Last semester, a group of Smith students got
more than just textbooks as part of their classes—they also got remote
controls. The students were provided with “clickers” that allowed them to
answer questions asked by their professor, and then see the tabulated
answers presented on the classroom’s computer screen. This game-show
technology promoted interaction and gave the professor a chance to see how
well her students understood the material just moments after she presented
it.
The project was part of Smith’s Technology Integration (STI) initiative,
which was designed to help the Smith School develop new ways to leverage
technology in teaching and research. The program was developed by Arjang
Assad, senior associate dean and professor of decision and information
technologies, and Ritu Agarwal, Dean’s Chair in Information Systems, and
made possible by a $3 million gift from Robert H. Smith ’50, chairman of the
Charles E. Smith companies, in 2003. The gift was earmarked to build and
enhance the school’s technology resources, and to fund a three-year
marketing initiative.
“The Smith Technology Integration Initiative helps us build on our
technology differentiation and to continue charting a course to advance
business thinking and education for the digital economy,” said Howard Frank,
dean of the Smith School. “Leaders need to be familiar with and comfortable
with today’s technological tools in order to reap strategic advantage from
technology. The Smith Technology Integration Initiative puts those tools
into the hands of students and faculty as we explore how to make best use of
them.”
Smith is not the only school seeking to make sense of the convergence of
technology and business practice. Many colleges and universities are trying
to leapfrog the competition when it comes to technology and innovation. What
makes the STI initiative unique is the way it involves students in the
process.
Last year five undergraduates, five MBAs and three PhD students
participated in the program as Smith Technology Fellows, partnering with
faculty to develop and implement pilot projects.
The program began with the hiring of a technology officer who became the
focal resource and liaison with the school’s centralized IT department.
Grants to faculty members allowed them to develop a number of projects for
the decision and information technologies department, which included
developing a database-driven photo gallery, developing Web-based forms for
conferences and seminars, and developing an interactive calendar of events,
as well as the “clicker” project. These projects were designed to engage new
technologies and make them accessible at every level of the educational
process.
MBAs worked as technology coaches, managing undergraduate teams,
assisting with courses and helping professors devise innovative ways to
integrate technology into their coursework. Undergraduates worked as
technology integrators, assisting with technology-intensive classes and
working on projects directly with their professors.
“These projects gave students enriching experiences with technology and
gave faculty incentives to use technology more effectively and in more
creative ways,” says Agarwal. “We’re very pleased with the success of the
program thus far.”
The STI initiative will continue with new projects and Fellows this year.
The next phase of the project is to extend the initiative to all of the
Smith School's academic departments and faculty with the hiring of
additional departmental technology officers and the addition of a
substantial number of undergraduate students. |
