Our joint presentation was introduced by President Sam Hulbert (hulbert@admin.Rose-Hulman.Edu ), who gave an overview of the importance of technology in learning at Rose-Hulman and how it allows us be "coaches" of learning as well as lecturers, and to allow our students to be more actively involved in classroom learning.
Next, Allen Broughton (allen.broughton@rose-hulman.edu) gave a power point presentation ( Purdue.ppt (648K) ) describing the key features of our technology program - laptop computers, classrooms and infrastructure, faculty curriculum materials development, and faculty-student and student-student interaction. He followed up by a demonstration on how he uses Maple (a computer algebra system) in teaching a Calculus lesson on the energy surface of a pendulum, using the Maple worksheet Apendengy.mws (84K), and how he use the computer, the classroom layout and the structure of the worksheet material to actively involve the students in learning.
Julia Williams (Julia.Williams@rose-hulman.edu) then demonstrated how she uses Norton Textra Connect in teaching Freshman Composition. The software enables peer editing, multiple revision and email class discussion to make the class more interactive and produce a better final product.
Finally Ed Doering (doering@rosevc.Rose-Hulman.Edu) showed how he uses Matlab (computational and visualization software) and the text DSP First (co-authored by Rose faculty member Mark Yoder) to help students to understand difficult digital signal processing and image processing concepts. The visualization and audio capabilities of Matlab, used by students on their own computers allow the students to understand the effect of mathematical algorithms on images and sound. Many of these ideas and their extensions have been incorporated into the computer resource component of "Ed and Allen's" first course web page Advanced Mathematical Methods of Image Processing.
The post presentation discussion came up with the following question:
Question: How do we train the students to use the computers?
Answer: The students are already fairly computer literate when
they arrive on campus. In addition we conduct an intensive training session
using web based materials. If you are interested in further information
on this program please contact the coordinator Frank Young (Frank.Young@rose-hulman.edu).