TC Today Profiles Executive Director Frank Moretti

November 23, 2009. Named a "worldwide force in digital education," CCNMTL Executive Director Frank Moretti is at the center of the recent TC Today article, "Saying Yes to Technology." The article profiles Moretti's accomplishments borne out of the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning, which he founded with Maurice Matiz in 1999. Several CCNMTL projects and their educational objectives are highlighted throughout the article—including the Global Classroom, Masivukeni, and VITAL —and the reader comes to understand how Moretti, a former Greek, Latin, and philosophy teacher with a doctorate in history from Teachers College, dreamed up an organization that today supports over 3,000 individual faculty members in the purposeful use of technology. "We looked at what was going on around us with computers, and we said, Jeez, we're living in another great revolution," said Moretti. To learn more, read Saying Yes to Technology.

Website on Tobacco Cessation Treatment Launches at Dental School

November 16, 2009. A new self-study website developed to teach dental students about tobacco cessation assessment and treatment launched this week at the Columbia College of Dental Medicine. The Tobacco Cessation site provides students with multimedia learning modules containing demonstrative videos, immediate-response quizzes, and treatment activities on tobacco cessation pharmacotherapy. Students are assigned to review the online modules independently, learning about the seven primary therapies for tobacco cessation and working through specific treatment scenarios. During a "virtual patient" activity, for instance, four patients with unique health histories are presented. Students must conduct a patient assessment and recommend the best treatment plan, which they then prescribe in an online prescription writing activity.

Students must complete the Tobacco Cessation site two weeks prior to attending a required three-hour seminar in which they review lessons learned online, act out potential treatment scenarios, and write reflections on their experience. The Columbia College of Dental Medicine is one of the few dental schools in the US that teaches about tobacco cessation. With this new site, the College and CCNMTL hope students come away with a strong understanding of available tobacco cessation pharmacotherapies and are empowered to effectively encourage tobacco cessation in their future dental practice.

The Tobacco Cessation site was developed by CCNMTL and David Albert, associate professor of clinical dentistry. CCNMTL and Albert plan to enhance the site with additional learning modules in the next year and are open to sharing the site with partnering institutions.

CCNMTL Releases Developers Blog, CompilED

November 05, 2009. CCNMTL recently launched CompilED, a new blog where the Center's programmers and web designers reflect on their experiences developing educational technology at Columbia University. Directed primarily at the developer community in education, the blog makes public the technical conversations CCNMTL developers have always had internally.

Recent blog posts touch on topics as varied as building offline web applications, Moodle development, and aggregating links from online chat channels. CompilED will even contain interesting posts culled from CCNMTL’s internal message board going back to 2006. “We hope that by sharing our contributions more publicly with the developer community, we add transparency to our work and better engage technologists across sectors,” said Lead Technical Architect Jonah Bossewitch. “We’re excited to have a public voice that goes beyond our personal or internal blogs.”

Health Facilitators Trained to Use New Multimedia WORTH Intervention

November 4, 2009. CCNMTL and the Social Intervention Group (SIG) at the Columbia School of Social Work trained health facilitators in New York City last week to use a multimedia HIV prevention program designed for drug-involved women who are on probation or parole. The program, Multimedia WORTH (Women On The Road To Health), was developed by CCNMTL and SIG faculty partner Professor Nabila El-Bassel and is funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Multimedia WORTH delivers interactive activities, such as quizzes, games, and motivational videos, that teach participants pertinent HIV prevention behaviors—communication and negotiation skills, health care and maintenance, and feelings of self worth and empowerment. In addition to educational activities, Multimedia WORTH offers online customized journals for participants and supervisory reports for facilitators. The program is delivered on laptop computers used by participants in both individual and facilitator-supported group sessions.

CCNMTL and SIG created Multimedia WORTH as part of a research project to evaluate the efficacy of a multimedia-supported intervention versus a traditional paper-based intervention. A randomized trial conducted in November will test the ability of Multimedia WORTH to increase condom use, decrease the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and reduce substance use among 432 drug involved female offenders in an Alternative-to-Incarceration (ATI) program in New York City.

In preparation for the trial, CCNMTL developers trained Multimedia WORTH facilitators who will deliver the program to groups of six to eight women over a span of 18 weeks. Once the trial is completed, CCNMTL and SIG will analyze and publish their findings, and elements of Multimedia WORTH will be used to train Columbia social work students preparing for careers in the criminal justice system.

Multimedia WORTH builds on CCNMTL’s work with HIV-related behavior change interventions, following the lead of Multimedia Connect and SMART+SA. The program will help CCNMTL and SIG understand how technology-mediated interventions can improve a participant’s ability to achieve the desired behavior changes.

Register Now for Workshops on CourseWorks, Wikispaces, and Podcasting

October 29, 2009. How can you use course management tools, wikis, and podcasting to enhance your teaching and meet your course objectives? Find out by attending CCNMTL Faculty Development Workshops, offered on November 10-12 in the Faculty Support Lab in 204 Butler Library.

Discover how to use CourseWorks, Columbia's course management system, to distribute course materials and facilitate course communication. Or, explore collaborative uses of wikis in our Wikispaces: Getting Started and Wikispaces: Advanced workshops. Also, if you're new to podcasting and want to learn about the nuts and bolts of creating a podcast, then attend Podcasting Essentials: Creation and Distribution.

These hands-on workshops are hosted by CCNMTL and are held in the Faculty Support Lab located in 204 Butler Library. Visit CCNMTL Events to read workshop descriptions and register with your UNI.

Wikispaces: Getting Started
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Wikispaces: Advanced
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM

CourseWorks: Getting Started
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Podcasting Essentials: Creation and Distribution
Thursday, November 12, 2009 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

CCNMTL Accepts Award for Innovative Use of Archives

October 27, 2009. CCNMTL received the 2009 Award for Innovative Use of Archives from the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York last Friday for its website, Mapping the African American Past (MAAP)—a unique learning environment created to enhance the study of significant sites and moments in the history of African Americans in New York from the early 17th-century through the recent past.

The Award for Innovative Use of Archives recognizes the use of archival material in a meaningful and creative way, making a significant contribution to a community or body of people, and demonstrating the relevance of archival materials to its subjects. Frank Moretti and Maurice Matiz, CCNMTL's directors, along with Center staff involved in the development of the site, accepted the award at a reception held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

MAAP is a public website enabling students, teachers, and visitors to browse a multitude of locations in New York and read encyclopedic profiles of historical people and events associated with these locations. The site is enhanced by selected film, music clips, and podcasts; photographs, documents, archival maps from Columbia University and New York Public Libraries; and commentary from Columbia faculty and other experts. The site, which also offers a mobile portal for smartphone users, was developed by CCNMTL in partnership with Curriculum Concepts International (CCI) and Teachers College and funded by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation.

Dr. Manning Marable, professor of history and political science and founding director of both Columbia's Institute for Research on African American Studies (IRAAS) and Center for Contemporary Black History (CCBH), conferred the award and spoke briefly about African American history and MAAP. "Mapping the African American Past helps teachers at all levels engage students in content through stories about building community, resisting slavery, and contributing to New York City development. It is a remarkable resource that turns teaching into an extraordinary adventure," said Dr. Marable during the presentation of the award.

Students Learn From Apollo Theater Project's Historic Interviews

October 26, 2009. The Apollo Theater Project, a multifaceted effort to preserve and disseminate the history of the Apollo Theater and its Harlem community, made its educational debut in classrooms this fall semester.

The project represents a unique partnership between the historical Apollo Theater, Columbia faculty, and Columbia’s Information Service organizations to achieve intersecting educational, artistic, and research ambitions. Since summer 2008, CCNMTL and the Oral History Research Office (OHRO) have compiled audio and video interviews with cultural and political figures connected with the 75-year history of the Apollo Theater. These interviews, with the likes of Smokey Robinson, Quincy Jones, Dionne Warwick, and more, will inform a documentary of the theater's history and provide the basis for a rich research archive.

While the compilation of interviews remains a work in progress, CCNMTL has partnered with faculty to adapt raw footage from the project for classroom and online use. For instance, Ruksana Sussewell has implemented interviews in her Oral History Fieldwork and Documentation course, which is offered in the Oral History Master of Arts (OHMA) program at Columbia. Sussewell’s students will use the CCNMTL-developed video tool VITAL (Video Interactions in Teaching and Learning) to analyze the interviews and to study techniques used in the interview process. This exercise will aid students in designing and conducting research interviews for their own thesis projects.

Additionally, guest lecturer Jennella Young, who is also the coordinator for the Apollo Theater Project, has used footage from the project in seminars attended by students from Cornell University and the Calhoun School. Young had students view interviews of Charlie Rangel, Shirley Caesar, Thelma Prince, and others as they explored topics ranging from the history of African American entertainers in the 1950s to the similarities and differences between oral history and journalism.

As the Apollo Theater Project unfolds, CCNMTL continues conversations with faculty affiliated with Columbia's Center for Jazz Studies, the Institute for Research in African American Studies, English and Comparative Literature, and other programs to make materials available and foster educational activities that enable students to engage with this wealth of primary source materials.

CCNMTL and CICR Present Country X Simulation to West African States

October 19, 2009. Tucker Harding of CCNMTL and Mark Whitlock of the Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR) traveled to Dakar, Senegal to present Country X —a web-based training simulation for the early warning and prevention of mass killing—to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Warning and Response Network at its biennial Focal Points Coordination training. The ECOWAS is a regional group of 15 West African countries that promote integration in all fields of economic activity. Its Warning and Response Network is a system within the peace and security branch of the ECOWAS devoted to conflict prevention, management, resolution, peace-keeping, and security.

During the week-long early warning and prevention training, Harding and Whitlock presented Country X to the director and staff of the Early Warning Directorate based in Abuja, Nigeria and 30 conflict early warning monitors representing government and civil society organizations from the ECOWAS member states. The simulation, currently being used in Professor Aldo Civico's genocide prevention seminar, was created by CCNMTL and Civico as a learning tool for prospective genocide prevention practitioners to understand the varying perspectives of diplomatic, intelligence, military, and civil society communities in countries of rapid instability.

In addition to the presentation, Harding and Whitlock joined workshop participants in the discussion of a range of topics on theory and pragmatic prevention policy and its relation to mass, identity-based political violence in the West African sub-region. The workshops provided CCNMTL and CICR the opportunity to foster a relationship with the ECOWAS and to learn from in-country practitioners on how to improve Country X in future iterations of the simulation for use by Columbia students.

CCNMTL Benefactor: Lionel I. Pincus, 1931-2009

October 16, 2009. CCNMTL mourns the passing of Lionel I. Pincus, chairman emeritus of the Trustees of Columbia University and CCNMTL benefactor. Mr. Pincus' $10 million gift made possible the launching of the Center in 1999 as noted in a Columbia University Record article published on March 29, 1999.

A few years later, Mr. Pincus was able to see the results of his gift when he visited the Center in October 2004. He was given a demonstration of the services and projects that had been developed through his generosity.

Multimedia Website on Ambedkar's "The Annihiliation of Caste" Featured in Online Exhibit

October 14, 2009. The Annihilation of Caste —the CCNMTL-developed multimedia study environment (MSE) that provides digital text of the undelivered 1936 speech by Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar alongside annotations and educational resources—is featured in the new online exhibit, "Caste, Ambedkar, and Contemporary India." The exhibit was curated by Bindu Bhatt, South and Southeast Asian studies librarian, and complements the upcoming conference "Caste and Contemporary India" held this week in honor of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, chief architect of the Indian constitution and Columbia alumnus.

The MSE was developed in partnership with Frances Pritchett, professor of modern Indic languages at Columbia University, and includes digital text of The Annihilation of Caste, over 100 explanatory annotations, a historical timeline of Dr. Ambedkar’s life, and several other major texts by Dr. Ambedkar. The publicly-accessible site was partially funded by the Southern Asian Institute and released in 2004 for use in the undergraduate course, Introduction to Indian Civilization.

Visit the Caste, Ambedkar, and Contemporary India online exhibit to access the MSE in addition to a selection of resources from the South Asian Studies Collections at Columbia University Libraries and other online materials that explore issues of caste through the lens of gender, politics, art, constitutional history, and religion in contemporary India.

New Ground|Work Simulation Launches in SIPA course

October 12, 2009. A new simulation called Ground|Work launched this week in Professor Marc Levy's Environment, Conflict, and Resolution Strategies course offered at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Ground|Work is an online simulation in which Professor Levy's 18 graduate students grapple with maintaining peace in a fictional, post-conflict country.

Over the course of the next seven weeks the students will use their knowledge of previous conflicts and conflict resolution strategies to complete both individual and team activities. These activities include drafting a conflict assessment, funding interventions, preventing or responding to humanitarian crises, and working with donors. When the simulation concludes, teams will find that the post-conflict country is in one of three states/conditions: peace, humanitarian crisis, or resurgence of conflict.

The Ground|Work simulation will culminate in a group presentation in which the teams describe their choices and outcomes in the simulation, pitch their strategies for success, and answer questions from Professor Levy and their peers.

NYC Students Explore Brownfield Action Simulation

September 30, 2009. Two groups of New York City high school students will use the CCNMTL-developed Brownfield Action simulation this fall.

The nationally recognized online simulation was first created in 1999 in partnership with Professor Peter Bower and has since become a central component of Professor Bower's Introduction to Environmental Science course at Barnard College. In the simulation, students are presented with maps, documents, videos, and an extensive network of scientific data to investigate a suspected contaminated land site. They assume the roles of environmental consulting firms contracting with a real estate developer to study the condition of the site and report on the feasibility of commercial construction

As part of the College-Community Connections Program, 15 Harlem high school students will employ the Brownfield Action simulation in an environmental science course held at Barnard this fall. The course is funded by a TEAGLE Grant awarded to Professor Bower and the Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF). Students will meet every Tuesday evening at Barnard to learn about environmental science and interact with the simulation.

Eight 10th grade students and their science teachers at the NYC iSchool are also using Brownfield Action. The student and teachers are exploring ways to modify Professor Bower's Introduction to Environmental Science course and incorporate Brownfield Action in a new class open to 25 students at the iSchool. The NYC iSchool, located on the 5th floor of Chelsea High School in Tribeca, is an alternative high school that blends innovative technology with a project-based curriculum.

New Master's Program Offers Global Classroom

September 25, 2009. The Global Master's in Development Practice (MDP) graduate program launched at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) this semester, following more than a year of planning and preparation between the Earth Institute, CCNMTL, and partner universities throughout the world.

This new program, conceived by the International Commission on Education for Sustainable Development Practice and sponsored by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, is the first of its kind at the University. The program, which aims to teach students the skills and knowledge necessary to address complex global challenges of sustainable development, is designed to incorporate multi-disciplinary classes and cross-border collaboration of sustainable development students throughout the world. A key component of the program is the Global Classroom: Integrated Approaches to Sustainable Development, a master's-level sustainable development course simultaneously taught at a dozen universities around the world. The Global Classroom enables hundreds of students to conduct synchronous discussion, collaboration, and learning.

CCNMTL has played a seminal role in the pedagogical and technological development of the Global Classroom and the MDP program, which are both projects in the Center's Global Learning Initiative. To foster a collaborative and engaging community for MDP students, the Center has created an online social network in which students can discuss and share their work. A core requirement for this enterprise was an open-ended learning management system (LMS) capable of supporting local and external students that offered a variety of collaborative and synchronous tools. CCNMTL partnered with Remote-Leaner.net to deliver a Moodle -based course site for students to access reading materials and videos of lectures, to participate in discussion forums about course topics, and to collaborate on assignments.

Currently, just four weeks into the MDP program, students around the globe have participated in live discussions with economist Jeffrey Sachs, food security expert Lawrence Haddad, nutrition specialist Jessica Fanzo, and agronomist Glenn Denning; and have begun to work towards devising sustainable solutions to localized development problems around the world. The participants, hailing from 17 universities across the globe, have also begun to use the customized social network to get to know each other outside of the classroom – for example by sharing relevant web sites, forming interest groups, and holding online discussions with other members of the MDP community.

Next year, 9 more universities worldwide will launch partner MDP programs, creating a global consortium of sustainable development students, practitioners, and subject experts. CCNMTL is continuing to build digital networking and learning tools to accompany cross-institutional student collaboration and is also facilitating the development of an online repository containing sustainable development resources and learning materials for student use.

Epiville: Disease Outbreak Simulation Relaunches

September 24, 2009. The Epiville: Disease Outbreak Simulation, developed by CCNMTL in 2003 for the course Principles of Epidemiology and still in use today, was recently revamped with a site redesign. The simulation, which is used by over 350 students every semester in the Mailman School of Public Health, features an enhanced user experience and provides easier content management capabilities.

Epiville requires students to play the role of an epidemiologist, gathering facts and deciding actions to curb an outbreak that has struck the fictitious town of "Epiville." The simulation consists of 10 learning modules that use text, video, and interviews to provide details on the developing epidemiologic emergency. Students must design cases based on the facts presented to them and collect and analyze data. Throughout the simulation, students are also presented with multiple-choice questions and interactive maps and visuals.

The redesigned Epiville site exhibits a new color scheme, updated graphics and fonts, and a user-friendly navigation system. The site was also moved to Movable Type, a content management system that will allow more flexibility as the site continues to grow in the years to come. Additionally, new discussion questions have been added to each learning module in the simulation using Google Forms. Students submit their answers to the questions directly in the Epiville site, which are then sent to the professor and teaching assistant for review.

Epiville is open to the public and receives hundreds of visits each month. Go to Epiville to view the revamped site.

MAAP Wins Archivist Round Table Award

September 23, 2009. Mapping the African American Past, developed by CCNMTL in partnership with Curriculum Concepts International (CCI) and Teachers College and funded by the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, is the recipient of the 2009 Award for Innovative Use of Archives from the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York (ART). The award recognizes the use of archival material in a meaningful and creative way, making a significant contribution to a community or body of people, and demonstrating the relevance of archival materials to its subjects. Distinguished past recipients of this award include the Coney Island History Project (2008), the Civil War Tombstones Project (2007), and the Darwin exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History (2006).

MAAP is a public website created to enhance the appreciation and study of significant sites and moments in the history of African Americans in New York from the early 17th-century through the recent past. The website is a geographic learning environment, enabling students, teachers, and visitors to browse a multitude of locations in New York and read encyclopedic profiles of historical people and events associated with these locations. The site is enhanced by selected film and music clips; photographs, documents, archival maps from Columbia University and New York Public Libraries; and commentary from Columbia faculty and other experts. MAAP also includes podcasts and a mobile version of the site.

CCNMTL will accept MAAP's award at a ceremony held on October 23rd, 2009 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Learn How to Take Your Classroom Online with CourseWorks and Wikispaces

September 16, 2009. CU Faculty and Instructors: Register now for introductory workshops on CourseWorks and Columbia Wikispaces and discover how you can continue course communication outside of the classroom.

During these one-hour workshops, an educational technologist will teach the basics of online course management and collaboration tools. You'll learn how to complete tasks like posting your syllabi and assignments on a course site and adding content to a course wiki. Workshops are hosted by CCNMTL and are held in the Faculty Support Lab located in 204 Butler Library.

In light of Columbia University's pandemic preparedness planning, CCNMTL encourages you to consider online course management and collaboration tools that enable ongoing communication and remote access to course materials. To learn more about teaching tools available to faculty and instructors at Columbia, visit CCNMTL Tools.

Read workshop descriptions and register with your UNI.

Friday, September 18, 2009
CourseWorks: Getting Started at 2:00 PM

Monday, September 21, 2009
Wikispaces: Getting Started at 12:30 PM
CourseWorks: Getting Started at 2:00 PM

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
CourseWorks: Getting Started at 10:00 AM
Wikispaces: Getting Started at 2:00 PM

Monday, September 28, 2009
CourseWorks: Getting Started at 10:00 AM

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
CourseWorks: Getting Started at 12:30 PM

Thursday, October 1, 2009
Wikispaces: Getting Started at 12:30 PM

Project Rebirth Founder Jim Whitaker in the News

September 15, 2009. This past weekend, Project Rebirth filmmaker and founder Jim Whitaker discussed the film's pending release on CBS Unplugged and in the Huffington Post. Project Rebirth chronicles the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site and follows ten people recovering from the aftermath of 9/11. Whitaker has partnered with CCNMTL and Georgetown University to create the Project Rebirth Educational Initiative to enable students and faculty in a wide range of fields to explore and learn from the documentary.

Using the CCNMTL-developed video analysis tool, VITAL (Video Interactions for Teaching and Learning), students in social work, psychology, film, architecture, and English courses at both universities are exploring hundreds of hours of footage from the Project Rebirth film library. Katherine Shear of the Columbia School of Social Work and George Bonanno of Teachers College discussed at the last University Seminar on New Media Teaching and Learning how they have designed web-based assignments for students to engage in a close viewing of the archive and analyze effects of trauma and methods of coping. View the full video of this event. For more information about Project Rebirth at Columbia, visit the Project Rebirth educational site.

Project Rebirth Gets Local Attention in Roslyn News

September 11, 2009. Project Rebirth, the documentary film produced by film director Jim Whitaker that chronicles the re-development of the World Trade Center site and the recovery of 10 people coping with the aftermath of 9/11, was recently featured in an article by Andrew Malekoff, executive director of the North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center, in the Roslyn News. The documentary is a core component of the Project Rebirth non-profit organization, which has partnered with CCNMTL and Georgetown University to incorporate footage from the documentary in university classrooms. Students in social work, psychology, film, architecture, and English courses at Columbia and Georgetown are using the CCNMTL-developed video analysis tool, VITAL (Video Interactions for Teaching and Learning), to view and analyze hundreds of hours of footage from the Project Rebirth film library.

In the article, Malekoff explains the premise of the documentary: a diverse group of individuals impacted by 9/11 are interviewed over the course of several years as they grieve and cope with the aftermath of the attacks. "They generously offer us, and future generations, no doubt, the intimate gift of their unfolding grief and resiliency in the face of disaster," writes Malekoff. He also notes the film's additional objectives--to record the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site using 12 time-lapse cameras and to educate students about the disaster and help support victims of and first responders to major disasters with a Project Rebirth Center.

Columbia and Georgetown will work with Project Rebirth as they prepare to open the Project Rebirth Center, which will serve as a center for therapeutic, education, and training resources that focus on grief and trauma suffered by victims and first responders to major disasters. The Center is scheduled to open in 2010, the same year as the release of the Project Rebirth documentary.

Malekoff's North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center is using VITAL to view footage from Project Rebirth and explore grief therapy training. Read his article on the Rosyln News website or learn more about Project Rebirth at Columbia.

EdBlogs, YouTube EDU, and Wikischolars Announced at the Fall Premiere 2009

September 9, 2009. CCNMTL welcomed professors back to school yesterday with its Fall Premiere, an annual event for Columbia University faculty to learn about the latest teaching tools. This year’s Premiere focused on the launch of three new services supported by the Center— EdBlogs, Wikischolars, and YouTube EDU.

Dan Beeby, associate director of services at CCNMTL, demonstrated the new EdBlogs platform to a packed room of faculty members from more than 35 academic departments at the University. EdBlogs, Beeby explained, can support a range of teaching objectives, from student journaling to reflective writing assignments. Wikischolars, a complementary service to Columbia Wikispaces, was also introduced. With Wikischolars, Columbia's researchers and faculty are provided publicly accessible wikis for scholarship or teaching. Wikischolars does not require UNI authentication and is supported by CCNMTL and the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship.

Following on the heels of last year's Columbia on iTunes U release, Brian O'Hagan, CCNMTL digital media technologist, showed faculty the University's recently launched channel on YouTube EDU. This channel enables Columbia faculty to post educational videos and video-based course content in a Columbia-branded public YouTube site that contains enhanced features like captions, annotations, and tagging.

Finally, Maurice Matiz, CCNMTL vice executive director, encouraged faculty to stay in the know with new media and education by taking advantage of resources like Lynda.com, EnhancED, and CCNMTL's online tutorials.

If you missed the Fall Premiere, stay tuned for a screencast of the event or view the CCNMTL Twitter feed for a recap.

Students Curate Digital Collections with Harlem Health History

1951 Newsweek article in the Harlem Health History collection

September 8, 2009. Students taking Professor Samuel K. Roberts' course, "Substance Abuse Politics," will have the unique opportunity to engage with previously inaccessible health-related artifacts and curate their own collections of primary and secondary source materials for research on health and public policy issues in Harlem. The Harlem Health History project, being developed by CCNMTL and Roberts, professor of history and assistant professor at the Mailman School of Public Health, aims to enhance students' historical research skills on health-focused social and political movements in an African American community by encouraging student analysis of digitized reports and studies, news articles, advertisements, political artifacts, interviews, videos, and images. Students can search, browse, tag, and export items, as well as add their own primary source materials to the Harlem Health History collection.

Professor Roberts' students will incorporate these resources into individual or group term papers. Exemplary student work will be added to the Harlem Health History collection for future students to use as secondary sources in their own research. Harlem Health History is a project within CCNMTL's Digital Bridges Initiative and launches this fall in Professor Roberts' course. Sections of the project's website may be available to the public in the future. Read an interview with Professor Roberts in The Record and stay tuned for more news on Harlem Health History and stay tuned for more news on Harlem Health History.