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Michael D. Chason |
IMMEDIATE AUGUST 8,
2006
ABAC President David
Bridges records his first podcast in a welcome to the Centennial Class of 2008
at the college. This year's freshmen are on track to graduate from
ABAC during the 100th birthday of the college. Fall term
classes begin Aug. 21.
ABAC IMPLEMENTS NEW APPLE TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
TIFTON –Beginning this fall,
The funds will be used to start a program focusing on at-risk students on the campus to see if the technology will play a greater role in academic success.
“I first learned
of this technology and its use on college campuses after attending a conference
at
Called ABAC’s iVillage Project, the idea made the list of potential projects for the state budget and received a positive response from the Office of Information and Instructional Technology at the University System of Georgia, especially from Randall Thursby, Vice Chancellor of Information and Institutional Technology. Thursby liked the proposal so much that he made the project a part of the 2006-07 funds for ABAC.
“If it had not made it into the 2006 budget, I don’t think this project would have been a reality,” said Ross. “Vice Chancellor Thursby saw the potential in the project and made sure it came about.”
With the funding set, ABAC will begin to put the technology of Apple to work using ipods for in-class assignments and experimenting with podcasts. One learning support class and one freshman orientation class will work together to be the first to use the technology.
“I hope to use podcasts in my freshman orientation class to either make a podcast about the course or have students make a podcast of their first experiences at ABAC,” said Ross.
Victoria Horst, Director of the Baldwin Library, has already made a podcast for the library. “It’s an audio tour of the library’s facilities so students have a choice of a guided tour or an audio tour,” Ross said. “And for those students who do not own an MP3 player or ipod, the library has bought some for student use.”
ABAC President David Bridges has also participated in using the new technology the college has acquired. He recorded a “Welcome to ABAC” podcast for the new students attending the institution this fall.
The funding for the program will also help to convert Conger Hall, Room 219 into a multifunctional computer lab. “The Apple computers can be used in MAC or Windows XP form,” said Ross. “Students just have to boot to the desired program they want, and they have double the learning capacity.
“Once we all become more acquainted with the MACs, ipods, and podcasts, we hope to branch out into more activities for the students, like an iMovie-Fest, where new students make a movie about college life and show the best ones to the campus.”
Ross said another
possibility is the establishment of learning communities within the
“We want to give students something to be excited about and still make sure it has a learning incentive behind it,” said Ross. “It’s nice to be able to have the technology to play with and see what advantages will come from that for the faculty, staff, and the students.”
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