Bronx Community College has received U.S. Department of Education Title V funding through 2013. This grant project, which integrates three related initiatives, is strengthening our ability to provide an education equal to the challenge of the 21st century digital landscape.
Our program consists of activities aimed at preparing our students to successfully enter the workplace and continue their education at baccalaureate and post-graduate levels. Through incorporation of digital technologies into instructional programs, each of our three project activities is pursuing the Title V legislative aim to “expand and enhance the academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability” of Hispanic-serving institutions. Each activity approaches these goals from a different angle, but the overall design of our plan brings all three activities into an integrated programmatic vision.
- The Learning by Design Faculty Development Program: This program systematically develops faculty capacities to teach with and through the application of digital tools and resources. Department-based teams of three to five faculty members engage in a three-semester cycle of planning, implementation, and assessment in which discipline-based approaches to courses and curricula are designed and delivered. This faculty development process results in new visions and practical applications for teaching and learning.
- The Instructional Technology Tutor (ITT) Program: This program is a student-centered effort which parallels and supports the Learning by Design initiative. The program works with participating faculty to recruit students who meet specified selection criteria. They are trained in both technology applications and academic tutoring techniques, and are assigned to work with the recommending faculty or departments. Depending upon need and project focus, ITTs are responsible for peer tutoring, technology assistance, and frequently perform both tasks. The fundamental objectives for this program are for students to help their peers with the work required to succeed academically in technology-integrated learning, and to help faculty with technology tasks.
- Technology Infrastructure Improvements: When departments plan their academic technology integration strategies, Title V staff work with them to design upgrades to classrooms or laboratories which will provide the hardware and software capacity needed to fulfill project objectives. All of the projects reflect strategies designed to bring grant activities into an integrated vision of improved, expanded, and enhanced academic quality.
- Completed projects include: creating a digital laboratory environment for the Chemistry Department; a digital image bank and curriculum integration strategies for the Art and Music Department along with a combination laboratory/classroom facility with 22 student workstations used by over 250 students; the creation of e-Herodotus, an online companion for the “History of the Modern World” course and the addition of a “smart” classroom for the History Department; and program wide adoption of e-Portfolios for the Education Department in all courses which has also led to a pilot program of 8 faculty members integrating e-Portfolios into their courses.
- Current projects include: redesigned laboratory exercises and equipment for the Biology Department to offer more hands-on experiences for students to use scientific equipment; the installation of a Whisper Room for the Nursing Department for students to record patient simulations and comment on peer performances; a technology-enabled classroom for the English Department to use multimedia and bring enhanced information literacy skills to the study of literature; and the development of a Computer Algebra System for the Mathematics Department that brings in “real world” examples into the pre-calculus/calculus sequence.