ITS-Instructional Services

The Academic Technologies Advisory Council is calling for proposals for the Innovations in Teaching with Technology Awards.  The goal of the Innovations in Teaching with Technology Awards program is to raise the level of teaching and learning at The University of Iowa by supporting significant and innovative instructional technology projects that have the potential to directly impact student success and retention. Projects that call for the use of collaborative learning strategies and student use of emerging technologies for teaching and learning are encouraged. These projects should be considered “proof-of-concept” projects that are new to The University of Iowa.

Priorities: In the spirit of innovation, all new ideas are welcome, but the focus must be on instruction. Priority will be given to projects that, if proven successful, can be replicated throughout the University. Cross-disciplinary projects are encouraged, but not required.

Audience: Projects that primarily improve the instruction of undergraduates are encouraged. However, this program is not limited solely to undergraduate education.

Awards: A total of $100,000 is available for awards. The number of awards will be determined by the quality of the applications. A single award or multiple awards may be made. Applications can be made to support the costs of hardware, software, and personnel. Funding is not available to support faculty salaries.

Process: During the preparation of proposals, applicants are encouraged to contact Les Finken at 335-5467 or les-finken@uiowa.edu for assistance in determining whether your project is suitable for the funding program.

The steps for the 2011 Innovations in Teaching with Technology Awards are as follows:

• October 18: Applications uploaded to ITTA proposal submission website.
• November 15 & 16: Interview selected applicants
• Mid December: Award winners notified and funds made available

For more information on the Innovations in Teaching with Technology Awards program and awards granted in previous years visit Academic Technologies Advisory Council website.

Posted: Fri, 07 Oct 2011 (Story link)

Thursday, October 20th 1:30-3:00 pm UCC 2520D

This SCIT (Support Community for Instructional Technology) session will focus on THE INFORMATION YOU NEED, RIGHT NOW, TO BUDGET MONEY AND LABOR AND DO YOUR JOB.

Speaker 1: Mark Hale, ITS Accessibility Coordinator
After a brief overview of the types of new and legacy media and content the University wants to be accessible eventually, Mark will provide targets for this year and next…bare minimum, strongly suggested, and in-our-sweetest-dreams.
• What needs to be accessible when?
• What criteria are being used to determine priorities and set compliance dates?
• What are the carrots and the sticks?
• How will your compliance be measured?

Speaker 2: Todd Weissenberger, ITS Web Accessibility
Todd will review the services provided by ITS to assist you with your web accessibility undertaking – where, when, and how to get hooked up with help. He’ll discuss some effective techniques you can use right away to yield maximum bang for your initial efforts. He’ll also share links to a variety of evaluation tools to help assess your product for web accessibility.

Speaker 3: Jim Stachowiak, Assoc. Director of ICATER
Jim will show ready-made resources for creating accessible PDFs, Word documents, and PowerPoint slides. He will also discuss means of universally designing classes and campus resources for helping instructors do so. Finally, he will discuss readily available assistive technology tools that instructors can promote to help make classes more accessible.

Speaker 4: Mike Venzon, Student Disability Services
Mike will explain what you need to do if a student requires an accommodation, and how his department can help. He will discuss how to get work study students create accessible electronic documents and digital media (including transcription). He will provide practical examples of how SDS processes inaccessible media and the basics of hiring student workers at a discounted rate.

Question and Answer Panel:
What didn’t you hear that you wanted to? Be prepared to challenge our speakers on practical and useful information that you need to help you do your job better.

Register Here

Posted: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 (Story link)

The Center for Teaching and ITS-Instructional Services will offer a year-long TILE Faculty Institute, beginning with an intensive training event October 13 – 15, 2011 (Thursday evening and all day Friday and Saturday). The Institute will provide support and training for faculty who seek to implement TILE-based teaching strategies into their courses. Institute fellows will also learn how to effectively use the TILE spaces and technology.

The event will be conducted by Dr. Jon Gaffney, Post-Doctoral Fellow in Physics, University of Kentucky. Dr. Gaffney conducted both the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 TILE Institutes and has worked closely with Dr. Bob Beichner, who directs the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) at North Carolina State University and conducted the Summer 2010 TILE Faculty Institute. The nationally recognized SCALE-UP Project is a resource for institutions that want to create and assess classroom environments that support interactive, collaborative learning.

We welcome applications from University of Iowa tenured, tenure-track, and clinical faculty members. The UI Learning Spaces Executive Committee will select the faculty participants who will receive $500 for research/professional development in support of curriculum development in a TILE learning space. Please note, all TILE funds must be spent by June 30, 2012.
More information and an application can be found at: http://its.uiowa.edu/instruction/tile/resources/TILEadmindocs/tile_proposal_application.pdf

Posted: Thu, 08 Sep 2011 (Story link)

This Session: SITA (Student Instructional Technology Assistants); Introduction and Opportunities

Student Instructional Technology Assistants (SITAs) work one-on-one with instructors on projects that enhance instruction with technology. They guide instructors through the project planning process, provide consulting on technology and instructional design issues, offer production assistance, and introduce other Instructional Services resources as needed. SITAs also offer departmental training sessions on instructional software. (http://its.uiowa.edu/sita/)

Steve Silva, SITA Coordinator, will talk about the history of the program, introduce the SITAs, and talk about opportunities for you to utilize a SITA for some of your work.

Guest Speaker: Mary Adamek, Ph.D., MT-BC, is the Director of the Music Therapy Program.

Dr. Adamek has extensive professional experience as a music therapist and music educator. She is a specialist in the areas of music in special education, full inclusion music education, and supervision of music therapy students in training. mary-adamek@uiowa.edu She has utilized the SITA program the past several years and will discuss the success she has experienced.

David McGraw ( BA, College of the Holy Cross; MA, Goucher College) is a lecturer in stage management and arts management for the Division of Performing Arts, Interdepartmental Studies, and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center.

To learn more about the SCIT Committee and its mission, please visit our website detailing membership, other topics we will cover this year, and how you can become involved. Anyone who has an interest in instructional technology is welcome to attend.

Each meeting will offer some kind of takeaway for those who attend ranging from information to others they can continue to network with.
• http://its.uiowa.edu/instruction/itsc/
• We ask that you please register if you plan on attending so we have enough space.
• Please register at: http://its.uiowa.edu/apps2/training/public/abs.php?abs_id=516
• On behalf of the SCIT Committee, thank you and we hope to see you on the 11th.

SCIT Committee: Annette Beck, Ray Bennett, Robert Butler, Vern Duba, Diana Harris, Sean Kelley, Ron Kral, Shannon Manley, Sampada Mhatre, Bob Ramsey, Jeff Reuter, Jodi Scholl, and Jenifer Steil

Posted: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 (Story link)

Support Community for Instructional Technology (SCIT) Meeting

Monday April 11, 2011 10-11 am
2520D UCC
University Capitol Centre Conference Center (Seminar Room)

This Session:  Going Mobile @ UI

 Small group discussion will survey current mobile technology usage on the UI campus and identify possible future applications in both classroom and professional settings.

To learn more about the SCIT Committee and its mission, please visit our website detailing membership, other topics we will cover this year, and how you can become involved. Anyone who has an interest in instructional technology is welcome to attend.

Each meeting will offer some kind of takeaway for those who attend ranging from information to others they can continue to network with.

• http://its.uiowa.edu/instruction/itsc/
• We ask that you please register if you plan on attending so we have enough space.
• Please register at: Register Here
• On behalf of the SCIT Committee, thank you and we hope to see you on the 11th.

SCIT Committee: Annette Beck, Ray Bennett, Robert Butler, Vern Duba, Annette Griffin, Diana Harris, Sean Kelley, Kirk Corey, Ron Kral, Jeff Reuter, Jenifer Steil, and Sampada Mhatre

Posted: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 (Story link)

Lynda.com is an online training library that provides access to 900 courses and over 56,000 tutorials on: 3D, video, business, photography, web design, graphic design, and more; all organized by subject software, and instructor. With constantly growing content, updated weekly and sometimes daily, Lynda offers the training necessary to stay ahead of the curve. Lynda even provides tutorials on beta and pre-release versions of software.

Lynda.com Online Training Library at UIowa

Posted: Wed, 09 Feb 2011 (Story link)

Elluminate Next> Training:  Publish! & Plan! …. February 16-19 …. 9-11 am ….. Room 2523 UCC
Elluminate Plan! enables the class designer to automate Elluminate Live! activities. Elluminate Publish! allows you to extend the reach of recorded training and accommodate mobile learners.

To sign up for the training, visit http://its.uiowa.edu/training.

• Identify potential and opportunities of packaging content with Elluminate Plan!
• Create a plan file that is ready to deliver via Elluminate Live!
• Prepare interactive content to support dynamic learning in a virtual classroom
• Adapt existing content for Elluminate Plan! delivery
• Deliver an Elluminate Live! session using a plan file
• Convert Elluminate Live! recorded events for offline play back using Elluminate Publish!

Content
Elluminate Next> Workshop participants are strongly encouraged to bring course materials to the Workshop. Course materials could include syllabi, outlines, PowerPoint files, exercises, group work, web site addresses, assessment questions, multimedia files, and links to recorded Elluminate Live! sessions.

Topics for Discussion
Incorporating interactivity
Tips and tricks for engaging students in active learning
Adapting existing content for Elluminate Plan!
Recording conversion workflow
Converted recorded file distribution options

Reference Materials
Steps for Creating a Plan File
Running a Plan File in Elluminate Live!
Using the Whiteboard Editor
Planning for Application sharing
Elluminate Publish! Quick Reference Guide

Pre-requisites
Workshop participants must be proficient with the Elluminate Live! moderator role. Successful completion of the Elluminate Live! moderator courses is strongly recommended.  Recordings are available at http://its.uiowa.edu/support/collaboration/webconferencing.shtml

Posted: Wed, 10 Feb 2010 (Story link)

As part of our recently-expanded Elluminate Live! licensing, online virtual training is being provided by Elluminate staff in the upcoming days and weeks.  Feel free to attend or view the recordings of the training sessions to get an idea of how Elluminate Live! works, both technically and from a teaching perspective.  The sessions are aimed at people who moderate meetings, such as instructors.  They are four parts that build on one another, not repetitions of the same session.

Training dates and links to recordings of training already held are available on the University of Iowa Elluminate Live! support page.

Posted: Sat, 23 Jan 2010 (Story link)

The next generation coding standard is called HVC – High-performance Video Coding.  The main purpose of HVC is to develop a new generation of video compression technology that enables higher compression capability in preparation for ultra-HD (UHD) displays and cameras coming to the marketplace.

The HVC standard is expected to be available at the end of 2012.

The requirements for HVC range are for better compression performance over higher frame rates – 24 to 60 frames-per-second – and higher picture formats:

• QVGA – .25K: 320 x 240
• HDTV – 1K:  1280 x 720
• HDTV – 2K:1920 x 1080
• Digital Cinema – 2K: 2048 x 1080
• Digital Cinema – 4K: 2048 x 1080
• ultra-HD (UHD) – 8K: 7680 x 4320

Ultra HD vs. High Definition resolution comparison

Posted: Fri, 22 Jan 2010 (Story link)

Information Technology Services (ITS) is offering faculty a new way to increase student engagement in the classroom.

Clickers – also referred to as student response systems, audience response systems, or personal response systems – allow students to answer an instructor’s questions via a small wireless device that records responses using a radio frequency receiver. Instructors create content with built-in response indicators and ask students to use their clickers to respond at the appropriate times during a lecture. Instructors can create questions in PowerPoint with TurningPoint 2008, or they can use TurningPoint AnyWhere with any application.

For more information about student response systems, visit the clickers website.

Posted: Tue, 28 Jul 2009 (Story link)