Welcome to ITaP Faculty Focus
Please note that this publication of ITaP, Purdue’s central IT organization, is sent using HTML email, which is a format that includes color graphics. If your email software is unable to display this format, you can view the ITaP Faculty Focus from the Faculty Focus website.
ITaP Faculty Focus is an opt-out publication, which means that you will continue to receive it unless you decide to unsubscribe. If you are not interested in receiving this information, you may unsubscribe at the Faculty Focus opt-out page.
If you have suggestions or comments about ITaP Faculty Focus, please direct them to Greg Kline.
IT News
Special Classroom Technology Edition
 |
Mixable engages students in nontraditional ways
Mixable, a new ITaP-developed technology to help drive student engagement, is available for use by any faculty member or student this semester. Mixable is an easy-to-use collaboration tool that integrates with students’ use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media applications to enable discussion of course materials, study groups, team projects, and more.
Mixable, which can be used via smartphones and other mobile devices as well as on a desktop or laptop computer, also integrates with Dropbox, a program used for sharing and syncing documents, pictures, audio and video.
In addition, Mixable can play back recordings from Purdue’s BoilerCast lecture capture system and share links to Web resources, including embedded images or videos.
BoilerCast’s new capabilities give faculty more ways to deliver course content
BoilerCast, Purdue’s system for recording lectures and making them available online, has new features that make it easy for faculty members to add prerecorded video clips and incorporate content from outside sources. “Personal capture” allows instructors to easily prerecord course materials to augment their in-class presentations and edit the recordings before uploading them to iTunes U. “External media ingest” enables uploading of tutorials and other content from third parties for classroom or student use.
ITaP, faculty choose i>clicker2 as centrally supported student-response system
Purdue will have one centrally supported student-response system — the i>clicker2 — beginning with the fall semester 2011 because faculty find it easy to use and learn and ITaP values its reliability. The enhanced i>clicker2 system with alphanumeric functionality and an LCD screen is available for student purchase in West Lafayette campus bookstores. Students who own the original i>clicker can continue to use them unless their instructors require the new model.
ITaP announces technology tools, updates and training for fall-semester instruction
Faculty members preparing for the fall semester will find a variety of improvements to the arsenal of instructional technologies, teaching resources and technology training programs ITaP supports on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, from the Blackboard course management system to a suite of applications aimed at better engaging students both in class and on line.
Campus Technology highlights Signals and HUBzero as top innovations
Campus Technology Magazine’s August edition is highlighting Signals, an early warning system that helps students succeed in their coursework, as a top innovation for 2011. Purdue’s HUBzero, a Web-based platform allowing researchers to collaborate using computational models to study complex problems, also won one of the magazine’s Campus Technology Innovators Awards.
Tech Tidbits
Faculty can save money on hardware through ITaP shopping, too Read more
Blackboard users group to meet Sept. 6, Oct. 4 and Nov. 8 Read more
Redesigned website details instructional technologies, training and support Read more
ITaP blog encourages dialogue about technology, teaching and learning Read more