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University of Tennessee

About ITC

Newsletter: Spring 2006

Seeing the Need, Finding the Time

by: Gina Roberts

One of the barriers faculty cite as a reason for not integrating technology is lack of time—time to acquire technology skills and time to develop technology-based teaching materials and strategies. One of the ITC’s responses to this problem, starting in spring 2005, was to offer free production assistance to faculty. Here are two case studies of faculty who enlisted help from the ITC and worked with the Student Technology Assistants for Research and Teaching (START) team on projects during summer 2005 for fall 2005 implementation:


Case Study 1: Dr. Michael O. Smith

Professor, Department of Animal Science
Course: ANS 484: Poultry Production and Management

NEED
To develop engaging presentations and replace hand-written transparencies.

PROCESS
The students in the START program created PowerPoint presentations from Smith’s 110 pages of transparencies. They also located and inserted appropriate graphics and links to Web-based resources. After approval from Smith, the notes pages from each PowerPoint presentation were saved as PDF files for Smith’s students to use for note-taking. The START coordinator also assisted Smith with his Online@UT course site. Together they uploaded the syllabus, lecture notes, and lab exercises, and created groups so that small teams of students could work together on a nutrition experiment. During class Smith projected his presentations on the SMART Board so he could highlight important points and annotate the presentations.

OUTCOMES
Midway through the fall 2005 semester, Smith cited the following advantages of his new technologically enhanced methods of delivering Poultry Production and Management:

Convenience – he travels to class with a laptop instead of a notebook of transparencies and markers
Flexibility – he can make changes to PowerPoint presentations the night before a lecture or even during a lecture using the SMART Board tools
Efficiency – in the past he had difficulty getting through all the material; this semester he is ahead of schedule and may be able to add a few new topics at the end of the semester
Access – students have access to current information via Web sites and to course materials on a 24 / 7 basis via Online@UT Incorporation of Media – he can now easily incorporate photos, charts, graphs, etc. into his lectures via PowerPoint
and Online@UT


Case Study 2: Dr. Charles Hamilton

Professor, Instructional Technology, Health, and Educational Studies Course: PH 580: Public Health Leadership

NEED
To design and facilitate an online course as part of a graduate certificate program offered by the Tennessee Public Health Workforce Development Consortium.

PROCESS
In consultation with the START program coordinator, Hamilton determined that the course instructional materials would consist of readings, lecture notes, PowerPoint presentations, and video clips. Hamilton developed lecture notes for each textbook chapter and selected images to go along with the notes. He also located the PowerPoint and video resources, and worked with Digital Media Services (DMS) to host the clips. The START team converted Hamilton’s notes to PDF files, created areas within the Online@UT course site, and uploaded content into the areas.

In order to engage students with the course material and with one another, Hamilton required small groups to develop a team identity and guidelines for composing responses to weekly questions he developed to stimulate thought and application. Group responses were posted in the discussion board, and individual participants were encouraged to respond to the group’s answer. Other assessment activities included essay exams distributed via the assignment manager, a report on an interview with a health professional, and recommendation of a learning activity for future course offerings.

OUTCOMES
Hamilton noted the following advantages to delivering Public Health Leadership online:

Access – public health professionals from across the state of Tennessee gained access to a professional development opportunity that would otherwise be difficult to acquire
Engagement – students worked well together and took the assignments very seriously as evidenced by the quality of discussion board postings
Professional Development – the process gave Hamilton the opportunity to contribute to the Consortium in a new way, to challenge himself, and to be a part of the exciting future of online learning

To apply for ITC assistance with your course, go to http://itc.utk.edu/request.
To learn more about START, visit http://itc.utk.edu/services/start or call 974-6470.