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Photograph by Reed Hutchinson
UCLA Photographic Services
Dario Nardi (left) shows a student how to set up the class
robot. Nardi's use of bots in a course on artificial intelligence
earned him a Copenhaver award. |
Faculty excite students through technology
Innovative teachers
BY cynthia lee
UCLA Today Staff
With expertise in computer modeling and simulation, Dario Nardi
teaches undergraduates in his class on artificial intelligence that
the power of computing is not an abstract concept that lives only
in his lecture notes.
It’s something that students can actually wield when they
model human behavior using their very own robots.
Using simple programming language, Honors Collegium 25 students
teach their digital bots — represented by expressive faces
on students’ monitors — social skills that mimic human
responses. In a few weeks, these characters learn enough to converse
with their masters — even react to their jokes — through
a form of instant-messaging. Later, students program social skills
into a couple of camera-eyed metal droids on wheels who speak and
move to visual and audio cues.
“I want my students to have a very positive experience with
technology so they won’t find it scary,” Nardi said.
He hopes that in the future, as managers and leaders in their fields,
they’ll be able to make informed decisions about technology.
Nardi is one of three faculty members chosen by the Faculty Committee
on Educational Technology to receive the 2005 Copenhaver Award for
Innovation in Teaching with Technology. The other recipients are
Bill Grisham, a lecturer in psychology, and William J. Kaiser, professor
of electrical engineering.
Grisham, who teaches neuroscience, has set up a digital archive
of images of rats’ spinal cord neurons so that his students
can do an experiment digitally that would have cost considerably
more in resources and time to replicate in reality.
In the experiment, students examine the images, count certain kinds
of neurons and measure their size to distinguish male rats from
female and determine which rats received an anti-androgen drug.
Instead of a microscope, students accomplish these objectives on
their computer screens, using tools downloaded free from an NIH
site and some of the 700 images Grisham has digitized. Students
work in a lab as well as on their home computers, an experience
they rate as more enjoyable.
Kaiser has developed a software tool, called Individualized, Interactive
Instruction (3I), which allows students to interact anonymously
with their professors in real time during class. To teach 60 to
90 electrical engineering students about circuits, Kaiser cleverly
devised a way, using wireless notebook computers, instant messaging
and other tech tools, to instantly assess whether his students understand
his instruction and are able to solve problems.
As students try to solve a problem that Kaiser presents on their
laptop screens, he can see in real time the keystroke responses
of every student, represented anonymously by a number. That gives
him an incredible degree of insight, the professor said. When he
sees that many in the class are making a common error, he can immediately
address it for the entire class without embarrassing anyone in particular.
Faculty across the campus are using technology in imaginative ways
to enrich students’ learning experience, said Assistant Vice
Chancellor Ruth Sabean, director of educational technology. “These
innovations are making a huge difference to undergraduates,”
she said.
Said one student: “[It’s] not about the technology
— you barely notice it. [It’s] about smashing tired,
inefficient ways of conveying information.”
To learn more about how current and past prizewinners have invigorated
teaching through technology, go to www.college.ucla.edu/edtech/interviews.
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