UCIT Committee

Newcomb Hall, Room 481
February 2, 2007

Kirk opened the meeting with information about faculty participation and attendance at some recent workshops: in January the Architecture School offered 8 workshops that were very well attended; similarly the Teaching Resource Center's (TRC) January Teaching Workshop had very strong attendance. This level of interest and attendance may signal some change in the environment.

A retrospective on the "Faculty Laptop Project (2001-2002)" was given by a panel of faculty participants, Library and ITC staff, including: Sanda Iliescu, Barbara Nolan, Terry Lockard, Martha Sites, and Yitna Firdyiwek. Martha gave some background about the original project intent of getting technical skills out to mainstream faculty using a discipline-specific approach with the incentive of a laptop.

During the summer of 2001, fourteen English department faculty participated with training provided by ITC and Library staff, and guest faculty presentations. Barbara recounted how her experience with a laptop, new tools, and learning what might be possible with technology led her to a new research interest and changed her life.

Sanda was part of a group of faculty from Art and Architecture that went through the program in the summer of 2002. The program allowed her to get comfortable with and interested in technology for the first time - among other applications she now uses a drawing tablet, drawing tools, and a projector to show her class how she builds a drawing.

Yitna described the role that TTSPs (Teaching + Technology Support Partners) had in the project - growing into partnerships with the faculty and providing local, department-specific help to them.

Looking back on the project for lessons learned and aspects that could be applied going forward, there was some discussion about the costs of undertaking a similar program now. Although the pilot project funded faculty laptops and carts with projectors for classrooms, these might not be needed now -- but what about motivation and incentives? Faculty seem more ready now, and the discipline-specific approach would still have appeal. On the other hand, younger more demanding faculty may want more sophisticated support. Another approach would be to offer regular workshops during the semester, focused on particular projects, to help faculty envision what they might do (or what's possible). Future efforts (round-tables, workshops, show-and-tell's, summer programs, etc.) could foster collaboration and help to create a community. If we were to do something similar again, it would definitely require technical people support, and keeping the focus within disciplines is recommended.

Terry and Martha led a discussion of an "enriching scholarship" program that is in the planning phase. Current plans are for a 4-day workshop after graduation: May 21 - May 24 (Mon - Thurs), where attendees can come and go. Although there is an outline for the workshop, they are open to ideas and suggestions - and are looking for broad input and volunteers for planning as well as for presentations. Perhaps each school could host an event. Appropriate promotion is key/essential - need a title for the week - and then efforts to get the word out about the week as soon as possible. It could work well to have presentations followed by workshops where you can learn how to use the technology. It will take awhile to grow - we will need to experiment with timing and ways to engage faculty around scholarship and technology - we want to create an open environment that creates opportunities for faculty to come together and collaborate across boundaries.