Technology abounds on campus

Technology abounds on campus

BY
DANA BENSON
Rice News Staff

Already recognized
for its teaching and research, Rice may soon be seen as
a leader in another area: use of technology in the educational
arena.

Several of Rice’s
most outstanding initiatives in this area were the focus
of a special meeting of the University Council. Held Nov.
17 in the Founder’s Room, the meeting brought together
the University Council and other members of the Rice community
to hear presentations from faculty and others.

The presenters
highlighted technology initiatives ranging from the Connexions
Project, which will introduce a Web-based modular learning
method, to the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship,
a university center that promotes new-business concepts.

“It is
time that the university community at large, including faculty,
staff, students and the board of trustees, become more fully
aware of the resourcefulness and vision of many on our faculty
who have been innovating in educational technology. This
meeting is merely the first in a larger series of university-wide
discussions,” President Malcolm Gillis said.

Gillis, who
chairs the University Council, made note of the broad range
of campus schools and departments that are leading the technology
initiatives. For example, the School of Humanities is developing
a Web-based language proficiency testing and teaching program
that could make Rice a leader in that area. Other technology
efforts have been developed by the Department of Ecology
and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of History.

The technology
initiatives presented at the University Council meeting
included:

• Web-based
language proficiency testing and teaching, Gale Stokes,
interim dean of humanities
Stokes explained the ExTemplate program being developed
to place exams on the Web to measure students’ language
proficiency. The program, for which a patent is pending,
was developed through Rice’s Language Resource Center
as a way to place students in appropriate language courses
and to certify that they have met the faculty’s language
standards.

ExTemplate also
can be used by instructors to write exams and quizzes and
will allow for the creation of learning modules for self-instruction
through which students will be able to identify their weak
spots and strengthen them.

“This is
absolutely a stunning teaching and testing device,”
Stokes said. “We’re very excited about it, and
we think it’s the best program that has been developed
in the country because it combines a good Web-based interface
with proficiency testing.”

• Rice
Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, Steve Currall,
alliance director
A collaboration of Rice’s natural sciences, engineering
and management communities, this center works to develop
new business concepts, new jobs and new sources of wealth
for Rice, Houston and the United States.

The alliance
hosts forums at which participants, who must be Rice faculty,
staff, students or alumni, make presentations about their
new-business concepts to members of the business and finance
communities. The center also provides support throughout
the business start-up process.

In 12 months,
47 new business ideas have been presented, Currall said,
ranging from the work of Richard Smalley, the Gene and Norman
Hackerman Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics,
in manufacturing single-walled carbon nanotubes to selling
women’s fashions on the Internet. Currall noted that
there have been several business concepts presented that
are aimed at the educational market, including lesson-planning
software being developed by Rice staff members.

“I want
everybody to notice,” Gillis said, “that this
alliance is serving not just faculty, but also undergraduate
and graduate students, staff and alumni. And we already
have examples from all these entities.”

• Technology
in teaching and research, Alan Thornhill, clinical assistant
professor in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
and executive director of DAC-Net
Thornhill discussed his efforts to use the Internet for
the real-time exchange and analysis of data.

“Some of
my reasons for getting involved with putting technology
on the Internet were things like putting students into an
active evaluating mode of thinking, empowering students
to take responsibility for their own learning instead of
being in the passive-receptive mode, encouraging students
to actively participate in each other’s education and
maximizing my effectiveness,” Thornhill said.

He cited two
examples of how he already has used the Internet for teaching
purposes. Thornhill explained how students in one of his
lab courses collect samples in the field and then enter
it on laptop computers into a shared server. The data can
be accessed and analyzed immediately by faculty back in
the office, he said. He also has used the Internet for course
evaluation purposes. The evaluations can be done at the
conclusion of a course, and professors can access the students’ responses immediately.

• The
Connexions Project, Richard Baraniuk, professor in electrical
and computer engineering
Being crafted by Baraniuk and others in the Dept. of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, the project still is in the developmental
phase. It seeks to introduce a unique way to create course
materials through the use of the Web.

Baraniuk explained
that standard teaching methods are naturally geared to cover
material sequentially and that the perception among students
is that the way to organize material is linearly. In reality,
course material is interconnected and so is curriculum taught
in different courses within the same field.

“We need
to demonstrate to students that there are tremendous connections
that exist both within courses and across,” Baraniuk
said. “That’s what we’re trying to target
with this project, and it wouldn’t be possible without
the Internet and the fact that you can build pages with
hyperlinks between pages that show the true interconnection.”

Gillis noted
that the Connexions Project “is one more area where
we have an opportunity to establish international leadership
in a particular field.”

• Information
technology and the library, Chuck Henry, vice president
and chief information officer
One place where use of technology will be prevalent on campus
will be the renovated Fondren Library. The library will
include several technology-related features, including a
cybercafe and a space tentatively called Horizons.

The cybercafe
will be along the lines of a Starbucks, but with computer
terminals and Internet access. It will be a place where
students and others can interact spontaneously and gather
informally.

Horizons is
a proposed space in the library where computer corporations
like IBM will house their newest technology for use in workshops,
seminars and lectures on campus, Henry explained. In many
cases, the technology will not even be available in the
market, so Rice will be a laboratory for the newest products.

In addition
to the technological aspects of the new library, it also
will feature a renovated design that will make it a thoroughfare
that connects the east and west parts of campus, Henry said.

• The
Galileo Project, Albert Van Helden, the Lynette S. Autrey
Professor of History
As a leading researcher on 17th century scientist Galileo
Galilei, Van Helden decided to create a Web site as a source
of information on Galileo. With information available on
the Web, he’d have more time in class for meaningful
discussion.

The site was
set up like Galileo’s “Villa” with a variety
of information available in the different rooms of the villa.
For example, in the “Family Quarters,” information
about Galileo’s family can be found, and the “Laboratory” contains information about his inquiries in physics.

Van Helden has
found that the site has melted the boundary between the
classroom and the world. “I get as many questions from
fourth-graders as I do from college students,” he said.

The site can
be found on the Web at <http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/>.

• RENE
for Seamless Communication, Beh naam Aazhang, professor
in electrical and computer engineering
RENE, or Rice Everywhere Network, is a collaborative effort
between the Center for Multimedia Communication and several
Rice professors, including Aazhang, that will enable ubiquitous
and seamless communication services.

The proliferation
of laptop computers, personal digital assistants like Palm
Pilots and mobile phones coupled with the availability of
wireless communication services has enabled virtually universal
wireless communications. But to realize the benefits of
constant connectivity, users must contend with an array
of incompatible services and devices.

But the RENE
project is exploring the integration of cellular systems,
high-speed wireless LANs and home wireless networks to produce
a seamless, multitier network interface.

• Gen.com,
Eugene Levy, university provost
Rice has the opportunity to join the Global Education Network,
or gen.com, which offers distance learning courses on the
Web, Levy explained.

Founded by professors
at Williams College, the goal of the Global Education Network
is to develop the highest quality college-level courses
in the humanities, liberal arts, social sciences and sciences
and to distribute them to a worldwide audience at an affordable
price.

In addition
to Williams College, other universities involved include
Brown University, Wellesley College and Amherst College.
Levy said the courses available through the Global Education
Network are of high production value and intellectual content.

In summary,
Gillis noted that the technology initiatives range across
virtually all disciplines, pointed out how interrelated
many of them are and recognized the increasing student involvement
in technology efforts. Gillis noted that Rice faculty and
administration will have to be “light on their feet” and move rapidly to keep up with technology initiatives,
and he reminded those at the meeting that the efforts require
a lot of funding. In fact, he said Rice will have to double
its gift income to fund the initiatives.