Technology at ACE
Technology know-how is one of the pillars of the ACE Model for student learning and is indispensable to ACE operations and support of ACE partner colleges.
Technology for Students
Reliance on information technology in all sectors of employment is increasing and accelerating. During the ACE Bridge Semester, students begin to acquire computer literacy skills with practical lessons in M.S. Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) to successfully complete their assignments and research projects. For many ACE students, this is their first-ever use of business applications and a first step toward gaining the confidence needed to learn technology skills and step over the digital divide.
Technology for Faculty
The ACE Center works to bring efficiencies and upgrades that make sense for ACE faculty—developing online tools that save time and provide greater access to information.
Technology for the ACE Center
The ACE Center uses technology tools to support adoption of the ACE program, to train and mentor faculty and staff, to increase collaboration within the community, to efficiently distribute curriculum products, to manage event registrations, and to assess student progress. To minimize the learning curve, we recognize that our ACE partners need these tools to be user-friendly, efficient, and intuitive.
Tech Tips
How do ACE Faculty keep curriculum up-to-date?
Authorized ACE instructors can receive electronic distribution of course materials. This semester, more than 30 currently active ACE faculty have already accessed their curriculum this way. This online method of distributing curriculum provides greater flexibility and ease to keep materials up-to-date at all times. For now, ACE will continue to produce the boxed ACE Curriculum Kits with disks and hardcopies of class agendas, exercises, posters, student readers, and the like.
ACE faculty should read our simple instructions for how to set up a free online account on Box.net to gain access to ACE course materials. Initial access is usually provided within 48 hours. After taking a few simple steps, you will have access 24-hours-a-day to the latest ACE curriculum. For more information, contact angela@my-ace.org.
New! Online ACE Collaboration Tool
One of the great strengths of the ACE program is its emphasis on collaboration. The ACE Center consistently receives positive appreciation for the tools we have put in place to support collaboration, however one major obstacle continues to thwart the efforts of many to participate: coordinating everyone’s schedules to fit meetings into busy lives.
To broaden the community’s capacity to collaborate without concern for these scheduling conflicts, ACE is piloting an online Community Collaboration Environment, using the application Basecamp. Users will be able to log on at their convenience to share ideas, work on projects, and find resources or answers to commonly asked questions.
This new online environment will complement other forms of communication, with the added benefit of capturing and archiving ideas so they can be easily accessed for future use.
Three online collaboration interest groups have been tested thus far: Social Justice Research Course (SJRC) Instructor Community; Community of Practice (CoP) Planning Team for the Bay Area gathering to be held in November 2011; and a Planning Team led by Tue Rust of Los Medanos College, working on an ACE presentation to be delivered at a California student success conference.
More online collaboration interest groups will be added in the future. For information, contact Peter Bartlett, ACE Engagement Manager at peterb@my-ace.org.