Information Technology in Education Committee (ITEC)
Course Development Grants
Application for the 2012-13 academic year
Objective: to encourage the thoughtful use of technology to expand liberal arts learning
beyond course timeslots and classroom walls. We welcome proposals from all faculty
members on tenure-track or renewable appointments who expect to be employed at
Trinity through 2013-14, including new hires beginning in 2012-13. Current ITEC
members are not eligible. Write a 1-2 page proposal responding to these questions.
1) Name, departmental/program affiliation, and contact information. If you wish to
collaborate with other faculty members, list all names on one application, but grants are capped
at $1,000 per proposal.
Theresa Morris, Department of Sociology, theresa.morris@trincoll.edu
2) Course title and semester offered, type of students (e.g., majors, non-majors; intro or
upper-level), and projected enrollment
SOCL355, Reproduction, Birth, and Power, Fall 2012, projected enrollment 15. This is an
upper-level seminar in which sophomores, juniors, and seniors enroll. The students are
quite diverse in terms of major. Some students are Sociology or WMGS majors and
minors, some students are non-majors interested in the topic, and some students have
not declared majors. For example, of the 14 students enrolled for the Fall 2012 semester,
7 are Sociology or WMGS majors or minors, 5 are non-majors, and 2 are undeclared.
3) What are the goals of your course, and how do you plan to enhance student learning
with technology? We specifically encourage proposals that stretch learning beyond course
timeslots and classroom walls. Examples may include (but are not limited to) pre-class online
exercises, writing assignments on the web, and creative uses of video. Please write for nonspecialists, add web links to relevant resources, and do not exceed one single-spaced page for this
section.
This course examines topics related to reproductive practices, experiences, and
ideologies. The students study a variety of topics, including contraception, prenatal
testing, assisted reproductive technologies, and women’s pregnancy and birth
experiences. They explore the constructed and contested meanings surrounding
womanhood, motherhood, sexuality, reproductive freedom, and eugenics. I ask the
students to pay special attention to how the construction of and struggle over these
issues are indicators of the status of women in society and have profound effects on
women's lives and bodies. As part of the course, students volunteer 20 hours in an
organization that deals with women’s reproductive health, such as Planned
Parenthood, Hartford Hospital’s Labor and Delivery and Post Partum Units, and
UCONN Health Center’s Nurturing Families Program. The community-learning
experience enhances students’ learning about reproduction and birth from a
sociological perspective. For example, students gain first-hand experience with
practices, experiences, and ideologies surrounding birth and reproduction at the point
of service. Students also learn to apply theories and concepts learned in class and in the
readings to real-world experiences.
I propose to enhance student learning with technology in two ways. First, I plan to use
Moodle as a way for students to share their weekly CLI experiences with the class.
Students will also be required to post comments on the experiences of two other
students each week. This will facilitate class discussion because students will be familiar
with the other students’ experiences before coming to each class. It will also allow for
less time being used in each class for catching students up on each other’s CLI
experiences. Further, by asking students to comment on other students’ experiences
before coming to class, students will have time to consider how best to understand the
experiences with theories and concepts from class. I am a firm believer that students
learn through writing, and this will be an opportunity for students to learn through
writing about other students’ experiences.
Second, I will use technology to enhance student learning by arranging on-line video
calls using Skype to link my students with authors of books they are reading. I am
fortunate to have connections to several of the authors of books the students will read
over the semester, and this grant has led me to think creatively about how I could use
technology to connect the students with these authors as a way to facilitate student
learning. Because most of these authors live too far away to make feasible their being inperson guest lecturers, I propose to use Skype for video calls. My students will be
required to collaborate on Google Docs to construct 5-10 questions they would like to
ask the author. The final list of questions, approved by me, will be shared with the
author one week before the scheduled video call. I see this as a wonderful way for the
students to learn from the authors about their research in a way that is simply not
possible without using technology. I anticipate having three such video calls over the
course of the semester.
I have met with Sue Denning about both of these ideas and have her assurance of their
feasibility and her commitment and expertise to make them work.
4) While teaching your course, how will you determine if this technology innovation
actually enhances student learning?
I will survey the students three times over the course of the semester to ask them about
their experiences with sharing their notes on Moodle, commenting on others’ notes on
Moodle, using Google Docs to collaboratively create questions, and participating in the
video calls.
5) How do you propose to spend up to $1,000 to support your plans? Categories may
include stipends for faculty time, hourly student assistants, workshop/conference training,
software or equipment costs, or other invoiced expenses.
I anticipate that setting up Moodle for the on-line sharing of and commenting on notes,
contacting authors of books, learning about and arranging the video calls, and learning
how to set up and use Google docs will take me 4 days of full-time labor over the
summer. Thus, I propose to use the $1000 as a stipend to cover my time.
By submitting a proposal, you agree that if funded, the College will publicly share its
content on the web, and that you will participate on an ITEC panel with other recipients
in 2012-13 to share your experiences, and submit a brief report on lessons learned by
June 30, 2013.
Save your file with your full name (e.g., SmithJane.docx) and send as an email
attachment to ITECemail@trincoll.edu by Thursday, May 17th, 2012 at 12 noon. Late
proposals will not be accepted. ITEC members will meet on the following day to make
our decisions.
To learn more about this grant opportunity, visit the Trinity College ITEC website