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THE DAILY ILLINI
TUESDAY October 8, 2013
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Blended classrooms soar in popularity BY CLAIRE HETTINGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Blackboard application was downloaded more than 10,000 times in the first month of school, showing mobile learning at the University is more popular than ever before. The app, called Mobile Learn, was launched by CITES in Fall 2012, and it allows students to access the Compass2g website on their smartphones. This trend is not unique to the University, according to a recent study from EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research. But the University keeping up with the curve, and the technology that the University is using is right along with its peer institutions, said Dan Hahn, an eLearning professional with CITES. “Students hold high expectations for anytime, anywhere access to course materials and for leveraging the use of their personal digital devices inside and outside class,” the study said, showing about half of U.S. students want instructors to better incorporate smartphone use. Ramit Arora, a student representative to the Illinois Compass Advisory Group, said the Blackboard app helps students, but, in the future, he thinks the app will only get better. He hopes it will include a centralized calendar for every course. “You’ll never miss a deadline or a midterm,” he said. “It will be awesome.” The increase in technology use creates many new challenges for CITES, spokesman Brian
Mertz said. However, he said these challenges have brought about positive changes, helping them to fi nd new tools to use across the board. From CITES’ perspective, the changes in technology means much more than keeping Compass running. With more people connecting to Wi-Fi than ever before, Mertz said CITES has had to think about the actual set up of the classroom and work “to make sure classrooms are flexible to technology.” Hahn said he consults with faculty members about the Compass site, teaching them how to use it to its full potential. He said Compass makes instructors’ lives easier by allowing them to grade assignments on the site, make announcements for the course, open up discussion boards and upload course material for easy access. Though mobile learning trends increase and technology gains popularity, one thing remains clear: Students do not want solely online courses. The ECAR study found that students “prefer, and learn most in, blended learning environments.” Nick Roldan, a sophomore in Media, said he doesn’t mind the changes of technology in the classroom, as long as it is limited and not strictly online. Melanie Waters, the director of Introductory Spanish Language, said her classes incorporate a mixture of online learning and face-to-face time. She said her students “really like
SEE TECHNOLOGY | 3A
CITES records growth in wireless use, Blackboard app use and device ownership among students.
Federal research projects hit standstill due to shutdown BY CLAIRE EVERETT STAFF WRITER
Because of the government shutdown, U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded University employees have been sent home, leaving some federal research projects at a complete standstill and others controlled solely by graduate students. Carl Bernacchi, a plant biology professor who’s working on a USDA-funded project called Soybean Free Air Concentration Enrichment, or soyFACE, said the research that he deals with directly went to a complete halt. “I think its absurd that the situation has evolved to what it is,”
of students own a smartphone.
(number of connections to University Wi-Fi at one time)
Bernacchi said. “One of the more challenging aspects of this is the fact that it’s actually against the law for me to work.” He said the pay aspect was a challenge in itself as well, but once the furlough ended, he would return to a huge amount of work. “We’re right in the middle of our harvest,” said Randy Nelson, a plant genetics professor and furloughed USDA researcher who also conducts research on a soybean plot . “Our field research is all based on the germplasm collection that need to be harvested, and we don’t have people to harvest them right now.” All the soybean plot’s harvest-
ers are employed by the USDA and cannot work during the furlough. “Many of the lines are very fragile in the field, and as soon as they ripen, many of the pods open and shatter,” Nelson said. “We have to harvest a couple times a week, or we’re going to lose that seed.” He said the later they got into fall, the more difficult harvest would become. Darin Eastburn, crop science associate professor, is not directly funded by the USDA but is directly affected by the furloughs. Now he’s looking for other options to harvest the soybeans in case the shutdown continues. “I’m talking with my colleagues in the department to see if they can help me hit those plots in the event the shutdown goes for much longer,” Eastburn said. “I’m
Railroad research focuses on safety A $1.4 million grant is pushing the National University Rail Center, a seven-university rail transportation and engineering research center, to the forefront of railroad engineering. The award was granted to NURail in September by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration. Award money will be used by researchers to help advance railroad technology. The center is currently developing technology that would substantially increase railroad safety. The University’s Rail Transportation and Engineering Center is one of the seven NURail centers located across the country. Scott Schmidt, senior in the RailTEC program, said RailTEC boasts one
*Unique users logged in between 8/25/2012 and 9/3/2013.
Claire can be reached at everett5@dailyillini.com.
The NURail Center works to advance rail safety and engineering. In the past 30 years, railroad safety has become a priority, which made for significant improvements.
91%
Lowered Hazmat accident rates
80%
Decreased train accident rates
82%
Reduced employee casualty rates
72%
Decreased high-way Rail Grade crossing fatalities
$525
Invested to run, maintain and modernize the rail industry
BILLION
SEE NURAIL | 3A
SOURCE: Association of American Railroads
EUNIE KIM THE DAILY ILLINI
Phone bank urges marriage equality BY MEGAN JONES STAFF WRITER
6 out of 10 students own 3 or more devices that are able to connect to the internet. MEGAN JONES THE DAILY ILLINI
*unique users = one net ID SCOTT DURAND THE DAILY ILLINI
SOURCE:BRIAN MERTZ SPOKESMAN FOR CITES
DAILYILLINI, DAILYILLINISPORTS 2A
hoping that the shutdown will end soon, so we can harvest our plot before we lose very important data.” Eastburn said it’s important to note that not only University faculty work is being affected — student work is too. He said students were impacted when graduate students had to meet with their advisers and the joint University federally funded employees couldn’t be there. “Some USDA people chose to attend not as federal employees, so they said ‘I’m just here hanging out with friends,’ and other people stayed home,” Eastburn said. “It has fairly broad implications for what happens for the non-federal, the non-USDA people at the University.”
Improvements in rail industry since 1980
of the best railway education programs in the country. With the help of the grant, RailTEC, along with other engineering centers, is furthering its research on Positive Train Control, a technology that could reduce train accidents by applying a train’s brakes if its engineer doesn’t, said Schmidt. He said if a train failed to stop or if its brakes weren’t applied at the correct time, the electronic system would notice and apply the brakes to prevent an accident. Schmidt said car travel and highway building are becoming more expensive, so people are looking toward the railroad industry for cheaper transportation. With railroad transportation’s increasing popularity, Congress mandated that all trains operate
DEVICE OWNERSHIP:
Police
FREE
BRENTON TSE THE DAILY ILLINI
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
BLACKBOARD APP USE:
INSIDE
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The soybean plot that crop science associate professor Darin Eastburn typically conducts research on sits dormant because U.S. Department of Agriculture employees have been restricted from harvesting during the federal furloughs.
BY ZILA RENFRO
*Unique users logged in between 9/3/2012 and 10/3/2013.
Vol. 143 Issue 25
FURLOUGHS HIT RESEARCH PLOTS
Technology use at University sees increase
WIRELESS USE:
75˚ | 43˚
Havah Berg, senior at University High School in Urbana, participates in the phone bank night at Champaign’s Planned Parenthood location. She urged voters to show their support for the same-sex marriage bill.
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For Havah Berg, senior at University High School in Urbana, the Illinois General Assembly’s same-sex marriage bill means the possibility of a more secure future for her two mothers. Without the bill, a simple family road trip can be a cause for anxiety, Berg said. In the instance of an injury within the family, dealing with health care benefits and hospital visita-
tion rights for same-sex couples could become problematic. “The passing of this bill will mean great things in terms of family security and well-being,” Berg said. “Having legal security makes us feel safer and more secure.” Planned Parenthood teamed with the coalition Illinois Unites for Marriage to host a phone bank event last night in an
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