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HATTIESBURG
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Snakes and salamanders come in all shapes, sizes and colors. But
for University of Southern Mississippi biology professor Carl Qualls,
it's virtually impossible to replicate their dazzling array of markings
on a standard blackboard.
"Color
photos make it much easier for students to learn to recognize different
species, and to understand many aspects of their ecology,"
Qualls said.
With the launching
of 13 new multimedia equipped classrooms this summer at Southern
Miss, Qualls' job just got a lot easier. Administered by the Office
of Technology Resources (OTR), these "highly visible classrooms"
feature an equipment set that includes a SMART Sympodium lectern,
a projection screen and a DVD-VCR combo unit complete with audio
and sound system.
Qualls taught
in one of these new classrooms for the first time this past spring
and he said the equipment made a "big difference" in how
he taught his course on herpetology, the biological study of reptiles
and amphibians.
"I was
able to use color photographs of various species and their habitats
instead of being limited to the blackboard, overhead transparencies
and preserved specimens," Qualls said.
The SMART Sympodium
is the latest state of the art interactive lectern integration module
that allows faculty to write notes, annotate over applications,
present multimedia and save their work in a single file - all from
the same interactive screen - said Joel Holder, equipment services
manager at OTR. The Center for Education and Learning Technology
(CELT) is responsible for educational training for Southern Miss
faculty.
In all, 38
classrooms will be equipped with this multimedia set. The next wave
is scheduled for completion before the fall semester of 2003-04.
"Having
access to this type of equipment gives faculty opportunities to
incorporate new kinds of technology into the teaching and learning
environment," said Lin Harper, coordinator of the Center for
Education and Learning Technology.
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