Four years ago, only about half (48 percent) of Keuka College faculty members reported having used technology in their classroom instruction.

Today, 99 percent do.

And the reason is the College is entering the final year of the five-year, $1.82 million U.S. Department of Education Title III grant it was awarded in October 2005 to improve educational technology.

When the College announced it had received the grant in March 2005, President Joseph G. Burke called it "a truly magnificent achievement for Keuka."

The announcement capped a more than two-year, collaborative effort by individuals from various departments across campus and led by College Advancement.

A survey, recently conducted by Director of Educational Technology Jeff Snow to find out how well the five-year goals were met, revealed that technology is being used as an experiential education tool in more courses by more technologically skilled faculty.  

            _{Director of Educational Technology Jeff Snow (right) and Audio Visual Technician Jake Cornelius comprise the Office of Educational Technology}

“The survey has been done every year,” said Snow, “and for four straight years, the numbers have gone in that direction.”

The following is a breakdown of the five-year goals and actual results:

• To increase the number of courses in which technology will be used as an experiential education tool to 60. The actual number of courses in which technology was reported used is 169.
• To increase from 48 to 90 percent the number of faculty members who report having used technology in their classroom instruction. The actual percentage of faculty members who use or have used technology in classroom instruction is 99 percent.
• To reduce from 52 to 10 percent the number of faculty members who cite “lack of skill” as a major barrier to the use of technology in their instruction. The actual percentage of faculty members who cite “lack of skill” as a major barrier to the use of technology in instruction is 6.25 percent.
• To reduce from 35 to 10 percent the faculty members who respond on the annual technology survey that they either disagree or strongly disagree that “student learning is not impeded by faculty’s lack of familiarity with technology.” The actual percentage of faculty members who disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement is 1 percent.

Increasing faculty familiarity with technology was achieved through training sessions, attended by 975 College employees; more than 50 training sessions have been held since the beginning of the grant.

Faculty mentors from each division also assisted with the training of their colleagues. Snow expected to have faculty mentors for two years, but actually benefitted from their dedication for four years. Mentors included Carmela Battaglia (Occupational Therapy), Jeanine Bower (Basic and Applied Social Sciences), Stephanie Craig (Social Work), Rita Gow/Ann Tuttle (Business and Management), Alexis Haynes/Anne Weed (Humanities and Fine Arts), Pat Pulver (Education), and Tim Sellers (Natural Sciences, Mathematics, and Physical Education).

This past summer, five faculty members and one student became SMART-trainer certified, meaning they can train others on the use of SMART technology, which includes whiteboards, software, interactive response systems, and other technology.

“Becoming certified is quite a process,” said Snow. “There are three days of classes and then the certification exam at the end. Since we brought the training here, we were able to have up to 10 people begin the certification process by attending the first two days of classes.”

Tech Day was held each year in August, and faculty and staff could sign up to attend to learn more about various technology. Many of the Tech Day presenters were recipients of internal grants to improve instructional program and curriculum. Thirty-six internal grants (totaling more than $122,900) have already been awarded and there is still money available. The application deadline for the next round of internal grants is Dec. 1 and May 1, 2010 for the final set of grants.

“The Title III grant project has provided another avenue for Keuka faculty to promote our mission of experiential hands-on learning,” said Jeanine Santelli. “From small internal grants to sweeping campus-wide and ASAP implementations, the grant has provided funding for learning opportunities for our students. Some examples are the SMART technology classrooms in which our education students can practice and incorporate that technology into their lesson plans and the scientific equipment that provide students the ability to directly apply and analyze learned concepts.”

Equipping all 43 classrooms with projectors, DVD and VHS players, and the ability to hook up to a laptop, and turning 11 rooms into SMART classrooms also contributed to increased familiarity with technology, according to Snow.

Two new instructional computer labs were created in the lower level of Lightner Library as part of Title III, making more computers available for student use. An American Sign Language lab was created in Allen House.

And, thanks to the Title III grant, faculty members are not the only ones being schooled in technology.

Eleven students were employed as technology fellows to staff the computer labs and conduct training workshops for students.

“Last year, the students did a training session on PowerPoint for new students,” said Snow. “They’ve also done training sessions on Moodle.”

Senior Matthew Connell has worked as a student technology fellow in the Office of Educational Technology all four years. He is the only student to achieve SMART certification.

“Using the technology on a daily basis really allows you to become more familiar with the software/equipment,” said Connell. “Some of the software we use on campus I had never used before and working with it allows me to better understand it and assist others in learning it. For example, I had never used Open Office 3.1, Inspiration 6, Microsoft Outlook, and Visio before coming to Keuka.  Now, I use all this software on a regular basis.

                                                                   ^{Matt Connell}

“Most of the software I have learned will be useful for me as a future teacher,” added the unified childhood/special education major. “Many schools are advancing their technology and I feel better prepared to make my transition from student to teacher.”

The final large project to be funded by the grant is expanding an instructional computer lab in Jephson Science Center from 12 seats to 24-27 seats. This project is expected to be completed next summer.

-- Tanya Cornell-Kestler