The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Mini-Grant program was established in 2008 to encourage and support faculty efforts to enhance teaching and enrich the student learning experience. Funded by the Omnibus fee, these mini-grants provide CLAS faculty an incentive to explore ways to meaningfully integrate technology in instruction.

The presentation is open to faculty and students in CLAS, and interested others at WSU!

Refreshments provided!

If you are planning to apply for a CLAS IT MiniGrant in the future, you are encouraged to attend.

For more information on CLAS IT MiniGrants go to:

www.clas.wayne.edu

Click on “Employee Resources" then "Faculty / Academic Staff Resources.”

The presentation is open to faculty and students in CMLLC, ELI and interested others at WSU!
If you plan to apply for an FLTC Mini-Grant in the future, you are encouraged to attend.

For more information on FLTC Mini-Grants go to:
www.langlab.wayne.edu, and click on Mini-Grants

Project descriptions as provided by the Mini-Grant recipients:

· Pierluigi Erbaggio - Supporting Students' Listening Skills and Language Learning Through Video Animations
This project consists of the creation of a series of six short films created with animation software. These videos will present situations involving a small group of characters and will be used in the ITA1010 class primarily for listening comprehension exercises and to increase vocabulary acquisition. It is important to stress, though, that videos are generally a very flexible tool, and the series of animated videos created with this project will lend itself for use as prompts for working with other skills. For example, the videos may be used as starting points for productive speaking activities, or they could be used as models for writing tasks. Additionally, the scripts may be exploited for improving reading skills.

·  Alina Klin - Enhancing The Polish Curriculum By Making "Let's Learn Polish" Available Online
"Let's Learn Polish" is a set of 30 half-hour lessons with exercises and was produced in 1996. These lessons remain the only in-depth video materials professionally made for learning Polish. None of the books currently available for learning Polish (with the exception of one) have video components (or websites with such materials). During 30 very well-produced and entertaining lessons, students get to know the Grzegorzewski family, their daily life, problems and joys, as well as Polish traditions. The series applies the communicative approach to language learning, and at the end of each lesson there is a segment where the most important phrases are isolated and presented to the student, so the student can repeat them (and read them too). This project involves making the series "Let's Learn Polish" available to WSU students from a Blackboard site.

· Laura Kline  - Russian Listening Comprehension: Computer-based Learning Using Online Video Materials for Advanced Students
Last summer I created an online listening comprehension course for students of Russian which is now in effect. Students work through episodes of the popular Russian series "ErelashT on Blackboard with the help of Russian-language vocabulary lists and interactive exercises to test listening comprehension. After six or eight episodes there is a cumulative quiz on Blackboard. At the end of the course, students take an online final. This course was offered during the past Fall and Winter semesters and has been extremely successful for students at the 2nd- and 3rd-year levels. I would create a similar course for more advanced students. As in last year's project, there would be online vocabulary lists and audio recordings, exercises, quizzes, and tests. Technology would allow the Russian program to enrich its course offerings without significantly increasing faculty teaching loads.

· Matthew Schwartz  - Visual Enhancement of Ancient Religions Course
I propose to develop several visual presentations which will enhance my History of Ancient Religions course. The project would include: (a) pictures of ancient Athenian art or architecture of religious content, as indeed most Athenian art was. This would help to build up a lecture on Pausanius's second-century journey through Greece and the many religious buildings, shrines, statues and the like that he visited; (b) pictures of the recent archaeological excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem which include extensive new findings on the Temple site plus what may be King David's palace; and (c) Early Christian art, which would greatly appeal to the many students who learn well visually and bring a reality and a sense of presence that would exceed what can be done using only lectures or readings. This work would be useful for any history or literature class that touches on the period as well as for my ancient religions class.

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Mini-Grant program was established last year to encourage and support faculty efforts to enhance teaching and enrich the student learning experience. Funded by the Omnibus fee, these mini-grants provide CLAS faculty an incentive to explore ways to meaningfully integrate technology in instruction.

The presentation is open to faculty and students in CLAS, and interested others at WSU!

Refreshments provided!

If you are planning to apply for a CLAS IT MiniGrant in the future, you are encouraged to attend.

For more information on CLAS IT MiniGrants go to:

www.clas.wayne.edu

Click on “Chair, Faculty & Staff Resources” then “Faculty Resources”

Project Descriptions:

Margo Bowman - Incorporating a Hybrid Instructional Format into an Experimental Psychology Lab Course
This project proposed to shift approximately two/thirds of the content of our Learning and Memory Experimental Lab (PSY 3070) to an online format. Offering part of a lab course online is a major step toward incorporating technology into the psychology curriculum. It is also a major step toward keeping pace with what other universities are currently offering their students. It is expected that combining the best features of the traditional face-to-face instructional format with the best features of the online format will improve student engagement, increase active learning, and lead to better student learning and satisfaction.

Ramzi Salloum and Li Way Lee– Moving A Basic Economics Course To Online
This project involved offering the ECO2010 course, Principles of Microeconomics as an online course. This project addresses the instructional needs of students who may have difficulty finding the time and the means of transportation for attending classes in a traditional classroom setting. This project is expected to increase enrollment in Economics courses by attracting a group of students who have not been able to attend our on-campus classes.

Jean Andruski and Karen O’Leary - Incorporating Screen Capture Software to Address Gen Ed Computer Proficiency Requirements
The purpose of this proposal was to secure funds for software to be used in several courses and practica in the undergraduate and graduate programs of the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. There are two components to the project under discussion: (1) implementation of new undergraduate requirements for computer proficiency within the department; and (2) enhancement of computer software available for students engaged in clinical practicum assignments and selected courses.
In this project, students learn to use SnagIt to acquire illustrative materials from acoustic analysis software, the internet, or from any other on-screen source. 

Monika Brockmeyer - Incorporating Tablet/Inking Technologies in Early Computer Science Education
Tablet input devices will enhance capacity to learn in many ways. First, an inked presentation or other document is often an artifact which captures and reveals the thinking and learning process. As a consequence, tablet technology permits instructors, to demonstrate the thinking and learning process more explicitly and in a format which can be saved, edited, disseminated, and reviewed later. Tablet/Inking Technology will be deployed in early computer science courses to enhance learning and retention. For this project we requested four tablet input devices to connect to existing computers to permit "ink" annotation of lecture and presentation material in two early computer science courses.

This is a competition for students returning from trips to foreign countries
who have documented their experiences overseas in creative, and rich ways through film.

During this event Digital Stories submitted for the competition will be screened, after which awards will be announced.
There will be three awards, one each in the categories of Screenplay, Cinematography, and Direction, selected by a Jury. Additionally, there will also be one Audience award for one story selected by the audience at the screening.
Films are about 10 – 15 minutes in duration.