Students in the fall 1999 roster of Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Rachel Fink's class, The Cellular and Molecular Basis for Development, used classic cinematographic techniques such as speeding up natural events--a.k.a. time-lapse photography--and filtered lighting to make films. But these aren't the kind you'll find at your local Blockbuster Video. Rather, these movies were created for Fink's course on cellular processes, and the stars aren't Mel Gibson or Julia Roberts--they're more likely to be sea urchin embryos or two-headed flatworms. The films--posted on MHC's internal network--allow students to better understand the processes of cellular development and to show their work to colleagues and friends. To see a couple examples of the class's film work, click here.

(You'll need Apple's free QuickTime software to view these; if you don't have it, go to Apple's QuickTime site and choose the download link; when you've downloaded the file, close your browser, install the software, then come on back here. Also, if you're using a modem instead of a higher-speed link such as a cable modem or DSL connection, be prepared to wait a while for the movies to download fully. However, you will be able to see them while they download.)

French professor Margaret Switten, who specializes in medieval language and poetry, and Robert Eisenstein, director of the Five College Early Music Program, are using technology to bring the medieval experience into the classroom. A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities' Teaching with Technology Program is enabling Switten and Eisenstein to develop an innovative interdisciplinary CD-ROM, Medieval Lyric, that approaches the medieval lyric as a fusion of music and words. The CD incorporates audio and text materials from manuscripts dating from the late eleventh to the fourteenth centuries. When completed, the CD will disseminate a variety of medieval source materials not readily available in this country, coupled with explanatory information that makes the materials accessible to teachers and students. Check back soon for an excerpt from the CD.