ETC to shift work to 200-level courses
Educational Technology Center's agenda also includes assessing impact of IT on learning

By JENNIFER LEWANDOWSKI
Reporter Staff

Now that Access99 is well under way, the Educational Technology Center plans to shift some of its work towards applying information technology to sophomore-level courses.

The ETC also plans to devote time to assessing the impact of IT on the learning process.

The ETC, which opened in the spring, aims to provide faculty and instructors at UB the opportunity to infuse technology into instruction through the development of Web-based and multimedia curriculums for courses at the undergraduate level.

"We're here to help all UB faculty and other instructors in their coursework, either designing a Web site from scratch or modifying an existing site," says David Willbern, director of the center, professor of English and associate vice provost for information technology. "We want to provide IT materials that supplement and enhance the in-class learning environment."

Training so far at the ETC has focused on freshmen courses, aiming to get in step with Access99, the initiative requiring every freshman, beginning this semester, to have access to a personal computer. Freshmen are expected to be versed in word processing, Internet research and email.

But for Fall 2000, the ETC plans to work with department chairs, faculty, teaching assistants, librarians and IT specialists to develop Web-enhanced courses at the sophomore level.

"After Access99, our main initiative for the year 2000 is to help develop pilots in several 200-level courses, including such fields as architecture, American pluralism, chemistry, economics, mathematics, physics, physiology and sociology," Willbern says.

He and Abbie Basile, the center's educational technology librarian, work with William Fischer, vice provost for faculty development, on applying technology to team-taught courses.

Courses at the 100 and 200 levels, such as "World Civilization" have high enrollments and are taught by teams of faculty and teaching assistants, sometimes numbering as many as 50.

Basile says that Fischer identifies such courses and talks to those faculty groups to identify how they want to integrate technology into their curriculum.

She points out that one of the ETC's most crucial tasks is to begin assessing the effects of incorporating technology into courses on learning.

"We really want to bring assessment into the development of all this course technology," Basile says. "(There are) some questions out there about whether integrating technology into your education actually enhances the learning process."

The issue is important, she says, considering the amount of time faculty members devote to developing and using technology in their courses.

"They want to know that what they're doing is really helping their students," she says.

Willbern also stressed the importance of providing the appropriate "tools."

"We want to help focus much of the IT energies on campus, for example, by examining 'course-management tools' recently developed by many software companies, or by working with the libraries on issues of standards in digitization of text and images, or copyright questions," he says.

Moreover, Basile works with the university libraries' subject specialists-librarians assigned to specific content areas-to bring their expertise for information-resource selection into the process of developing online courses.

The ETC staff provides one-on-one and small-group instruction, and is offering a full slate of workshops this semester. Workshops are one hour each, and are taught by a host of faculty and staff.

"We have faculty who are talking about their own experiences using technology," Basile says. "We have librarians who talk about evaluating information on the Internet (and) how to search the Internet effectively. And we have IT staff who teach things like how to work with specific software packages, how to best work with online images and Web design itself."

Basile says the center has other plans on tap, too.

"We'd like to have a speaker series, where we bring in speakers from other campuses," she says. "We'd (also) like to promote the ETC nationally, and become a member of educational technology centers across the country."

In addition, she hopes to put together a workshop series that takes an intensive look at what the center has to offer.

"I would like to have a week-long set of workshops that would take someone from A to Z," she says, adding that faculty members would be able to sample the center's offerings and gauge the level of support they want from the ETC.

"We have to work with various groups on campus that have a role to play in information and technology," Basile says. "We have to work closely with libraries, with academic computing and faculty members, to make sure all of us are supporting this initiative, which goes hand in hand with Access99."

Willbern calls the activities of the ETC the "wave of the present."

"The new educational technology is absolutely valuable and vital to classroom instruction. Today's students merely expect IT enhancements to their college experience," he says.

"Although many faculty retain reservations about the new tools and claims, the range of historical material, multimedia sounds and images, and hyperlinks now accessible on the Internet is astounding," Willbern says. "Teachers can now bring directly to students the kinds of material that in the past would have taken weeks to locate and prepare, and now takes only a few minutes.

"IT also increases opportunities for students to engage questions and interact away from class, through email, bulletin boards and chat rooms. It's a model of potential interactivity at all times and places. Student-teacher contacts also are better enabled. I'm hearing from people via email who might never speak in class. And they have comments worth hearing.

"This is the most exciting time of my teaching career of 30 years." Located in 212 Capen Hall, the ETC is a joint project of the Provost's Office, CIT and the University Libraries.