Thinking about upgrading to Adobe CS4 or Microsoft Office 2007? Wondering about WiscCal? Check out the free BrownBags offered this summer by DoIT's Professional Technical Education (PTE) group. Further training and support is available from MERIT through MERIT's online software tutorials or by contacting Jim Jonas to inquire about help and workshops for specific programs or groups.

Ready to upgrade? Both Adobe CS4 and Microsoft Office 2007 are available for installation on your School of Education computer. Contact our Help Desk, 5-4773, or your IT consultant for assistance.

DoIT's Academic Technology survey is sent out bi-annually to faculty, instructional staff, and teaching assistants to determine the state of instructional technology adoption on the UW-Madison campus. Survey results help identify instructional technology needs. The 2008 Academic Technology survey was designed to provide data to support decision making on how to best align services and support in ways that will meet the teaching needs and technology preferences of campus clients.

Survey results are posted online. SoE faculty and staff are invited to share comments about survey results by contacting Catherine Stephens, or post a comment to DoIT's academic technology staff.

Nearly 40 faculty and instructional support staff gathered in February at a monthly meeting of Community of Educational Technology Support (ComETS) members to explore what emerging technologies might be deployed on the UW-Madison campus to improve instruction to students. Six campus presenters showcased their research, highlighting how some of today's information technologies have the potential to both positively and negatively impact teaching and learning.

Catherine Stephens, Instructional Technology Services Coordinator with the School of Education, provided an overview of the UW-Madison island project in Second Life, a three-dimensional virtual world where online users can create content and communicate with other avatars (virtual personas) using voice and text chat. "This is a collaborative venture. Our support group includes faculty and staff from several schools, colleges, and IT departments. The project came about as a response to the growing interest in teaching with virtual worlds at UW-Madison." she said.

Four School of Education classes use Second Life as part of their coursework. Second Life is also used in DoIT's Engage Simulations and Games grants and is emerging as a platform for several campus groups. Stephens spoke about plans to gather anecdotal data from faculty teaching in Second Life to help justify the project going forward.

Timmo Dugdale, DoIT Academic Technologies, Douglas Worsham, College of Letters and Science; Ron Kraemer, CIO and Vice Provost for Information Technology; Alan Wolf, DoIT and Center for Biology Education; and Jeffrey Bohrer, DoIT, also presented information about other emerging trends in instructional technologies.

Check the ComETS Emerging Trends wiki at cometset.pbwiki.com for more information about the program and links to handouts.

Source: DoIT News
Used with permission