Now in her second year at Providence College, Siobh‡n E. Ross is ardently continuing her mission to integrate technology and learning in classrooms across the campus.

The coordinator of the Instructional Technology Development Program, Ross came to the College last fall after serving as an instructional technologist at Brown University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Since then, she has presented dozens of workshops, classes, and one-on-one tutorials to faculty on topics from wikis to PowerPoint.

"My first year was just learning the campus and what the culture is," she said. "I've been working with faculty to bring different technologies both into the classrooms and into their assignments."

So far this academic year, Ross has focused on providing one-on-one assistance to faculty, allowing her to quickly and directly meet their needs.

"It's only an hour, but it's one hour of quality individual attention, and I think it's very effective," she said.

Dr. Laurie L. Grupp, associate professor of education and director of the Center for Teaching Excellence, agreed with this assessment.

"'Give me an hour and I'll save you a day' is what she says, and I believe it is true," Grupp said. "I have had the opportunity to work one-on-one with Siobh‡n on some of my own technology needs, and she is a true teacher. I always learn something new when I work with her."

"Siobh‡n has done a great job adjusting to PC and the needs of faculty," added Dr. Robert H. Trudeau, professor of political science and former administrator of the ANGEL course management system.

"Part of Siobh‡n's duties at PC," continued Trudeau, "is to provide faculty support for ANGEL, and she has done that very well. I can attest to this because of my experience in this area. She has an infectiously pleasant personality, and I'm really happy she was hired by Providence College."

In addition to her work with faculty, Ross has overseen several technological initiatives, such as the acquisition of more than 350 "clickers" for classroom use. These hand-held devices allow students to enter responses to questions posed by the instructor, after which the answers are tallied and the results can be analyzed.

Several classes-including social work, marketing, chemistry, engineering, and accounting-used the clickers this semester, with the rest to be phased in next semester. The clickers will be available for a one-time survey or can be borrowed for an extended period of use.

Comfort level high with new faculty
After spending the end of the summer working with new faculty, Ross expressed enthusiasm about their potential role in developing different learning technologies at the College.

"I did a lot in August with the new faculty, and it went great," she said. "This new group is coming in at a pretty comfortable level and a lot of them jumped right in."

Ross emphasized that she welcomes communication with faculty members, regardless of their familiarity or expertise.

"I've had people ask me how to add an image to a PowerPoint, and I've had people tell me the FTP is broken on their server," she said. "I don't want anyone to be intimidated, no matter what level they're at."

"If someone's thinking about doing something with technology but is hesitant about it, call me. We'll sit down, go over it, and figure it out," she added.

- Joe Miller '10