Author Archives: Brenda Ellis

Podcasting Lectures – Prof. James Morrison

Technology Used: Podcasting
Course: PS0304 International Political Economy (Spring 2009)
Number of Students: 31
Objectives: To better serve the students and democratize education.
Anticipated Learning Outcomes: Better retention and understanding
Actual Learning Outcomes: Some on both fronts

Summary of Poster Session: James Morrison explained how he uses podcasts to record his lectures so that after class, students can review the lectures. “Students can double check difficult, complicated concepts; Overcome language barriers; Get Missed Material. ** Note: My podcasting had no noticeable influence on lecture attendance! **“.   Continue reading

Using Second Life for Political Simulation – Prof. Quinn Mecham

Second Life
Technologies Used: Second Life; Blogs, Wikis.
Course:
Political Science 103: Intro to Comparative Politics
Number of Students: 50
Objectives: “Provide a political simulation experience for my students, and conduct an experiment to determine if it was possible to create a virtual state in which people would actively participate.”

Summary of Poster Session: Quinn Mecham and Alex Russo (a student from his course) demonstrated how they used Second Life as one of their tools to simulate how political parties and governments form.  Students had avatars (simulated characters) in Second Life that could interact with each other and campaign, form parties, propose legislation, and experience how politics play out.  A blog and wiki connected to their virtual space was also used to allow proposals to be vetted. Continue reading

South China Sea WWW Virtual Library – Prof. David Rosenberg

Technologies Used: website: www.SouthChinaSea.org, Google Earth, Google Map, Google News Search, CD
Course: PSCI 214 – International Environmental Politics
Number of Students: 45
Objectives: “To integrate research and teaching, to promote student-faculty collaboration.”

Summary of Poster Session: David Rosenberg and several of his students showed the website that is a resource for students in David’s class as well as the world.  Students helped identify content to link to and contributed content themselves, such as maps. Continue reading