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Center for Instructional Technology

Libraries & Educational Technologies Report of 2009 Goals and Goals for 2010

L&ET Department: Center for Instructional Technology

Submitted By: Sarah Cheverton

Goal 1: Enrich the experience of learners and scholars.

FY09 Accomplishments:

Objective 1.6: Expand faculty development programs that integrate technology and information resources into teaching, learning, and research.

The CIT expanded faculty development opportunities to include more workshops, sandboxes, institutes, discussion groups, and individual consultations offered at a greater variety and number of locations across the campus. The following are some specific examples:

  • Facilitated more house calls in faculty offices and in CIT consulting spaces in Carrier Library and its new office in the East Campus Library.
  • Offered the third in-year instructional design institute, a series of seminars called Instructional Design & Technology Solutions to Teaching/Learning Challenges (IDT). The purpose of the institute is to help individual faculty members, academic advisers and librarians improve teaching and learning with technology. For the first time, the CIT coordinated and facilitated this Institute with the Center for Faculty Innovation (CFI).
  • In the spring the CIT began a CIT Roadshow event. The roadshows were held four times during the semester in various locations across campus. Several instructional technologies were demonstrated during the two hour open event and faculty were encouraged to drop in when it was convenient to their schedule.
  • The Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT) Conference was, for the first time, held in the ECL. Faculty from across JMU and the state heard invited speakers and attended presentations about work done in and sponsored by the CIT.
  • Increased the number of collaborative experiences with the CFI.
  • Expanded CIT Seed Grant program to distribute more hardware and software to faculty for instructional use.
  • Collaborated with the School of Communication Studies to host the Edelman Conference—Digital 101—for SCOM students and faculty interested in learning more about the use of social networking and other Web 2.0 tools in public relations.

Objective 1.7: Build partnerships with colleges and departments to assist them in investigating and developing online or hybrid academic programs.

  • Expanded support for Outreach programs. It coordinated and facilitated the second Customized Institute for Online Learning through Outreach Programs with more faculty than in the previous year.
  • Expanded the Summer Online Institute to include more faculty than in previous years. In addition, the CIT offered customized training for online and hybrid course development to faculty participants outside the institute, resulting in increases in the number of online courses offered during the summer and in summer online course enrollments. Continued to offer customized training and course development support to individual faculty in every college and to entire departments.
  • Collaborated with a Psychology professor who is teaching a hybrid GPSYC 160 course.

FY10 Goals and Objectives:

Increase distance and hybrid course development activities

  • Engage library liaisons in online (synchronous and asynchronous) library instruction
  • Engage other academic partners, e.g., student services, in online instruction and support
  • Design and schedule a variety of professional development opportunities for faculty; options may include formats such as hybrid, distance and multiple week and may be offered during the fall and spring semesters as well as the summer

Discussion:Over the past few years online and hybrid learning have expanded dramatically. In order to keep pace with the rate of programmatic development, closer collaboration with individual colleges and departments that leads to project-related assistance will further facilitate the development of online or blended graduate-level, degree-seeking programs that meet the needs of currently underserved niche populations. At the same time student needs and expectations for flexible online course options have increased. It is time to take a more systemic and programmatic approach to supporting and developing online learning. In addition to blended and online courses, there is now demand for development and support for new programs, especially at the graduate level. Collaboration with individual faculty members remains important; collaboration with departments and colleges will expand as online learning programs mature.

Goal 2: Enhance virtual environments to empower learners and scholars.

FY09 Accomplishments:

Objective 2.1: Implement tools and strategies to integrate and improve knowledge discovery, information retrieval, and content delivery.

  • Selected Camtasia Relay as lecture capture alternative to narrated screen capture tools in Tegrity
  • Integrated Camtasia Relay, CRASS and JMUtube backend delivery services
  • Used Expression Engine to redesign website
  • The new version of MDID is under development (MDID3); this version will take advantage of current social networking and search technologies.

Objective 2.2: Engage in research and development projects that explore the feasibility of adopting new and emerging learning technologies.

  • Engaged faculty in research initiatives on social media tools and open source systems such as Moodle.

Objective 2.3: Coordinate information technology systems, services, and support within and across Libraries & Educational Technologies.

  • Collaborated with L&ET Digital Services to successfully transition desktop and lab support from CIT staff to L&ET Digital Services support

Objective 2.4: Formalize a Libraries & Educational technologies plan to meet standards for accessibility, privacy, and confidentiality.

  • Redesigned CIT website using Expression Engine; site will be launched before the end of summer. The site is designed for accessibility and will use accessibility check tools to maintain those standards.
  • The new version of MDID under development (MDID3) is being designed for accessibility as well.

FY10 Goals and Objectives:

Objective 2.1: Implement tools and strategies to integrate and improve knowledge discovery, information retrieval, and content delivery.

Learning Management Systems:

  • Expand the capabilities of Blackboard by installing new versions and add-ins and building blocks as appropriate.
  • Implement SafeAssign plagiarism detection building block.
  • Explore alternatives to Blackboard and other supported learning systems.

Rich Media:

Continue development work on the MDID, JMUTube and other systems for supporting production, capture, storage and distribution of rich media content. Work with other campus agencies to develop technology standards and common approaches to storing and distributing rich media content. Define the scope of “rich media” services and the highest priority issues to focus on first. These will include:

  • Web-delivered video, in formats suitable to PCs and mobile devices;
  • Standardization of delivery formats;
  • Effective technical guidance for preparing content for playback devices;
  • Effective network infrastructure, access and storage for media delivery on campus;
  • Effective handling of privacy, security and copyright issues in all rich media projects.

Objective 2.2: Engage in research and development projects that explore the feasibility of adopting new and emerging learning technologies.

Offer faculty development support for use of “cloud computing” technologies in the curriculum.

  • Work with IT to offer training and development activities to faculty and staff about academic use of Microsoft Windows Live and related tools. Work with IT to choose student email service and collaboration tools and to integrate those tools with faculty and staff tools.
  • Develop new sandbox projects, workshops and faculty development opportunities on cloud computing tools and technologies.
  • Sponsor forums where faculty who use cloud computing in their courses can learn from one another

Discussion: An accessibility plan is essential. Once IT implements identity management and as we implement services such as MyLEO that enable customization and delivery of services based on identity, role and attributes, we will need to establish policies and procedures to protect confidentiality and privacy and to enable users to opt in or out of certain services. The potential for contributions to this objective by Libraries & Educational technologies faculty and staff is high but the overall plan and policies are likely to be at campus rather than the Libraries & Educational Technologies level.

Discussion: Digitization projects offer potential to expand access, increase use, and preserve scholarly content. Such projects are also time consuming, expensive and labor intensive. This objective is about finding the balance between the costs and benefits of digitization projects. We will need to compare the costs and benefits of digitizing our own content to those of expanding access to primary source material that we acquire. Part of this objective involves identifying specific collections and items that are highest priorities for digitization.

Goal 4: Develop physical environments, which reflect our mission by supporting learning, research, teaching and the work of our organization.

FY09 Accomplishments:

  • The CIT expanded its facilities and technology infrastructure by opening a branch of the CIT in the East Campus Library. This second location includesgreatly improved video support and additional spaces for training and faculty development events.

Discussion: The technology designed, developed and maintained by L&ET forms a crucial part of the campus infrastructure. To ensure cost effective, pedagogically sound and sustainable classroom systems, L&ET needs to be involved in capital project or major renovation plans involving classrooms or other public, general use learning spaces. Another important aspect of this objective involves finding a balance between deploying new technologies with new capabilities and managing and sustaining existing infrastructure. It is important to rethink what classroom space is and to remain engaged with faculty and administrators in designing and supporting classrooms and other learning and presentation spaces. As L&ET expands along with the university, staff needed for staff and support operations must also be considered. Finally, we need to improve our understanding of the relationship between the physical and virtual learning environments and pursue strategies to maximize the benefit of investments in each area.

Goal 5: Be a planful and agile organization that embraces innovation while balancing priorities to serve learners and scholars.

FY09 Accomplishments:

Objective 5.5: Develop a staffing plan by identifying knowledge, skills and competencies needed within each work unit and establishing priorities for developing existing employees and hiring new employees with competencies that match organizational needs.

  • The CIT reorganized and expanded its staff by hiring additional instructional technologists, media specialists and trainers.

FY10 Goals and Objectives:

Objective 5.4: Clarify which organizational entities and individuals are authorized to make decisions and the processes by which different types of decisions are made.

  • Clearly document CIT-specific procedures related to purchase requests, software and hardware management, etc. and organize in CIT central location
  • Create procedures for handling natural disasters, fire damage, etc.

Other Accomplishments and Goals:

FY09 Accomplishments:

  • Adopted virtualization technology for all server systems to consolidate physical resources, simplify deployment and administration and reduce power requirements. This contributes towards JMU’s Green Initiative and saves money for the University.
  • Started a CIT Technology Plan. The purpose of the CIT Technology Plan is to concretely define CIT’s method of planning in regards to technology in all areas.

FY10 Goals and Objectives:

  • Collaborate with faculty, library liaisons and others to develop online tutorials and other learning aids for low-performing students in Math 220 and Math 205.