Students in Kenneth Glander's outdoor primate field biology course will need pencils, paper, warm clothes-and handheld Global Positioning System tracking units.
Glander's students will use the GPS units to track down animals at the Duke University Primate Center this semester.
"Besides computers, this is the first time I've used some of the available technology in a class," said Glander, professor of biological anthropology and anatomy. "The purpose is to demonstrate by hand a technique that's today essential in the field."
Since Provost Peter Lange announced the start of the Duke Digital Initiative last April, faculty like Glander have responded in a variety of ways to integrate technological tools in the classroom.
The DDI was created to promote the use of information technology as outlined in Duke's outgoing strategic plan, "Building on Excellence," which ends this year. Its purpose is "to encourage innovative thinking and support compelling proposals across a range of technology uses, whether the technology exists today or not," Lange wrote in an April 6 memo to the faculty.
The initiative is jointly run by the Center for Instructional Technology and the Office of Information Technology under a three-year plan with the goal of experimenting, developing and implementing new technologies in classrooms.
The program will incorporate of a diverse range of technologies following the path of the Duke iPod First-Year Experience, last year's pilot program, which provided freshmen with the portable audio devices in an effort to stimulate academic and campus life, said Lynne O'Brien, director of CIT.
"Following the iPod initiative, faculty-looking to expand the use of technology in other ways-approached us with a few ideas," O'Brien said. "The iPod initiative itself sparked a lot of them."
O'Brien emphasized that faculty are encouraged to develop ideas of their own that can be supported by the DDI.
Technologies approved so far under the initiative range from tablet PCs to collaboration tools in the form of web logs accessible through the Blackboard website.
Tracy Futhey, chief information officer and vice president for information technology, said although the initiative's main goal is to promote the use of a broad range of technologies, iPods remain the device of choice in most projects. OIT will evaluate the utility and value of DDI technologies.
iPod uses in classes have been expanded to include photo iPods and podcasting, a method of disseminating audio programs over the Internet.
"This year, after ideas were expanded to include new uses [of iPods], there are about 25 courses supported [by CIT], many more than we directly collaborated with last year," Futhey said.
Junior Francis Karen, who used an iPod last semester in her Spanish 14 class, said she is excited about the prospect of continuing to use the devices in language classes for podcasting and other uses beyond basic file transfers and recordings.
"It was great to be able to listen through the headphones because there weren't distractions from other people," Karen said. "I can't wait to see more uses."
Other technologies set to enter the experimentation stage in the DDI include digital video cameras, personal digital assistants and other tools that support the use of sound, media, collaboration tools, hand-held computing and multimedia in the classroom, O'Brien said.
Carolyn McAllaster, clinical professor in the School of Law, said she and five other professors applied and received funding for digital video equipment that will allow law students to receive "in-depth" feedback on their performances in real cases.
Procedures used to approve DDI projects are analogous to the policy created last spring to approve grants for iPods. Interested faculty must demonstrate how they plan to use the technology in classes through an application process and, if approved, are assisted by CIT as they further develop or refine their projects.
After fulfilling specific obligations-which include training and project planning-over a semester or year-long period, involved faculty are compensated with a $1,250 or $2,500 stipend.
At the end of each project's trial period, CIT and OIT workers will measure its success based on goals developed by faculty, staff and administrators, O'Brien said.
Data will be gathered from students, faculty and staff during the initiative, and the overall implementation of the DDI is also set to be evaluated at the end of three years.
While most classes currently involved in the initiative are of small to medium size, faculty teaching larger lecture courses will have the chance to take part in semester-long projects in the spring "aimed to help form communities and foster collaboration among larger classes," O'Brien said.
"In three years, I'm most excited in seeing where Duke stands in its use of technology," Futhey said.
"Primarily we hope to have discovered many new uses of technologies that have so far been overlooked for their educational applications."
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