Current Projects

Trail of Flames: the Great Fire of 1922 in New Bern, NC

The “Trail of Flames” for Derek Alderman (Geography) is an interactive website that will serve as a virtual tour retelling the fire’s history and its impact on the community (both short and long term).  The web site will consist of historical maps (Sanborn), contemporary maps (GIS), oral histories (audio), newspaper articles and historical photographs enveloped in a chronology of the eight-day sequence of events. 

The History Educator

A project that has been undertaken collaboratively with the Department of History in support of rigorous and meaningful graduate research in history and history education.  In an attempt to provide an outlet for sharing and generating discourse around creative historical research and contributive action research in history education, Dr. Larry Tise (Wilbur and Orville Wright Distinguished Professor in History) and Allen Guidry (Curriculum and Instruction) have created “The History Educator – The History Education Graduate Research Consortium at East Carolina University.”

http://www.ecu.edu/HistoryEducator

Metabolism

Metabolism is an interactive game for Irene Gerow (Chemistry). Many students have difficulty seeing/understanding how the metabolic pathways are interrelated even when the textbook has good maps of the pathways.  This may be partly due to different pathways are illustrated differently in different chapters of the textbook.  This project is to make a video game format that leads the student through the chemistry of metabolism.  In beginning levels the student is a carbon in a glucose molecule whose object is to escape the cell as carbon dioxide.  As the game progresses, the student might be an electron in a fatty acid molecule or be some other molecule to see the different aspects of metabolism.  The students work through the different pathways from different perspectives.  At first any pathway that isn’t the right one ends the game.  In later levels these other pathways are available to explore or get side tracked down.

http://core.ecu.edu/umc/metabolism/metabolism.html

Lost Indians: After 1585 Where the Carolina Indians Went

Lost Indians is a project for Larry Tise (Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences) for History 6025 that documents the disenfranchisement of Native Americans from 1590 – 1833. The focus of this site will be an interactive map that illustrates the decline and movement of the Indian Nation over time.

http://core.ecu.edu/umc/LostIndians/

The Sacred Center: Spenser, Raleigh and the Munster Plantation

The Sacred Center is a website for Thomas Herron (English) focusing on the colonial settlement and associated writing (poetry and prose) of Edmund Spenser and Sir Walter Raleigh, both of who were "planters" or English colonial newcomers on the "Munster Plantation" in southwest Ireland in the late 16th century. Thomas Harriot (namesake of Harriot College) was himself a tenant of Raleigh on the plantation, and so the website could include information on him as well. The website will be interdisciplinary:  geography (incl modern and contemporary maps), poetry, music and historical sources (primary and secondary) could all be included, so as to give the student and academic alike a "virtual tour"  of the Munster Plantation as Spenser and Raleigh and their many neighbors knew it. The website will also highlight current and ongoing research on the plantation by academics.

Basic Drivers Education

Our goal is to meet the need for training occupational therapists by partnering with State Farm to increase auto safety. Dr. Anne Dickerson is developing a series of on-line or distance education (DE) courses designed for the generalist occupational therapists to develop the knowledge and skills to evaluate and train older adult in driving. Courses will be developed based on federal highway guidelines, laws, regulations, and current research. The first set of modules will be designed for the occupational therapist who works with older adults and who needs to address driving as part of the discharge planning for any client. The first course is a basic driver education course that is enhanced with research related to older adults and human factors in driving. One of the goals is to make sure that the occupational therapist taking the course knows all rules of the road. Instead of static pictures of automobiles in various maneuvers, it will be much more effective to use 3D animations to demonstrate appropriate turns, intersection maneuvers, and other driving situations. The work on this project will be extremely effective to be added to this distance course.
http://core.ecu.edu/umc/ROADI/

Sample Animations
http://core.ecu.edu/umc/Drivers_ed/videos/position_1_half_web.mov
http://core.ecu.edu/umc/Drivers_ed/videos/position_2_full_web.mov

Marsh Tidal Animations

This project for Robert Christian and Chris Voss (Biology) illustrates tidal differences between Pine Knoll Shores and Lola, North Carolina. Key processes that are animated are typical inundation of marsh surface, seasonal or storm flooding of marsh, sedimentation upon marsh surface and transgression of shore zone. These processes are illustrated over multiple time periods. Other points that are illustrated include zonation of marsh vegetation, overall irregularly high water level, sediment being brought in by a flooding tide, and gradual landward migration of shoreline and marsh ecosystem over time.

1908 When the World Went Aloft

A World Aloft is a project for Larry Tise (Harriot College of Arts and Sciences) that illustrates the progression of the Wright Brothers flights in 1908. The site contains information for research on the Wright Brother’s flights and their impact on the world. It includes interactive timelines as well as 3D animations.

Wilmington Race Riot of 1898

The purpose of this project for Karen Ziph and David Dennard (History) is to make available information about the Wilmington, North Carolina Race Riot of 1898.  The project includes maps, interactive timeline, information about key players and a 3d simulation of Wilmington following the path of the events.

http://core.ecu.edu/umc/wilmington/