Unlikely school 'revolutionizing' teaching
| Sunday, Dec 20 2009 12:00 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Dec 20 2009 12:00 PM
It's a place where the iPod Touch is used as a learning tool. Where students use portable touch screen computers to solve problems. Where students are graded via video.
It's a place fast becoming one of the most innovative educational institutions in the nation, school officials say.
It's Taft College?
"Technology as a whole in Taft College is revolutionizing how we're presenting things to students," said Taft biology professor Rick Miranda. "What we're doing is unlike anything that's done anywhere."
PUSHING FOR INNOVATION
It started years ago with Web technology, and the idea of offering classes through the Internet. Taft College for years has been thinking of new ways to keep students interested and enrolled, said President William Duncan.
"I think Taft College has an entrepreneurial spirit," Duncan said. "We're willing to step out of the box and see if there is a better way to serve students."
So when school officials received a $5 million grant for its Science, Technology, Engineering and Math program, or STEM -- the largest grant of its kind in the nation -- they were ready to try something new.
The grant aims to improve the program and increase class involvement of the underserved Hispanic demographic over two years. Applicant reviewers include leading college professors and other academic staff, said Carnisia Proctor, senior program officer for the Title V program at the U.S. Department of Education.
"Taft was doing something that the reviewers thought was different, doable and that was benefiting students in a new and beneficial way," Proctor said.
So the college purchased dozens of iPods, PC tablets, radio telescopes, Mac laptops and chemistry equipment. Grant money will also be used for projects in the near future.
The stuff is "cutting edge," said Val Garcia, Taft associate dean of instruction and STEM program coordinator.
"For a school our size to be pushing this out, it's innovative. It's out there," Garcia said. "We want to push the envelope. We believe we need more and more creative thinkers."
IN THE CLASSROOM
In Brian Jean's calculus class, students use iPod Touches, tablet PCs and videos like grammar students use pencils and paper.
When students first received the learning toys, "they freaked out," Jean said.
Students use their tablet PCs to solve math problems. Their work is recorded through the PC and displayed on a classroom screen, then analyzed live.
Jean records his lecture on video and audio. Students in class take notes on the PCs. Students who miss a class use their iPod Touches to watch and listen to the lecture video. They're available on the Web throughout the semester.
The students use their tablets to send their work electronically to Jean and he records himself grading it. The students can watch the video to learn from that, too.
"Nobody is doing this stuff," said Jean, who describes himself as a techno-geek. "I teach while I'm grading. It's a learning experience for everyone."
He said he's seeing a much higher level of discussion in class now than before the technology was being used.
Other classes are using the tools, too, including an ESL class and Mike Mayfield's chemistry class.
"In the end, I think the students get a deeper understanding because of the technology," Mayfield said.
SOMETHING NEW
Math major Curt Painter said he never experienced the teaching and learning style used in Taft. He said the technology allowed him to study anywhere, and felt technology doubled class time.
"The way these classes are being taught, I wish I could have classes like that from now on until I graduate," Painter said.
Sergio Cedano, a business administration major and athlete, travels a lot. He said the tools allowed him to study wherever he went.
"It's convenient," Cedano said. "They're the reasons I passed the class. I could sit down all day and watch the video lectures, refreshing my mind before I take tests."
He especially appreciates that the faculty doesn't teach "the old-fashioned way."
"You're not just going to class, hearing lectures, reading books all day," Cedano said. "This class was something new."
Amber Chiang, spokeswoman for Bakersfield College, said you probably don't see this stuff at other community colleges because there might be too many students and not enough money.
A NEW WAY OF TEACHING
It's not so much that the technology is new to college classrooms; colleges across the country are slowly starting to use them.
University of Michigan students enrolled in "Building A Mobile Phone Ensemble" each get an iPhone and are asked to design and build musical programs that turn the phones into instruments.
What's different about Taft is the breakthrough way it's using the tools, professors said.
"We just have faculty that said, 'There is another way to do it. What else is out there?'" Miranda said.
And the new tools are just the beginning for technology at Taft.
Classrooms are being modernized with flat-screen televisions and wiring for broadcasting. A 38-foot, solar-powered mobile science center under construction will be a hub for student presentations, demonstrations and research projects. It will contain three high-tech radio telescopes.
The center will run a program involving NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lewis Center for Educational Research.
A new STEM center will house a "growth chamber" and giant fish tank to be used for genetic studies. The college also plans to bring in a biotechnology program.
"It's an exciting time," Mayfield said.
