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SIFE to get equipment, software training through SBC Fellow Award
November 7, 2003 | |||||
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KOKOMO, Ind.—IU Kokomo School of Business faculty members Joan Hoch and Kathy Parkison, Ph.D., have received a $6,797 grant from the Indiana University SBC Fellow Award program. The grant will purchase a laptop computer, digital video camera and other equipment needed to teach multimedia presentation skills to Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) participants. Hoch and Parkison will also use the grant to purchase the presentation software Photoshop® and Macromedia® Flash MX™, and to cover site licensing and training, so students can access the software in campus computer labs. An international student organization, SIFE promotes the principles of free enterprise and develops members’ leadership, teamwork, and communication skills through community outreach projects. At IU Kokomo, SIFE is both a student organization—which Hoch and Parkison advise—and a business course, taught by Parkison. In 2002–2003, IU Kokomo SIFE members completed 35 major projects, providing close to 4,000 hours of community service. This fall, 17 SIFE members have taught résumé and job interview workshops at WorkOne in Kokomo, introduced free market concepts to area elementary grade school students through interactive classes, and hosted an October 25 leadership conference for SIFE members from nine colleges. “During spring semester, SIFE students present their community service projects at regional and national SIFE competitions,” Parkison said. (IU Kokomo SIFE teams have won three consecutive regional championships and placed as a national first runner-up in 2002.) “At regionals, the number and variety of our excellent SIFE projects carry the presentation,” Parkison said. “But, when we compete at nationals, it is clear that our students’ technology and advanced presentation skills lag behind those of other institutions. “Communication skills are very important in the job markets that these students will be entering post graduation,” Parkison said. “Although the current SIFE class helps develop students’ basic presentation skills, it does not take students to the next level of proficiency, communicating with more advanced multimedia in authentic competitive business environments.” Items purchased with the SBC Fellow grant can help address that proficiency gap, she said. According to manufacturer’s Web site, Macromedia® Flash MX™ reaches more than 97 percent of Internet-enabled desktops worldwide and is used by more than 1 million professionals “to integrate video, text, audio, and graphics into . . . interactive marketing and presentations [and] e-learning.” Photoshop® is widely used for composing and editing graphic images. Hoch and Parkison will get immediate training in the software, so they can run Flash MX™ workshops for students in January 2004. “Because SIFE is open to all majors, we anticipate training a wide variety of students in ways to advance their presentation communication tools,” Hoch said. In addition to polishing SIFE’s year-end report, students will use the new equipment and skills to develop teaching “modules” aimed at community audiences. Modules suggested in the grant proposal included a presentation on writing résumés and cover letters, and a workshop for high school students on the pitfalls of credit card usage. SBC Fellow Awards support application of information technology to teaching and learning. Professor of Psychology Sharon Calhoon, Ph.D., was the first IU Kokomo faculty member to earn an SBC Fellow Award in 2002, for development of online instructional templates.
Fourteen projects proposed by IU faculty across the state were funded in 2003. “The value of the program is extended beyond the individual faculty members and their students because each Fellow is encouraged to mentor other faculty and contribute to a Web-based repository of effective practices,” said Garland Elmore, IU associate vice president for teaching and learning information technologies.
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