Dorothy Merritts, Professor of Earth & Environment, at Franklin and Marshall is being showcased for her continued integration of technology into her teaching.
Professor Merritts received College funding to design and develop QuickTime movies to illustrate various geological experiments. Throughout her tenure at Franklin and Marshall College, Professor Merritts has utilized many creative technologies to enhance her teaching and her students' learning. In a number of her Earth & Environment courses, Professor Merritts develops experiments that take many hours to prepare. In addition, Professor Merritts longed for a way to have her students be able to re-live the experiments they saw in class or out in the field. Thus, she produces small video versions of the experiments, digitizes them and makes them available on CD, DVD, and web, where students have 24/7 access. These technologies have enabled Professor Merritts to actually teach a course in a way she otherwise would never have dreamed of. Professor Merritts is able to assign homework based on the experiments, pose questions and discussions utilizing the video experiment access. "Students like video presentations, as they can play them over and over, backward and forward, to watch an experiment in action with no setup time."
Professor Merritts has also been able to re-purpose her efforts in class lectures. "We now put digital images and digital video in our PowerPoint presentations." Materials would not be able to be shared by the class if not for the digitization, and subsequently according to Merritts, "It's a totally different way of teaching than just going in and doing a lecture." As a result of her creativeness, Professor Merritts has been able to re-purpose the same technology into different aspects of her teaching. The use of digital video vignettes and the 24/7 access has empowered Professor Merritts as well as her students.  |
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