Academic Experience
	Active learning with technology: bringing students, faculty, and information together University students join a community of people devoted to creating and sharing information—activities that can be enhanced by information technology. Find out how technology is used to support learning and collaboration in individual areas of interest.
	Coursework—in and out of class
		How does the campus use technology to enhance teaching, learning, and access to information in individual areas of interest? Examples include online syllabi, web-based discussion groups and project teams, and electronic portfolios.
		Technology is an integral part of teaching and learning at Miami. More than half of the courses at Miami use technology in the classroom at some level. For example, PowerPoint-based lectures, supplementary iPod Podcasts, and web-enhanced courses are designed to increase active learning in the classroom; communication spaces such as wikis and blogs are used to facilitate project-based, collaborative learning; and computer-based simulations help develop critical thinking skills. Approximately 45 percent of courses use Blackboard, a web-based course management system, to extend the academic experience outside the classroom. Using Blackboard, faculty can post announcements, course outlines, syllabi, handouts, assignments, and grades; conduct online-mediated discussions through discussion boards, chat, and email; and allow online submission of assignments. While laptop integration into select academic programs has been underway for some time, beginning in Fall 2006, first-year students who desire a greater degree of technology integration in their coursework and who own a laptop will be able to register for digital writing sections of two core Miami Plan courses: College Composition (English 111) and Composition and Literature (English 112). In these sections, students will have opportunities to work with a variety of communication technologies in order to analyze and produce paper-based and web-based texts.
		Are classrooms technology-enhanced?
		Miami University has different types of classrooms to meet the needs of faculty and students. These include classrooms in which every student has a computer, multimedia classrooms in which the instructor has a full range of technologies to enhance the classroom experience, and classrooms where equipment can be brought in upon request. Of the 186 Registrar-scheduled classrooms on the Oxford campus, 58 percent are equipped with a data projector, projection screen, DVD, VCR, teacher station, resident computer, guest computer port with audio capability, and stereo audio system. The rest of the rooms have varying levels of presentation equipment installed, from a DVD/VCR/monitor to a fully equipped distance learning environment.
		In both introductory and specialized courses, what opportunities are there for collaboration with other students using technology on project teams?
		While email and instant messaging are the most popular forms of collaboration, students use a number of other tools to collaborate as well: Blackboard—Miami's web-based course management system allows faculty to place classmates into groups that can then collaborate using a private discussion board, email, chat, and file-sharing. netDisk—Students can allow shared access to individual files on their network space to facilitate collaborative writing and share project work.
		Does the school give credit for courses taken electronically (online/at a distance) from other institutions and sources of instruction?
		Miami University will accept transfer credit for courses taken electronically if all requirements pertaining to transfer credit are satisfied. However, Miami does not accept transfer credit for foreign language, laboratory, or speaking courses.
	Support services
		How does the campus provide access for students to work with multimedia (audio and video)?
		The Libraries' Center for Information Management (CIM) provides a variety of hardware and software for working with digital image, audio, animation, and video files. Assistance is available on an individual basis or through workshops taught in the CIM during the academic year. Faculty may request tours or demonstrations for their classes as well. Students who want to edit videos can also use equipment in the 24-hour Learning Technologies Center (LTC) in 200 Gaskill Hall. Several Macintosh G5 and Dell GC270 computers equipped with video editing software are available; students can store edited videos to their own storage media, such as video tapes, miniDV tapes, or DVDs.
		Are library collections and resources—such as catalogs, research databases, special collections, course reserves, full-text electronic journals, books, and streaming media—available online and accessible off campus?
		The Miami Libraries have numerous licensed electronic reference materials, including many searchable research databases, electronic books and electronic journals, and magazines. The Libraries provide access through a proxy server to make all licensed electronic reference material available to anyone with an Internet connection and a Miami UniqueID (username) and password, whether on campus or off. (For those accessing the materials off campus using an outside Internet Service Provider, see Proxy Configuration.) The majority of course reserve materials are available online through the Miami University Libraries. Online course reserves (aka "ereserves") can be searched by department, professor, or course. Through the Libraries' website, faculty, staff, and students can complete the following tasks: Electronically request books from the 80+ Ohio colleges and universities that belong to the Ohio consortia of research libraries, OhioLINK Complete an online Interlibrary Loan request to obtain hard-to-find research materials Read more than 30,000 electronic journals, 172,000 electronic books, 2,200 electronic plays, and 200,000 poems View collections of more than 700,000 images of artwork, architecture, and historical photographs, and view nearly 1,000 online videos Explore special, digital collections from and about Miami University Obtain and use materials placed on electronic reserves by professors Seek real-time research help from librarians using an Internet messenger-based system Find out about Technology and Information Management Workshops and classes offered by the Miami University Libraries Use the Online Reference Shelf, which includes links for everything from almanacs and encyclopedias to telephone directories and weather information
		Can the library deliver documents electronically, either via email or through web posting? Does the library charge a fee when information resources that you need are not available in its collections?
		Sometimes, the Libraries provide access to a digital copy of articles requested through Interlibrary Loan or from their remote storage facility. Currently, there is no charge for use of Interlibrary Loan services at Miami. However, there are costs associated with the process of receiving materials from other institutions, such as labor, photo duplication, copyright compliance, and postage and handling. Faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to use this resource judiciously. In addition to Interlibrary Loan, the Libraries use digital delivery for several services, including digital copies of library items and the following special collections and archives: Electronic Theses and Dissertations—Electronic submission has been required at Miami for several years. Repositories—In partnership with the Miami University Art Museum, the Libraries are housing artifacts and records from the Myaamia tribe, after which the University is named. Some of these may be made available electronically. Images, Audio, and Video—OhioLINK's Digital Media Center provides access to an extensive collection of images, audio recordings, and videos from commercial distributors, such as Films for the Humanities & Social Sciences.
		Does the library provide research assistance? When is this assistance available?
		The Miami Libraries provide individualized assistance in person, by phone, by email, and through an online reference service. The online reference service enables those seeking assistance to communicate with librarians through chat. Librarians can electronically push web pages to the individual seeking assistance. Those who seek assistance can have a copy of their transaction emailed to themselves for future reference.