The 2006 ~FAST Tex projects
College of Education

Title:
Sensory and Motor Integration: Meaningful Play Activities

Faculty Client:
Pamela Buchanan, buchanan@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Wei-Li Liaw

Project Description:
This site is reflective of content that is taught in several Kinesiology classes and shares information with educators and parents throughout the state of Texas. The web site serves those involved with children who have sensory disorders access to information to help assist in educating children with disabilities to be functional adults in our communities. This project added additional content and features to the Sensory and Motor Integration Web site originally developed through a College of Education Vision Award. A variety of multimedia elements such as graphics, resource links, text, animations, and video were added.

http://www.edb.utexas.edu/smi/

Title:
Palm Shortcuts for Teacher Assessment

Faculty Client:
Dorothy (Dolly) Lambdin, lambdin@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Amal Banerjee

Project Description:
Physical education teachers and apprentice teachers spend inordinate amounts of time transferring assessment data collected on their 400-500 students in the gymnasium into spreadsheets for use in grading and tracking the effectiveness of their teaching. Palms are perfect devices for collecting information during class and directly inputting the data without having to reenter it from a clipboard. This project created a Palm application where teachers can upload class rosters, create tests and rubrics, enter student performance data, grades, and notes, and output the information to Excel for further analysis.

Title:
Creating Multimedia Games: A First Step

Faculty Client:
Min Liu, mliu@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developers:
Adnan Zafar
Derek Carlin

Project Description:
Acquiring multimedia development skills is an important part of students’ education at UT and having those skills is a desirable asset when looking for jobs. Multimedia games have the potential to enhance motivation and assist in problem-solving. This project proposes to combine the two ideas into one context: teaching students multimedia development skills through creating games. A design document with technical specifications outlining the process of creating a game, the technical requirements, and providing an example for students to follow was created. By using this document, students learn the important technical skills in a meaningful context and explore the potential of using games for motivation and problem solving. In addition, animations to enhance the narrative component Alien Rescue game version 2 were developed.

Title:
Video Vignettes of Seasoned Elementary Teachers and Special Needs Students

Faculty Client:
Linda Voges, lvoges@mail.utexas.edu

Student Developer:
Erin Murphy

Project Description:
This project filmed, edited and digitized video taken in elementary math, science and reading classes showing teachers working with special needs students in general education classes. Three videos were also provided by AISD–1st, 3rd, and 4th grade general education classes with special needs students at Cunningham Elementary. The digital vignettes were added to a Web site produced through previous ~FAST Tex and Vision Awards. The Web site now has digital movies and other instructional tools that specifically address the problem of first-year teachers lack of experience in working with special needs students in general education classes.