Instructional Technology Issues
If you ask your colleagues what Instructional Technology (IT) means to them, chances are you will get a lot of different answers. Almost all of them will name a software application, with PowerPoint and WebCT probably being the most common here at UVic. Other responses will be horror stories about the incorrect or poor use of an application or piece of hardware. Still others will throw up their hands and say, "I'm not a techie - I have no idea how to use any of that stuff."
All of the above responses have some merit, but at the UVic Learning and Teaching Centre we have always taken a multi-phased approach to issues around IT. When developing, using, deploying and/or evaluating an instructional technology scenario we apply some guiding principles:
Guiding Principle #1 - "Pedagogy First"
We take a "pedagogy first" approach to integrating instructional technology
into teaching and learning. Following after Sasha Barab et al (2000 in Grounded
constructions and how technology can help)(PDF) we look at IT in the a number
of different ways -- including, but not limited to, the following categories:
As a resource (e.g. online journal, course web page, online
lecture slides, etc.);
As a contextualizer (e.g. situate the content in an experiential
simulation, in a learning object, on a web site, etc.);
As a communications medium (e.g. communication tool - email,
listserv, instant message service, online phone service, blog, wiki, etc.);
As a construction kit (e.g. model and theory building software)
As a visualization/exploration tool (e.g. learning objects,
simulations, games, etc.)
In this multi-faceted approach, IT doesn't "stand alone" - it is
always closely tied to explicit learning goals. This approach to integrating
instructional technology is well demonstrated in our Course
ReDesign Workshop
Guiding Principle #2 - "Collaboration, Collaboration,
Collaboration"
Technology doesn't evolve in a vacuum, and the successful design and use of
instructional technology requires expertise from a number of domains. The Learning
and Teaching Centre recognizes this and all of our IT workshops, talks, presentations,
and hands-on demonstrations are partnered with one or more of the following
groups:
- UVic Learning Systems: UVic Learning Systems' mission is to facilitate the introduction, development, and use of information
processing, media, and communication technologies and services within the
University and among its members so that they will derive full benefit from
employing these technologies and services in the learning, teaching, research,
and administrative activities of the University.
- UVic
Libraries: The Libraries at UVic
have great resources (both people and technical) for incorporating IT into
learning and teaching. The new William
C. Mearns Centre for Learning expands the ability of the UVic
Libraries to meet the increasing need for resources, services and space.
- Distance
Education Services: Distance Education Services
(DES) is a university-wide support unit for distance education online. DES
researches technologies and develops tools for distance online teaching and
learning, provides course development and production assistance for faculty,
and provides library services for distance learning and teaching.
- Humanities Computing
and Media Centre: The mandate of the HCMC is
to further research, teaching and learning in the faculty of Humanities, in
particular the fields of Humanities Computing and Language Learning, and those
aspects of other fields involving audio, video or computing technology.
- Of course, individuals are also key in making this collaborative approach
work. The LTC provides a venue where IT innovators can talk about their work
to the broader university community.
Another collaborative effort, sponsored in part by the Learning and Teaching
Centre, is the Instructional
Technology Group(ITG). The ITG provides an opportunity
for educators to meet in a casual setting to discuss IT topics of interest.
The group decides upon topics amongst itself, and one or more members facilitates
the discussion. The group usually meets once a month over lunch. Discussion
topics are announced before hand and members come to as many meetings as they
like. New members are ALWAYS welcome -- contact Carolyn Boss
ltc@uvic.ca to join.
Guiding Principle #3 - "Scholarly Evaluation and
Research"
Here is a common-sense idea: After spending time developing and deploying an IT scenario it only makes sense to evaluate and see if it worked. You would be amazed at how often this guiding principle is missed. Instructors are often so busy that finding time to reflect on their practice is very hard to do. The Learning and Teaching Centre encourages educators to think about evaluation early on in the IT development process. Moreover, the LTC encourages educators to think about evaluation on a continuuim -- all the way from one or two questions asked at the end of class to long-term research on instructional technology that is international in scope. Not only will these evalution and research techniques help to inform one's teaching, and expand the scholarship of learning and teaching, but they make excellent content in a teaching dossier!
One example of a successful incorporation of scholarly evaluation techniques into the use, development, and deployment of an instructional technology can be seen in the reseach, partially sponsored by the LTC, around "clickers" (personal response devices) in the classroom. Not only was the LTC was instrumental in getting clickers introduced and evaluated in large, first year classes, but it played a lead role in helping develop campus-wide policy on clicker use.
The group studying the use of clickers in the classroom has taken off and UVic is nationally recognized as a centre of expertise in the evaluation of clicker use in the post secondary arena.
For a full report on clicker research at UVic, check out Clickers
in the classroom.
Please see the May 15, 2009 memo from the VPAC's office on Institutional Strategy to Support Adoption of and Best Practices with Clickers
Keeping up with IT at the LTC
The Learning and Teaching Centre is always offering workshops,
talks, seminars, and small-group discussion on instructional technology topics.
We often try to tie these into ITG sessions, or to coordinate with guest speakers. To find information on learning technologies, please check the following links:
For Software Assistance with Microsoft Office, Website Design, Graphics, Scanning Images, PDF Creation/PDF Forms, Movie Editing Basics and Operating Systems, please visit the following link:
http://www.sfg.uvic.ca/softhelp.htm
Look for lots more interesting workshops and hands-on sessions in the term
to come!
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