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Three Video Case Studies from Dartmouth
The Computing Technology
Venture Fund (CVTF) was created in 1992 by Kip Moore '68, a member
of the student team that created the operating system software for Dartmouth's
original time sharing system. Under the tutelage of John Kemeny and Tom Kurtz,
Moore and the other students wrote the BASIC programming language and the
Dartmouth Time Sharing System — a feat that's nearly unimaginable in this era
of proprietary operating systems like Windows and Macintosh OS, but that
presaged developments like Linux and the trend toward open source software.
 Moore's intention in creating the fund was
straightforward: to encourage venturesome and leading innovation and
experimentation by faculty in the application of new technologies to the
business of teaching. As a venture capitalist, Moore understood the challenges
inherent in developing new tools and methods. Why not provide faculty with the
means to realize and test their ideas?
Ten years later, the CTVF has funded more than two dozen projects in a
diverse range of disciplines, including Art History, Biology, Chemistry,
Classics, English, German, Government, Music, Spanish & Portuguese, Speech,
Studio Art and the Hood Museum. A number have been incorporated into the
curriculum in an ongoing fashion.
The three projects profiled in this video represent the breadth of projects
funded, the diverse objectives that were successfully met, and the impact these
classes had on the students.
Wireless in the Classroom
 Professor Chris Jernstedt's experience using
wireless handheld devices in the classroom — now that Dartmouth has a
campus-wide wireless network — has drawn widespread media attention, including
a major profile done by the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The wireless units
themselves were donated to Dartmouth by Handspring.
Support for integrating the units into the Learning 22 class itself was done
by Computing Services staff working with Professor Jernstedt and his own
support staff — team members included experts in faculty curricular development
and in wireless networking technology.
Chemistry Lab: Night and Day
 Another Computing Services team — including a
postdoctoral level molecular biologist who is a member of Kiewit's Academic
Computing group — helped Professor Amy Anderson bring advanced research tools
into her CHEM 160 class
Students used the exact same software and hardware as is currently used in
cutting edge drug research by major pharmaceutical companies. The computers
running this software were available for undergraduate use at all hours of the
day or night as part of Computing Services' standard array of publicly
available workstations. A number of the compounds developed by students in the
course of their lab work may have been worthy of further research as agents for
treating various diseases.
Opera Sings Out Online
 Steve Swayne's Music 37 class, Opera, was
transformed by a commonplace application of new technology to an old problem:
How can we provide easier access to reserve materials? The answer to Swayne's
challenge seemed simple, in the post-Napster world. Let's just put the material
on the Web. But copyright law prevents such an easy answer. Computing Services
staff spent many hours, working on behalf of faculty, obtaining copyright
clearances for the content in these sorts of projects.
More than just opera music itself is available to students in Professor
Swayne's class. Students can listen to assigned music, follow along with the
libretto in a foreign language or an english translation, and also use
additional information pertinent to a particular opera or to the work of the
class.
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