Academic Technology Grant Awards

The Academic Technology Grants Committee is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2006-2007 Academic Technology Grants. For a list of previous grant recipients, please view the Past Grants section.

Web Design for Teaching, Learning and Scholarship - Phyllis Brown

During her upcoming sabbatical, Phyllis Brown will be exploring how alternative approaches to middle school students can transform their attitude towards their performance in school. This grant will provide the software - Dreamweaver 8.0 - and training required to develop a set of video case studies that demonstrate these approaches. To conclude her research, Dr. Brown will prepare instructional video materials to be used by the Curriculum and Instruction Division to provide online resource materials and training for its national and adjunct faculty members.

Awarded: $1,640

Online Publishing Support for the Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism and Practice - Danielle Georges

The Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism and Practice (JPPP) is an established online journal published through Lesley University, dedicated to exploring pluralistic approaches towards teaching and seeks to provide interdisciplinary interpretation and analysis of educational theory and practice. To support the production of the journal, this grant will provide hardware - a portable external hard drive to store/transfer current and archival materials and a printer/scanner to incorporate graphics into the website; software - Macromedia Studio 8.0; and training for the editorial staff.

Awarded: $2,111

Advanced Library Research Online Tutorial - Kathy Holmes and Constance Vrattos

Ludcke Library currently offers the Searchpath Online Tutorial, providing undergraduates and beginning graduate students with basic information literacy concepts. The students in the online Creative Arts in Learning CACGS Program require more sophisticated research skills. In collaboration with the Creative Arts in Learning Division, Kathy Holmes and Constance Vrattos propose to develop a model for delivery of information literacy instruction to students in online and hybrid advanced degree programs. This instruction will include the skills necessary to recognize and exploit the online resources available through the library. The grant will provide for the instructional design support required to develop this online learning model.

Awarded: $3,514

Introducing Technology and Digital Training into the Foundation Program - Susan LeVan

Digital media dominates our culture today. Some visual artists are creating artwork with innovative and sophisticated use of computer technology, and others are forging new ideas out of traditional media. However, most of the day-to-day commerce of art is carried out digitally. While some AIB programs require advanced digital skills, many artists using more traditional media do not always acquire the digital skills needed in today's society. Susan LeVan proposes to begin exploration of how to best integrate technology into the AIB Foundation curriculum. It is essential for success as a student and as a professional that an artist acquire the necessary digital skills at an early stage in their artistic development.

Awarded: $1,200

Website Development for the Oxford Street Players - Anne Pluto

The website for Lesley University's Shakespearean theater group, the Oxford Street Players, was independently developed a number of years ago. A complete redesign is now needed to place the website within the Lesley University template and with the functionality required of any theater group: up-to-the-minute theater information at Lesley and listings of current and upcoming productions as well as video clips, photos and text showcasing past productions. The grant will provide the instructional design support required to redesign the website.

Awarded: $ 1,000

Multimedia Documentation of Oral History-Based Case Studies - Cheryl Smith

Cheryl Smith recently published her research on black women entrepreneurs, Market Women: Black Women Entrepreneurs Past, Present and Future (2005, Praeger). During her upcoming sabbatical, she will expand her research with an in-depth study of forgotten and unrecognized Black women entrepreneurs in the early decades of U.S. history. This grant will provide for the hardware - a mini-DV Camcorder; the software - Adobe Photoshop; and the training needed for her to develop a set of video case studies of some of the women who participated in the first study and additional video interviews with historians, archivists, etc., as she attempts to preserve the lost history of the women in her second study.

Awarded: $1,953