Awarded Grant: $19,400 Principal Investigator: Susan Deane, SUNY Delhi As clinical practicum experiences become more and more difficult for nursing students to acquire, alternatives need to be explored. SUNY Delhi will assess student outcomes utilizing the interactive digital clinical experience (DCE), ShadowHealth, for an online Health Assessment course in the RN-BSN program. Using ShadowHealth, students will interact with a virtual patient, Tina Jones™, in a virtual hospital setting conducting health history and system-based assessments. Student learning outcomes will be evaluated through the use of grading rubrics, module summaries, and written transcripts of student activities within the program. The relationship between student demographic characteristics, class retention, assessment of student learning outcomes, and student satisfaction among student using ShadowHealth will be identified. This use of technology is expected to have significant impact on nursing students to achieve successful course and program outcomes. Co-PI’s and Key Partners: Dr. Kirsty Digger, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, SUNY Delhi Dr. Mary Pat Lewis, Associate Dean, School of Nursing, SUNY Delhi Elizabeth Pratt, MSN, RNC, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, SUNY Delhi Reports and Resources: Final project report Mid-project report Project outcomes report Creative Commons License:  

Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) along with four partner SUNY community colleges and the SUNY Center for Professional Development will develop a colloquium to grow the adoption of already established courses using OER. The two disciplines that will be the focus of this event are Math and Psychology. TC3 has already demonstrated improved student success outcomes, retention, teaching methods, and significant savings for students as part of the Kaleidoscope project. We will leverage this knowledge with other SUNY faculty. Affordability of higher education has become a very significant issue. According to the College Board, students should expect to spend $1,137 annually on textbooks and other course materials. Nationally, the GAO estimates that textbook costs are comparable to 26% of tuition at state universities and 72% at community colleges. We will demonstrate how this initiative can make a SUNY education more effective and affordable.

Awarded Grant: $15,000 Principal Investigator: Mark A. Bremer, SUNYIT Sustainable energy, such as wind and solar, can contribute significantly to meet the energy demand of New York State. Implementing sustainable energy will require the development of technology as well as public understanding and acceptance of sustainable systems. Therefore, integration of sustainability education into SUNY programs as well as providing opportunities for K-12 students to see and interact with sustainable energy is crucial. The innovation of this project emphasizes the integration of a recently developed IITGrant virtual technical tool with real system learning tools including a portable, reusable solar/wind power plant to address sustainability issues. The objectives of this project are to create an integrated combination of sustainability related virtual – real activities/exercises that would be appropriate to 1) support undergraduate sustainability and alternative energy related courses, 2) support SUNYIT K-12 outreach programs both on and off campus, and 3) address teaching high risk young people. Co-PI’s and Key Partners: Philip Hofmeyer, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Renewable Energy Training Center, Morrisville State College Ibrahim Yucel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Information Sciences and Technology , SUNYIT Christopher Urban, Lecturer, Computer Science, Computer Information Systems (CIS) Technology, SUNYIT Kenneth T Waight III, Ph.D., Senior Scientist/ Director of Atmospheric Modeling, MESO Inc. Xinchao Wei, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Civil/Environmental Engineering, SUNYIT Glenn E. Van Knowe, Ph.D., Adjunct Lecturer, Electrical Engineering Technology, SUNYIT Robert Keesee, Ph.D., Associate Professor Atmospheric Chemistry, University at Albany Brian Hong-An Tang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor Atmospheric Science, University at Albany Elizabeth Rossi, K-12 Outreach Director, SUNYIT Suzanne Tulino, Director, Taberg Residential Center for Girls, New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) Reports and Resources: Final report Project website with links to virtual exercises, minutes of calls/meetings, work plans, collaborator info “Green Home Energy Builder” virtual game Press release CIT 2014 presentation Mid-project report Project update Project outcomes report Project outcomes report 2.0 Creative Commons License:   

We seek to develop an integrated web-based tool to aid students and external stakeholders to access information about the identification and use of woody plants in the landscape. We have developed a searchable database for woody plants; however, recent changes in technology would enable us to make this more widely accessible, including better graphic representation and searchable options while adding more in-depth information and enhancing the learning experience. The online database will be freely available to other SUNY campuses to use in their curricula. The grant also provides an opportunity to pilot and explore the potential for expanding the location-based data to other SUNY campuses. An example of future capabilities might include a scenario where plants will be geographically referenced with GPS and mapped using open source GIS software. Moreover, we will enable the database to be accessed on smart phones and tablets so that it has real field application.