My name is Tonya Sutton and I am a graduate student in instructional
technology at the University of Colorado at Denver. I am currently
working on two projects that I would love to have some input on from some
of you. Mainly I am looking for anyone who teaches human anatomy at the
high school, college, or med school levels (or students who are taking or
have recently taken anatomy); and anyone who teaches high school
mathematics and uses any type of computer-based math tutoring programs. A
brief explanation of why I am looking for these people follows.
First, for the anatomy people, I am working on a grant right now trying
to design an educational tool using the data from the Visible Human
project (you can find this on the web off the University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center page under Research). Right now it looks like my
partner and I will be designing a tool on the web itself, which is
a bit controversial since many believe the web is not a valuable educational
tool. However, we believe we can at the very least make the Visible Human
site much more educational for students and more useful for instructors.
We will be trying to include self-directed learning and collaboration in
our design. What we need from you is insight into how you teach anatomy,
how you use technology in your course, what you think of the Visible
Human data, etc. We have specific questions developed to send you. If you
would like to participate, please send your name, affiliation and e-mail
address to me at tlsutton@ouray.cudenver.edu.
Second, for the high school math teachers, I am also doing research on the
effectiveness of using the computer as a tutor in high school
mathematics. I have discovered that it is widely accepted that using the
computer as a tutor is more effective than most other educational uses. I
have also found some studies on specific high school math programs and
their effectiveness. However, most of the studies I have found are pretty
old. If any of you know of research that supports the effectiveness of
more recent math programs like AlgeBlaster, etc., please let me know.
Also, I would be very interested in hearing about any programs you use in
your classes and how effective you think they are. Please send any
responses to me at tlsutton@ouray.cudenver.edu.
Thanks!
Tonya Sutton
tlsutton@ouray.cudenver.edu
University of Colorado at Denver