Thu, 24 May 2007
Short introduction: Today we’re here with Kim Grady. Kim is the
Founding Director and PI for the NetWorks, an NSF online digital resource center. MATEC NETWORKS is one of 3 ATE manufacturing and engineering technology centers that offer a collection of resources online. NETEC, MERC Online, are the other centers. MATEC NETWORKS is part of MATEC and located in Tempe, Arizona. Gordon: Kim, what exactly is a digital library? Well, our digital library is a convenient and easy way to locate valuable resources for teaching and learning. It's also a way to share self-created and favorite classroom ready resources. Mike: Why another digital library, what is the need and mission and vision? Believe me, being an advocate of not reinventing the wheel, I asked myself that question many times. What I have come to realize is that NetWorks and the other online resource centers that are part of the NSF ATE program are working together to "Beat Google." We are aggregators of resources in our technology areas. Not only that we have criteria for the resources that make it into our collections. How many times have you been disappointed in search results on the WWW? Either there is just too many to sift through or they are not the quality or type that you need. With NetWorks you get the resources you need for instruction. That's why we think we can be a time-saving tool. Gordon: What types of material do you collect? Well, we focus on material in the Semiconductors, Automated Manufacturing, and Electronics technology area so you will see resources that relate to the science of semiconductor processing, instrumentation and controllers used in automation environments, and tons of electronics and electricity resources. You heard me use the term, classroom ready earlier. Classroom ready means it is easily implementable into a class or training room. You won't find a lot of research papers for example on our site. We search for and create material that can be used in an engaging presentation, a lab write up, or a student activity. We also believe that material that help faculty learn fits our definition of classroom ready so you will also see things like reports on emerging technology and tutorials on hot topics such as rapid prototyping. Mike: How do you build your collection, what programs do you have in place and what results have you seen so far? Our NetWork and relationships, NetWorks staff of industry and marketing professionals seek out resources using tools of their trade. Our National Externship Program allows faculty to gain knowledge and skills in emerging technology areas that can be brought back in to the classroom and disseminated through NetWorks. To learn more about the National Externship Program, log on to matecnetworks.org
Direct download: Kim_Grady_Interview_Final_mixdown_2.mp3
Category:podcasts -- posted at: 12:25pm EDT |