Collaboration Center Symposium and Open House

In November, Information Services hosted a Symposium and Open House at the McKenzie Collaboration Center. The event began with a demonstration by Patrick McDaniel, a senior Psychology student, who showed some of the core features of the Collaboration Center’s SMART Boards. Three faculty followed McDaniel. Each spoke about their experience teaching in the Collaboration Center and their use of SMART Boards.

The event began with a demonstration by Patrick McDaniel, a senior Psychology student, who showed how students use SMART Boards to brainstorm and collaboratively create a group presentation. Three faculty followed McDaniel. Each spoke about their experience teaching in the Collaboration Center and their use of SMART Boards.

Nancy Cheng, an Associate Professor in Architecture and Allied Arts, demonstrated how she uses the SMART Boards and Photoshop to teach A&AA students the nuances of lighting.

During the working lunch, participants were divided into three groups and given the task of using the SMART Boards to gather research on sustainability. Each group showed their own unique style. After lunch, Amy Harter, the Chinese Flagship Coordinator at the Center for Applied Second Language Studies, showed the audience how she uses SMART Boards and Google Earth to more effectively show orientation material to groups of students.

The event ended with a special guest, the Oregon Duck, who entertained visitors at the Collaboration Center. The Duck used Google Earth on the SMART Board to draw himself in to the satellite photo of Autzen Stadium and joined university CIO Don Harris in commenting on the draft of the academic plan.

The Symposium drew faculty who had never used SMART Boards before. Cathy Phelps, an Instructor with the American English Institute, participated in the Symposium and has been using the Collaboration Center since then.

“I’d love to schedule almost every class meeting in the Collaboration Center,” said Phelps, “but I don’t want to hog the goodies.”

Phelps likes the SMART Boards because the physical involvement seems especially stimulating for students. “Just the act of picking up the color ‘pens’ and moving text and other items around on the screen seems to activate brain activity, putting students into motivated explora- tory and problem-solving modes,” she said.

After participating in the symposium, Amy Reid, an Adjunct Instructor in the American English Institute, brought her Reading, Writing, Grammar class to the Collaboration Center to use the SMART Boards.

“The SMART Board is a great tool for group work because it allows me to scaffold the students’ discussion,” Reid said. “I typed a document that they could easily read together on the board. Writing on the board isn’t very different from writing on the paper, but more students can see the work and participate. Also, I think the novelty of the SMART Boards adds an incentive for students to work with a group to complete what are common grammar exercises.