Faculty and staff from the College of Staten Island (CSI) shared their technological expertise at the Seventh Annual CUNY IT (information technology) Conference sponsored by The City University of New York (CUNY) and the Center for Digital Education and held at John Jay College in Manhattan.
Under the theme, “Instructional/Information Technology in CUNY: The Catalyst for Transformational Change,” the free conference provided an overview of the University’s key IT initiatives, and gave participants a chance to explore how technology is affecting the areas of instruction, research, and administration. It also provides attendees with an opportunity to meet with sponsors and hear from IT leadership. Presenters from CSI hosted six sessions.
Four of the CSI-related sessions examined the enhancement of teaching through the employment of technology:
Dr. Bill Bauer et al., in “Teaching and Learning with Rich Media: Podcasting and iTunes U” presented a look at this ongoing University-wide effort to build a collaborative academic community for enriching teaching and learning with rich media.
Bill Bernhardt participated in the panel discussion, “Listening to Students: A Conversation about Online Teaching and Learning,” which considered how student feedback reveals issues that are particularly important when students are taking their entire program online.
Building on the success of utilizing voice recognition technology in the classroom for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, CSI’s Office of Disability Services and the Multi-Media Regional Center has refined its ability to use the technology remotely, offering the greatest level of independence yet. Margaret Venditti, Nicole Dore, Christopher Cruz Cullari, and Maryellen Smolka reviewed these achievements in “Transforming the Lives of Students with Disabilities Using Voice Recognition Technology and Collaborative Training.”
Also, Mark Lewental and Dr. Susan Imberman presented “Engaging Faculty through Class Capture and Tablet Computing.” The combination of these two tools allows faculty to record their lectures and students to review the material at any time. Faculty and staff shared examples and discussed the administrative and practical aspects of mounting courses using tablets and class capture.
Two other presentations focused on technology and research with a focus on expanding knowledge and addressing quality of life issues, particularly here on Staten Island:
Dr. Michael Kress, Paul Muzio, and Dr. Tobias Schaefer et al. spotlighted “The CUNY High-Performance Computing Center,” which is housed at CSI, discussing, in particular, how modeling and simulation using high-performance computing is a key methodology in research disciplines ranging from the behavioral sciences to physics to the media arts.
In addition, exploring the use of information analysis techniques that one can use to evaluate urban systems, Dr. Jonathan Peters, Dr. Michael Kress, Dr. Alan Benimoff, and Nora Santiago, hosted “Information Technology and Urban Planning.” The presenters paid particular attention to bus rapid transit, toll collection systems, transit market sizing, population analysis, and social equity measures.
Beside the CSI participants, presenters from other CUNY campuses addressed a myriad of issues regarding pedagogy; technology and the environment, culture, and college finances; and campus security.
