooklyn College does not currently accommodate mobile pocket PC or PDA users in terms of offering any service or support. To address this problem, we started a pilot project creating a technological infrastructure in the Library that will allow our readers to transfer numerous kinds of information from Library computers to their own portable electronic devices." Alex Rudshteyn, Associate Director for Library Systems
Our Student Technology Fee-funded wireless/pocket PC project was slowed by the delay in installing wireless connectivity throughout the new Library building, largely caused by flaws in the security protocols for the equipment selected. Also, the specifications for the equipment changed several times, which did not help to expedite the project. ITS now plans to standardize on Alcatel http://www.alcatel.com/ equipment, and Library Systems staff have done a number of surveys in our building to determine the number of access points necessary for Library-wide coverage. It seems that the magic number is sixteen:
| Area | # of APs | Comments |
| Basement | 4 | |
| First Floor | 5 | The WTA needs 3 APs to provide the density of coverage needed. |
| Second Floor | 3 | |
| Third Floor | 3 | |
| Fourth Floor | 1 |
At present Library Systems staff have installed one AP on the third floor of the Library, enabling staff to develop and test PDA applications. Quickly students picked up this unadvertised Wi-Fi environment and began asking for help configuring their wireless devices. Staff now provide this service on-demand, good practice for the coming academic year when performing these configurations will be a major activity for AIT and Library Systems. (All of the Library Systems staff are trained to configure Wi-Fi on laptops, and staff in the New Media Center and the Library Café will also receive this training.) Once a device is configured, it can be used anywhere on campus where wireless has been installed, including the Library Café and the cafeteria in Boylan Hall. ITS has created an outstanding site http://infotech.brooklyn.cuny.edu/bc-wifi/ that provides information on how to configure one's wireless device for the College's network.
In 2003-2004 AIT and Library Systems staff successfully completely the research and development stage of what we see as a three-year handheld/pocket PC project. We expect that by September 2004 the entire building will be wireless. When this happens, our project is ready to roll.
Examples of resources eligible for wireless mobile access include:
The project will allow readers to do a traditional search of the Library=s catalog on a pocket PC (that is, a device with a very small screen). The software will then process the book's call number, find the floor where the book is located, and display a floor plan highlighting the shelf where the book is sitting. This project is about 85% complete.
Beaming stations throughout the Library will enable students to download a variety of information to their Pocket PCs, then refer to it at their leisure.
