In lieu of a traditional final, BIOS 201 students now have the option of recording a podcast as a small group project discussing some recent advance in stem cell, organoid or genome editing research focusing on a few of a curated list of original research papers in the field. As BIOS 201 is a very large class, the equipment demand is sizable. As such, the DMC assisted the class with equipment rentals, providing a list of recommended podcasting equipment and how to set up the different styles of microphones to record. As the DMC has limited copies of audio recorders or specific mics, in all likelihood there will be some variance in which each student group uses to record their podcast. The DMC Audio Studio was also proposed as an option for those interested. As for editing the podcasts, the class was directed to the DMC’s written guides and recorded short courses on Garageband and Audacity.
BIOC
Using Zotero to Manage Your Citations
Zotero is a free open-source citation management tool that helps collect, organize, cite and share research data. DMC has been supporting Zotero by offering workshops and consultations since 2006. In Spring 2020, Fondren Library has strengthened its support for Zotero by subscripting to Zotero storage as an institution. That means when you use Zotero and choose to synchronize your notes, attached files, and bibliographic records across devices, you don’t have to worry about running out of the limited free Zotero file syncing storage, or buying your own Zotero file syncing storage, or figuring out third party options. All Rice Zotero users now have unlimited file syncing storage.
The Zotero workshop covers the basic workflow of using Zotero. It begins with installation of Zotero to ensure each student can use the application on his/her own computer. It then uses hands-on activities to show how to get book items and journal items into Zotero, how to organize stuff within Zotero, and how to cite with the help of Zotero. At the end, it briefly talks about Zotero’s sync and group features. The workshop can be customized to suit a class’s specific needs. In general, it takes about 45 minutes to 75 minutes.
Upon faculty’s request, the Zotero workshop has been offered for many different courses over semesters. In a feedback email, a faculty wrote “My students turned in their bibliographies, and all of them used Zotero!” Another faculty commented “My graduate students love it. They wish they had known it earlier.”
Below are some of the courses that have had Zotero workshops.
- BIOC 112 Dr. Beth Beason-Abmayr
- BIOC 587 Dr. Mary Purugganan
- FWIS 147 Dr. Julie Fette
- FWIS 152 Dr. Mary Purugganan
- HIST 308 Dr. Michael Maas
- HIST 575 Dr. Alida Metcalf
- KINE 120 Dr. Amanda Perkins-Ball
- LASR 251 Dr. Alida Metcalf
- LING 499 Dr. Michel Achard
- UNIV 600 Dr. Jennifer Wilson