Faculty Directions, Fall 2005 - Director's Corner

Distributed and distance learning have increased substantially over the past year. In fact, Fall 2005 marks our one year anniversary for integration of Blackboard as the University course management system. Approximately 60 percent of instructors and 85 percent of students use Blackboard. ETS has been busy training faculty and students on Blackboard tools and the various teaching and learning applications. Our goal is to demonstrate how this technology can meet faculty and student needs and to focus on best practices for use both inside and outside the classroom. Faculty and students have done a great job using the available tools and services while providing very valuable feedback on ways to improve the system.

With the rate at which information technology changes, we plan to utilize as many features and services as possible in Blackboard. Fully using Blackboard will help us meet the needs of new programs and initiatives without the disruption that learning new technologies can require. One of the main criteria for selection of a University-wide course management system was growth and the ability to meet the long term needs of faculty and students.

This fall, the MyCLE portal reflects the Blackboard portal design and navigation. You continue to have access to all current services, but more personalized services are now available to users. The ePortfolio tool in Blackboard's content system will be used to manage, create and develop General Education ePortfolios. Prior to the start of the semester, incoming freshmen used the portal to access their checklists and the Summer Reading Program. The freshmen were able to use Blackboard tools to discuss and to submit their essays on A Civil Action.

ETS also expanded our resources and services to address the growth in distance education course offerings and student enrollments. Macromedia Breeze Presentation and Breeze Live are available university-wide this fall. We also added a state-of-the-art distance education lab to support audio, video conferencing, streaming technologies, and satellite equipment to host workshops, seminars and faculty training.

You will also read in this issue of Faculty Directions about new programs and initiatives such as the extension of laptop technologies to tablet PCs. More Web design and development services are being extended to departments and programs, and new training programs are offered to support the increased use of technology. Web-based multimedia learning modules tailored to the needs of faculty and students are now available, too.

We will continue to support all aspects of teaching and learning with technology. We are constantly researching the best ways to address current and future technology needs that will improve academic quality and enhance the learning experience for students. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions and look forward to working with you this semester.