Each month, the University's Innovative Technology Center (ITC) "puts the spotlight" on a member of the UT teaching community. Here is a reprint of their recent article on Dr. Joanne Logan of the Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science Department:
Coming Full Circle: Integrating Technology into Research and Teaching
Dr. Joanne Logan
Associate Professor
Biosystems Engineering and Soil Science
During her more than 20 years in higher education, Dr. Joanne Logan has experienced many technological innovations. As an early adopter of technology for research and teaching she's enthusiastically experimented with many of these innovations and shared what she's learned with others. Logan has stayed grounded throughout however, by always remembering that the use of technology should be driven by the needs of students and the purposes of research.
The Punch Card Queen
It all started in the early '80s while Dr. Logan was a graduate student at the University of Nebraska. Her advisor was a bit of a technophobe but found it hard to avoid the use of technology because of the overwhelming amount of climate data that was available via computer. As the only person in the department comfortable with the use of punch cards, Logan quickly became the "Punch Card Queen." She was able to program the drum and was soon punching the cards for everyone in the office.
Though still resistant, her advisor saw the writing on the wall and it wasn't long before he purchased the first PC for the department. Logan took to the PC right away and began taking programming classes such as PL1 and FORTRAN. She also used SAS on a regular basis to run statistics on weather data. Throughout her time at Nebraska she kept up with the trends in computing, "it was easy back then."
Logan continued her use of computing when she did her doctoral work in the Dominican Republic. Early on she discovered a Wang processor in the US Agency for International Development office and quickly had the whole office using it. She became the "Wang Processor Guru," even typing her dissertation on one at a time when most graduate students were still using typewriters. She noticed that the trend tended to be that those who knew how to type were more likely to use computers, while those who didn't type avoided computers. This changed somewhat with the introduction of the mouse and pointing/clicking.
In 1984, Dr. Logan joined the University of Tennessee faculty and immediately began integrating technology into her teaching. From the beginning plenty of climate and weather data was available via the Web, so it seemed like a natural fit for Logan to use the Web in her teaching. She still remembers the first time a colleague showed her the graphical Web browser Mosaic, "it was the coolest thing I had ever seen in my life!" Logan quickly learned HTML coding and began making her own Web pages.
When the ITC introduced the concept of course management systems to the UT Knoxville campus in 1997- 98, Logan was an obvious choice to be included in the faculty group that evaluated packages. The group chose Blackboard (called CourseInfo at the time) and Logan was one of the first faculty members to pilot test the system. She found that the system was easy to use and provided a logical way to organize course materials and make online quizzes available.
It wasn't long before Logan became the first faculty member on the Agricultural Campus and one of the first within the University of Tennessee system to offer a course completely online. In 1999, ESS 462: Environmental Climatology debuted as a synchronous online course delivered using Centra Symposium and Blackboard. Based on lessons learned, the second and third times the course was offered Logan facilitated the course completely asynchronously via Blackboard. Today, after listening to student feedback over the years, Logan offers two versions of the course. One is completely self-paced and offered through University Outreach and Continuing Education. The other is a combination of face-to-face meetings and online activities. In the face-to-face section Logan meets with students every other week, but the course is "super Web-enhanced" with most of the course activities available via Blackboard.
Logan found that it all boiled down to student needs. Some prefer totally self-paced instruction while others need more hand-holding. She also found that some students were not getting enough hands-on experience in the online course. Now when she meets students face-to-face they are able to set up equipment like weather stations and data loggers and are therefore more prepared to use equipment like this when they are on the job.
Without Wires
Dr. Logan's "let's try it and see what happens" approach is evident in her willingness to take on new projects and integrate emerging technologies into her teaching. Over the last year she has been involved in several ITC funded grant projects.
In 2004 she was one of the recipients of the Wireless Instructional Initiatives Grants for the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. For her project, Logan integrated tablet PCs and personal digital assistants (PDAs) into two of her courses BsET 326: GIS/GPS Applications in Agriculture and Environmental Science and ESS 481: Capstone in Environmental and Soil Sciences. For more information on the project, visit this URL: http://itc.utk.edu/grants/wii2004/bees.shtml
Her students were able to use hardware and software to collect data in the field. They were excited about being able to connect anytime and "wander around" to collect data. They were so excited that at the end of the project several students had a difficult time parting with the equipment! These are typical reactions from students who participated in the study:
- "It was great to be able to work outside the lab."
- "Having Arcmap available to me 24/7 was awesome."
- "Getting to go out in the field to do real stuff was cool."
Technologies for Research
Because of her experience with and enthusiasm for using emerging technologies for research, Dr. Logan was recruited to work with OIT this summer as a Faculty Research Associate. In this capacity Logan is charged with:
- Assessing the current and emerging technologies available to researchers at UTK and developing a web-based clearinghouse of these resources;
- surveying a representative group of faculty about their research computing and technology needs;
- studying the research technology outreach programs at peer institutions to evaluate which ones might work well here at UT;
- following through on 5-6 case studies that will illustrate the success of the new initiative; and
- developing a working plan for the best approach for a research computing and technology outreach and support.
The major challenge Logan foresees right now is surveying faculty about their research technology needs. Often faculty may not be aware of the technologies that are available that might be of tremendous help in their research. It may be that Logan has a teaching role to play in the position as well. A role in which she helps faculty to learn about the potential that technology has to assist them in their research.
If you have questions to ask or information to share about the use of technologies for research, contact Dr. Logan (loganj@utk.edu | (865) 974-2520) or Dr. Julie Little (jklittle@utk.edu | (865) 974-9450).
©Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science · bess@utk.edu · bioengr.ag.utk.edu · 865-974-7266