CIT’s Jump Start grants provide faculty with funding for exploring new technologies and discovering new teaching strategies. This year we funded the following projects:
Primate Conservation Videos
Ann Yoder/Duke Lemur Center
CIT provided Ann Yoder, Professor of Biology and Director of the Duke Lemur Center, funding for equipment to support undergraduate student projects involving the creation of educational media materials in one or more Duke courses, including Primate Conservation (Fall 2015).
Italian 102 Hybrid Course Enhancement
Emily Sposeto/Romance Studies
Sposeto used TalkAbroad software to provide students in her Spring 2016 hybrid Italian 102-03 course the opportunity to engage with native speaker conversation partners to provide a new form of authentic, real-time interaction in learning the Italian language.
Student Activism, Storytelling, and Community Change Podcast
Jennifer Ahern-Dodson/Thompson Writing Program
CIT provided funds for a portable digital recorder and memory card for Ahern-Dodson’s Spring 2016 EDUC 259S / WRI 259S course on podcasting. Students wrote, workshopped, recorded and published audio stories related to student activism, as well as a class podcast.
Bringing Environmental Expertise to the Classroom and Beyond
Rebecca Vidra/Nicholas School of the Environment
Vidra used CIT funding to support the development of video with guest experts from the Nicholas School of Environment. The newly developed videos along with existing videos created by the school will be used in her Fall 2016 ENVIRON 102.01 course to highlight hot topics and current research in NSOE, as well as to encourage students to major in environmental science. This project will allow Vidra to redesign the course and assess the impact of videos on student learning and engagement.
Spanish Challenge: Gamification for 2nd Language Acquisition
Luis Navarro Roncero/Romance Studies
Navarro Roncero used funding to provide licenses for Spanish Challenge, an iOS and Android game for Spanish language acquisition, in his Summer 2016 Spanish 111 course. His goals were to increase language learning by increasing motivation and engagement with the language exercises.
Enhancing Soft Skills in Online Learning Environments
Jennie DeGagne/Duke School of Nursing
CIT provided funding for a one-year license for YouSeeU virtual collaboration platform, to pilot in Nursing 582, Population Health in a Global Society in Spring 2017. The faculty aims to use the technology to improve and assess six soft skills important in nursing education (communication, enthusiasm/attitude, teamwork, networking, problem solving/critical thinking, and professionalism skills) in an online environment.