Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering 1996 Annual Report [text version]

Whiting School of Engineering 1996 Annual Report

Instructional Television Facility
ITV Forges Ahead With Technology-Based Instruction
Department Facts

ITV Forges Ahead With Technology-Based Instruction
What does the Instructional Television Facility (ITV) have to do with "technology-based instruction," and what does that phrase mean? Historically, ITV has served the Whiting School since 1983 in all aspects of educational television by delivering televised courses on the Johns Hopkins microwave system; producing instruction/research-oriented videotapes; and providing technology-enhanced research reporting and instruction. In the past several years, however, the number of requests has exploded for digital production where the media are not videotapes, but CD-ROMs and Web servers. As a result, ITV has expanded its capabilities to address those needs.

Director Michael Karweit is particularly qualified to lead ITV in its new direction. Not only is Karweit the former director of the Whiting School's Engineering Computing Facility, now known as Homewood Academic Computing, he is also a research professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering. Consequently, he possesses the substantive and technological expertise for ITV initiatives. One of his current projects is the development of a full, interactive Web-based course called Insights into Engineering, which can be viewed in part during its construction at http://www.jhu.edu/~virtlab/. "Once up and running, this course will allow students to view experiments, input data, and watch the results change based on the input," says Karweit. He plans interactive experiments in robotics, heat transfer, binary logic circuitry, and petroleum engineering. The project received funding from a minigrant program administered by the Provost's Subcommittee on Electronic and Distance Education, part of the University's Information Systems Coordinating Council.

To serve the Whiting School's digital production needs, ITV recently added significant digital capabilities to its existing video equipment, including CD-ROM writers, scanners, video-to-MPEG encoders, and presentation software. With the enhancements, ITV can now produce multimedia presentations for most digital platforms. Development and delivery of distance learning and "virtual" courses, digital newsletters, and promotional materials are now possible, as is design of courses using the JAVA programming language.

In addition, ITV has "digitized" its instructional classroom, located on the second floor of Maryland Hall. Previously, the classroom was outfitted to provide high quality video to each pair of students viewing the monitors. Computer presentations could be accommodated, but with somewhat degraded displays. A recent transformation of Maryland 214 to the digital world included replacing all TV monitors with computer monitors to allow much clearer presentations.

For an overview of ITV's many capabilities and services, link to its new webpage.

Established 1983

Phone 410-516-8708

Email itv@jhu.edu

WWW http://www.jhu.edu/~itv1/

Staff
Michael Karweit, Director
Irene Vanger, Coordinator
Deirdre Hammer, Video Production Specialist
Dawei Wang, Electronic Engineer

Services
The Instructional Television Facility (ITV) is a support center within the Whiting School with expertise in distance learning, technology-enhanced instruction, and multimedia production. Additionally, it offers its facilities, services, and expertise to other University divisions and to non-profit organizations as resources permit. Specific services offered by ITV include:
Closed Circuit TV Instruction
Multimedia
Satellite Downlinks
Video Production

Instructional Television Facility ITV Forges Ahead With Technology-Based Instruction Department Facts

Instructional Television Facility
ITV Forges Ahead With Technology-Based Instruction
Department Facts