Office of Information Technology

Technology Advisory Board (TAB)
Minutes of Meeting of September 18, 2002

Location: 4th Floor Conference Room, Andy Holt Tower
Time: 2:00 - 3:00PM

Attendance:

Members: Elizabeth Clement, Bill Dockery, Jim Gehlhar, Marcel Grubert, James Hughes, Matt Johnson (Co-chair), Julie Little, Bryce McKenzie, Mike McNeil, Faye Muly (Co-chair), Kelly Price-Rankin, Ben Sanders, Luther Wilhelm, Jenny Wright.

Others: Jean Derco, Nancy Gnilka, Judy Travis.

Introduction of New Student TAB Members

Mr. Matt Johnson opened the meeting by welcoming two new graduate student appointees to the Technical Advisory Board: Mr Marcel Grubert and Ms. Kelly Price-Rankin. Mr. Grubert is working toward a graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering and Ms. Price-Rankin is pursuing a graduate degree in the Consumer and Industry Services Management program.

FY02 Technology Fee Project Summary

Ms. Nancy Gnilka reviewed the handout outlining the Technology Fee Deliverables for FY02. Technology Fee dollars were distributed in the following areas:

• Network Access Enhancements
• Equipment Upgrades in Open and Departmental Computer Labs
• Student Support Services and Software Distribution Enhancements
• Academic Technology Facility and Instructional Technology Enhancements
• Debt Payment

The complete report may be seen at http://web.utk.edu/~techfee/Deliverables-index.html

Educational Technology Presentation - Focus on Teaching with Technology

In the next few years the technology fee will focus increased support in educational technologies from a pedagogical perspective. In the fall semester TAB meetings, the Division of Educational Technologies will review past and current projects, grants, and workshops as well as recommend new initiatives to expand the use of information technology in the teaching and learning process.

Dr. Julie Little, Executive Director, Educational Technologies, and Dr. Jean Derco, Director, Educational Technology Collaborative, presented an overview of the Innovative Technology Center (ITC) Grant Programs and Initiatives:

Currently ITC is working with a faculty team from Geography to redesign the 101/102 courses for technology enhancement. ITC consults with the faculty involved to agree on what aspects of the course would be appropriate for technology-enhancement. To date, they have discussed the development of an online visuals database, WebQuests for each region studied, and online quizzes.

ITC Workshops: FY97-03

http://itc.utk.edu/courses
ITC offers a comprehensive list of workshops to promote integration of learning strategies using instructional technologies, including digital media resources and the development of online course materials. Since January 1997, 756 sections of 124 individual workshops have been offered to 5,191 Faculty and GTAs.

Faculty First Grant: FY00-03

http://itc.utk.edu/grants/grant_list.shtml
To receive this grant, faculty must reshape a course to include a technological component. This program provides recipients with the collective experience, expertise, and assistance of the ITC staff to develop components. Recipient departments also receive an allowance for computer equipment.

Teaching with Technology: FY00-03

http://itc.utk.edu/grants/grant_list.shtml
To receive this grant, two to five faculty members from one department must create at least five modular pieces of self-directed web instruction within their discipline. Modules are designed for use by other academic disciplines or in different courses. Departments receive $15,000 to be used toward computer equipment or to pay students to help with development work. Recipients attend two mandatory training sessions.

In earlier years, this program was directed more toward individual faculty members. Recipients created a modular piece of self-directed instruction that was delivered over the Web and stored in a repository on a central server. Faculty received an allowance for equipment and a small salary supplement. They also attended a mandatory two-hour training session and met in small groups 4 times over the course of summer, fall and spring semesters.

Online@UT (Blackboard) Implementation: FY98-03

http://online.utk.edu
The new online academic community was launched in January 2002 and houses course accounts for all courses in a given semester and user accounts for all university faculty, students, and staff. To date, 1,266 Faculty and GTAs (54% of Knoxville total) have been "certified" as Online@UT users through the required ITC workshop.

The use of this facility has grown from 400 courses with a web presence in the summer of 2001 to 2,811 course sections at varied levels in the current school year.

Wireless Instructional Initiatives: FY01-03

http://itc.utk.edu/grants/grant_list.shtml
In FY03 this program will focus on graduate learner collaborative communities.

In FY02, the "WISE - Wireless Instructional Strategies for Engineering" program distributed laptops to students for 24x7 access. The project focus was to examine undergraduate learner collaborative communities. The College of Engineering matched faculty interest through release time. Faculty received a $3,500 allowance for computer equipment. Under the WII program, a separate pilot is underway in the Biology department utilizing wireless laptops for the newly revised lab curriculum in the Biology 101/102 non-majors course.

In FY01, The "WISH - Wireless Instructional Strategies for the Humanities" program was limited to Humanities faculty teaching in the newly "un-wired" Humanities building. Faculty recipients attended a Summer Institute to develop instructional strategies applicable for wireless classrooms and implemented their ideas in Fall 01 under frequent evaluation through bi-weekly collaborative team meetings. Faculty received a wireless-enabled laptop, suite of production and development software, $2,000 stipend from Academic Affairs, and access to one of two mobile carts each containing 16 laptops and a projector.

Best Practices @ UT Showcase: FY00-03

http://itc.utk.edu/showcase/
This showcase enables members of the UT community to exchange ideas and view model examples of technology use at its best, while recognizing excellence in using technology to support teaching and learning at the University of Tennessee. It is held each September in conjunction with an annual computer fair.

Educational Technology Collaborative: FY02-03

http://edtech.tennessee.edu
The Educational Technology Collaborative (ETC) is a model for collaboration and professional community building. Project SET (Sharing Educational Technology) is the first initiative for ETC. Project SET invites instructional resource professionals from all five UT campuses to develop and contribute panel-reviewed web-based instructional technology modules to a shared repository to provide professional development opportunities for UT faculty.

Instructional Technology @UT: FY02-03

http://itc.utk.edu/courses/itut.shtml
The ITC coordinates Friday afternoon sharing sessions with faculty presenters. Sessions focus on specific topics that focus on incorporating instructional technology in the classroom.

National Alumni Association/CUE/ITC: FY00-01(Mini-Grant)

http://itc.utk.edu/grants/grant_list.shtml
The goal of this grant was to provide faculty with funding (up to $500) to aid their use of technology in teaching. The National Alumni Association and the Center for Undergraduate Excellence (CUE) funded these grants. The ITC assisted the awardees in matching pedagogical needs with technical solutions.

Hewlett Institute: FY98-99

http://itc.utk.edu/grants/grant_list.shtml
In 1997, the Hewlett Foundation awarded the ITC and CUE a two-year grant to support the development of interdisciplinary courses combining elements from two or more areas of study that inherently emphasized problem solving and classroom synergy. Each course development team involved two to three faculty.

ITC Fellowships and Grants: FY97

http://itc.utk.edu/grants/grant_list.shtml
This was the first fellowship/grant opportunity offered by the ITC.

Further information on the above projects, grants, and workshops can be obtained by referencing the URLs listed under each heading.

Next Meeting

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the Technology Advisory Board will be Wednesday, October 16, 2002, at 2:00PM in the 4th Floor Conference Room, Andy Holt Tower.

Minutes Prepared By: Julia Travis