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Case Study
Teaching with Technology: Facilitating the Process
Part 1: Strategies for adopting instructional technology
8/29/2007
This means staying very current in technology developments in general and staying up on the instructional use of technology. Faculty and department heads regularly consult the director before making purchases that run from thumb drives to laptops, even copy machines. Additionally, the director and computer programmer have been the driving force behind the development of the college's very own electronic portfolio system that has been used as models by several other colleges/universities. Having created the portfolio system allows considerable flexibility in not only the training of faculty concerning its use, it provides for remarkable adaptability for responding to faculty needs and input.Step 3: Planning and Providing Resources. The college has made a commitment to providing the resources necessary for faculty and students to effectively use technology in instruction. This commitment officially began in 1992 when the dean of the college named a director of educational technology and assigned the director the task of creating a vision for the use of technology in instruction and a mandate to seek funding to implement the vision. Since then, the college has added another full-time position, two full-time temporary positions, seven graduate assistants, and two undergraduates to the staff of Educational Technology. The manager of the Educational Technology Center (ETC) is responsible for the day to day operations of the ETC and necessary programming for the college's Management Information, Accountability, and Electronic Portfolio systems. One full-time temporary staff is responsible for the maintenance and operation of classroom equipment, and the other provides assistance for Web pages and online courses. The graduate and undergraduate students provide front-line help, check out equipment, and staff the ETC.
In addition to the support provided by Educational Technology personnel, the college provides extensive hardware and software. Every classroom in the college is equipped with an LCD projector; a VCR; sound; and a lectern containing a computer with Internet and intranet connectivity, DVD drive, and appropriate software (Technology Assisted Classroom). At least half of the classrooms are also equipped with a document camera and electronic whiteboard or interactive panel and Bluetooth interactive panel (Multimedia Classroom). There are also two "smart classrooms" housed in the College's Educational Technology Center. These classrooms contain fully equipped student computers that can be viewed and/or controlled from the instructor's station. The instructor's lectern contains the same equipment as the multimedia classrooms and the necessary equipment to view, control and manage the student computers in the room.
Funding for the technology in the college has come from several sources. Personnel have been funded by reallocation of both faculty and staff positions to Educational Technology and by new funding from the University.
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