Title III Grant Projects

Pilot projects in enhancing teaching with technology, 1997-1998

City College of San Francisco

During fall 1997 and spring 1998 semesters I was the recipient of a federal grant: Title III, to enhance teaching with technology. With this support, I embarked on two pilot projects. My Basic Design class students and I worked in collaboration with instructors and students in other disciplines to develop two educational web sites. I incorporated web design with basic HTML into our curriculum. The students in other disciplines provided the content, and my basic design students created the web pages. The result was the publication of two educational web sites. I have provided below some information about these student sites with links to visit them. Please note that while I keep the sites up as examples of the works which the students accomplished, they are not currently maintained. On some pages, where the students had connected to other URLs, you may come across broken links.

Asian Art History site: In fall 1997, my students and I worked in collaboration with the Asian art history class taught by Janet Carpenter.  Working together, our classes realized an educational Web site on Asian art. We approached the pilot to both increase computer literacy among students as well as broaden their horizons by collaborative, interdisciplinary work. The Asian art history students were the content providers for our Web pages, and my students used the content given by them to design the pages for the site. In doing this, they applied the principles of design covered in the class to the layout of the pages. Thus, they received design experience in a contemporary medium, and had the opportunity to publish internationally on the World Wide Web. The site we created became a resource that went beyond the walls of the classroom and has been available to everyone with Internet access. 

Personal Goals site: This pilot project followed the Asian Art site we had developed in fall 1997. During spring semester 1998, My Basic Design students and I worked in collaboration with Beginning English Writing and Composition class taught by Susan Zimmerman. My students worked with the text that Susan Zimmerman’s students provided, to design pages for a Web site on personal goals. My Basic Design students were also responsible for designing images for the site. To this end, they created collages using traditional materials first, which they then scanned to create the digital image files in the design of their Web pages with basic HTML. They not only learned basic HTML, but also gained some experience in basic image manipulation (such as, scanning, cropping, sharpening an image). They also practiced utilizing the Internet for researching topics on design and publishing. Our goal was to combine traditional media practices with contemporary ones and work in a manner that would simulate a professional client/expert relationship between the two classes. Each class was asked to work as an expert in their task area, when preparing the materials that they were responsible for, and complete their assignments by their due dates. The students were asked to store the Web pages which they created, on their own disks as part of their portfolios.
Our general goals for the two Title III projects were as follows:
  1. Prepare the students both academically and practically for an increasingly challenging and technologically advanced world.
  2. Prepare them for the work place (where computer skills are a vital part— especially in the field of design).
  3. Provide equal opportunity to students from all backgrounds for research and access to resources beyond what may be covered in class via the World Wide Web.
  4. Prepare them for higher academic training where independent, self-motivated research skills and knowledge of new technology and resources will make them more effective.
  5. Provide the exposure to a range of media, including contemporary design media (computers are as common tools as a pen and paper in the professional world).
  6. Encourage active learning and participation in the class projects. (Each student was asked to complete a web page and do the necessary research.)
  7. Reinforce course content through a medium that is new and exciting and provides many opportunities for research and creativity.
  8. Guide the students to work systematically and with discipline in meeting deadlines.
  9. Encourage positive interaction among students for a common goal, and help them develop the skills necessary to work with individuals from different backgrounds.
  10. Give the students a first-hand professional experience and guide them to produce a product which they can claim as their own. 
  11. Give the students an opportunity to design in a new medium that is dynamic and interactive by nature, and forces them to think in a non-linear fashion.
  12. Provide the opportunity for students from non-traditional backgrounds, who would not otherwise have the exposure to computers, to develop basic skills in an increasingly competitive and technologically advanced world.
  13. Create an experience which simulates professional activity in the contemporary design world by having them publish a page on the Web.
  14. Provide the opportunity for peer evaluations among students in different classes and different colleges, by having my Design class at the City College communicate with my Design students at Cabrillo College in Aptos via the Internet.
  15. Take the students to the next step by developing a client/expert relationship among the two collaborating classes.
  16. Allow the students in my Basic Design class the opportunity to apply the principals of design covered in the class to new technology (essential for the contemporary design field).
  17. Create an environment of cultural exchange among different disciplines through the use of new technology.
  18. Support the City College’s goal of insuring computer literacy among its graduates.
Miné Ternar-Kal
mternar@ccsf.edu