Marc Drumm

Projects

These are a selection of the projects that I manage in my current position at West Chester University.

eTextbooks

The Pennsylvania Alliance for Design of Open Textbooks (PA-ADOPT)

Funded by a U.S. Department of Education grant and based on the training program developed for the eTextbook Initiative (see below), PA-ADOPT teaches faculty at four regional PASSHE institutions (Cheyney, Kutztown, Millersville, and West Chester Universities) how to construct free and open eTextbooks for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Health (STEM-H) courses and high-enrollment Writing courses. Books are copy edited by trained graduate students in West Chester’s English M.A. or publishing certificate programs and are peer reviewed. Our first book was released in April 2023.

Learn more:

Marc Drumm, Hannah Glatt, and Dr. Jordan Schugar are interviewed about the eTextbook Initiative and PA-ADOPT (ODLI on Air, April 5, 2023, also available on Spotify)

eTextbook Initiative

The eTextbook Initiative was founded in 2017 as a way to help combat the rising cost of textbooks by teaching West Chester University (WCU) faculty how to build their own high-quality, interactive electronic textbooks. At the beginning of each Fall semester, faculty apply to be part of a cohort that meets monthly to learn the best practices and technology needed to construct an eTextbook. Faculty who have completed their book by the end of the following calendar year receive a stipend. They are then required to make their book available to WCU students for free, but they retain the rights to the book and can distribute it outside of the university however they would like.

As of the Spring of 2023, our faculty have completed 16 eTextbooks. These books have been used by over 3,400 WCU students and have eliminated over $157,000 in textbook costs.

Learn more:

App Development

I enjoy developing web-based applications that aid with the course design and construction process. My development tools of choice include:

  • Front end: HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap, JavaScript, jQuery
  • Back end: PHP, MySQL/MariaDB

Responsive Code Generator

With students using a variety of devices to access their learning management system (e.g. desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.), the ability to insert videos responsively is a necessity in order for the video to fit properly on any size screen. Since the Brightspace learning management system does not have a way to insert YouTube videos responsively into a variety of system-wide content areas (e.g. module pages, quizzes, discussion posts, homepage widgets, etc.), I developed a web-based application that, when given a YouTube URL, will generate a responsive embed code for that video.

YouTube Transcript Generator

While YouTube’s automated closed captioning has gotten better over the years, it still has significant issues with proper punctuation, capitalization, and interpreting words correctly. When using a third-party video in a course, faculty do not have the option of correcting YouTube’s captioning and are typically required to create a transcript in order to make the video accessible. When provided a YouTube URL, this application will generate a Microsoft Word file containing all of a YouTube video’s captioning. After correcting the captioning issues, the file can then be provided along with the video in the learning management system.

Facility Design

One Button Studio

Based on the One Button Studio concept and software developed by Penn State, our office’s studio contains professional-grade recording equipment and has been designed to be as easy as possible to operate: simply insert a USB thumb drive to activate all of the equipment and press one button to start recording. When finished, press the same button again and the video is saved directly onto the thumb drive. Subjects can created videos of just of themselves, next to a slideshow, or in front of a green screen.

More info:

Recording Booth

A soundproof booth equipped with a high definition video camera, radio broadcast-quality microphone, lighting, and a dual-boot computer with commonly used software for both macOS and Windows that allows faculty to record educational videos, software-based demonstrations, and high-quality audio recordings without the noise and distractions of their office or home.