Students who have taken one of Finnie Murray's biological science sclasses also have received a crash course on using technology in education.

Murray, chairman of the department of biological sciences at OU, used a computer-projected outline, complete with animated diagrams and video, to explain class notes. Students also were encouraged to communicate questions and comments with each other via a listserv, and all class notes were available on Murray's Web site.

Although Murray's biology class does not use the traditional transparencies or handouts, it might not be too far ahead of its time.

Last July, the Ohio Board of Regents awarded OU a $922,358 grant for technology-related projects, which is being used to help professors across the university integrate computers and new equipment into their everyday curriculum. Some professors already have started using the funds through the Enhancing Learning through Technology program.

The program distributes the grant's funds through Technology Initiative Packages, which are awarded to faculty members with specific proposals about ways to incorporate technology into their curriculum. In addition to TIPs, professors can take advantage of a technology resource center.

"The main idea would be that all classes would not be lectures," said Thomas Shostak, dean of lifelong learning. "We're looking at technology as a way to facilitate the distribution of learning materials."

One of the main focuses of the project is for faculty members to encourage students to access information using the Internet, Shostak, who is co-director of the project with College of Communication Dean Kathy Krendl, said.

The 20 technology initiatives packages awarded Winter Quarter will provide 41 professors from nine OU colleges and the Chillicothe regional campus with software and equipment to make curriculum changes they proposed in their applications.

"We only have $400,000 for funding for the first round and, we wanted the largest number of faculty possible to be involved," Shostak said.

Center of the evolution

Even if faculty members are not participating in the first round of TIPs, they can still join the trend of technology in the classroom by developing methods and materials in the new Center for Innovation in Technology .

The center, which is scheduled to open later this quarter, occupies the space in Scott Quadrangle that was abandoned when some OU offices moved to the new HDL Building on West Union Street.

The 24,000-square-foot center will feature 15 work stations with equipment and guidance to help faculty members develop methods to integrate technology into their classes.

The center will not open until its director has been named, the staff has been hired and equipment has been ordered, Shostak said.

Besides the director, the center will be staffed by one instructional design specialist and up to three part-time research and technology associates.

Essence of the philosophy

Technology in OU curriculum is not a new phenomenon. OU President Robert Glidden has been promoting technology in the classroom since he became president in 1994.

"In essence, professors are no longer needed to provide information in the way they once were," Glidden said in an April 3, 1997, lecture in Berlin, Germany. "But they are needed more than ever to help focus learning, to set examples of scholarly attitudes and attributes and to provide the basic foundation on which students can build and achieve at an accelerated pace."

The faculty in the Enhancing Learning through Technology program are building that foundation.

"I think it's trite to say this is the leading edge of a revolution of how we do things," said Tom Daniels, associate provost for space and planning and interim associate provost for instructional technology. "But I do believe higher education, in the early part of the next century, will look different than it does now because of the integration of this technology into the curriculum."

Although the face of higher education might be changing, Daniels said it won't happen overnight.

"It's a lot more evolutionary," he said. "We're expecting this (program) to be the seed corn from which other initiatives grow in the future."

Structure of the classroom

Although Murray will not be back at OU next year, because he recently accepted the dean of arts and science position at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark., other professors in the biological sciences department will continue to develop technological methods for students to use in everyday learning.

Murray said the techniques are still new to professors and students, so use of the technology-centered teaching methods has been a learning process.

"One thing I have noted is that what I had been doing in the fall (with having class notes available before class) allowed for some students to be less actively involved in class so that the overall grades were lower," Murray said. "Last quarter I told students ahead of time to download the notes after class instead."

"The technology made it easier to understand the material because you can't always understand the teacher when he lectures," sophomore Kazi Romohr said.