DePauw University - FITS

FITS Faculty Project:	List all projects
Religious Studies 141 The Hebrew Scripture
Professor Bernie Batto’s Religious Studies 141 course: The Hebrew Scripture, an introduction to the Old Testament, places Hebrew Scriptures in the Ancient Near East context in which the texts were first written and understood by early audiences. Along with reading the texts, the students are also provided with visual materials from the surrounding cultures. Professor Batto wanted to make these visual materials available to students outside of class. Prior to the completion of the FITS collaborative project, Professor Batto’s students were unable to see the visual images once class was finished. The images were slides from Professor Batto's private collection. He would show the individual slides during class using an old Kodak carousal projector, adding an oral commentary. Once the students saw the images in class, they were no longer able to access them. Professor Batto wanted his students to have more contact with these important graphics.
Project Description With the help of FITS staff and associates, Professor Batto converted his slides into digital images, which were subsequently added to a database. Along with creating digital files, Batto and his team developed several mini-lectures for BlackBoard. The mini-lectures consisted of a series of images on a particular topic accompanied by comments on those images. Students could access the mini-lectures on BlackBoard before attending class; the additional student preparation helped Professor Batto save class time. Professor Batto wanted to introduce additional elements of technology into his classroom. Using BlackBoard, he could post announcements, along with other useful materials (additional reading, exercises, syllabi, etc..).
Impact of the Project Professor Batto continues to use the database and mini-lectures in his classroom and finds the technology to be extremely useful. The database allows him to use the images in his other courses; Professor Batto can give his students access to the desired images or he can view the images in class, by retrieving them from the BlackBoard site. The project provides more time, as well as more flexibility, in the classroom to discuss the significance of material. For students, the database offers more options; now they can revisit the images and mini-lectures whenever it is convenient for them.
Production Details Professor Batto received a FITS Faculty Grant to develop a project during the fall semester of 2000; however, due to some inopportune circumstances, the project’s development continued into the following semester and summer. The project required four major steps for completion: • The original planning was organized with Dr. Batto, Carol Smith, Robbie Morris, and Carl Singer. The team decided against a personal website and opted for a database instead. • The team developed a database with 200 images. The images were scanned into digital form, which was completed by FITS Associates. • The images were then grouped into sub-databases with written text. These sub-databases would eventually become the mini-lectures. Approximately 15 mini-lectures were created. • The mini-lectures and other documents were added to BlackBoard and made available for the students.

Bernie Batto

wanted to introduce elements of technology into his Religious Studies 141: The Hebrew Scripture course by creating mini-lectures with visual images for his students.

Team Members Include:

Carol Smith, Robbie Morris, and Carl Singer

Contact Information:

Bernie Batto
Professor of Religious Studies
bbatto@depauw.edu

Carol Smith
Director of Instructional and Learning Services
clsmith@depauw.edu

Carl Singer
Professor of Computer Science
singer@depauw.edu

**Divisions of Instructional and Learning Services**
Faculty Instructional Technology Support - FITS is a program that assists faculty members in enhancing their teaching and their students learning through the latest technology. FITS is concerned with the pedagogical applications of technology, rather then with explicit technical training. FITS	Digital Media Lab - Located in the basement of the Roy O. West Library, the dml works closely with FITS, the Web Team, Information Services and other campus technology organizations to develop consistent and easy to use services for all faculty, students and staff. DML	Music Instructional Technology Center - DePauw's School of Music includes the Music Instructional Technology Center, an advanced facility that includes a computer lab, audio production facility and mobile audio recording services. MITC	Geographic Information Systems - The DePauw GIS Center coordinates GIS activities across campus so that information and knowledge can be shared and exchanged for the benefit of the entire DePauw community. It also collaborates with Greencastle and Putnam County communities to establish a relationship that benefits both DePauw and the surrounding region. GIS	Student Technology Support - (formally START) provides students with opportunities to enhance their liberal arts education with information technology knowledge and skills. Workshops, Web-based training, courses and one-on-one training are available to all students. SITS students and staff members work with faculty members to provide specific course related technology training through in-class workshops. Student Technology Support