"I don't usually give A plus grades- this really was a great conference."
"I was impressed with the level of support that each UIT person offered. This was the most valuable teaching conference I have attended at Tufts thus far."
-- Summer Institute 2009 Participants
This year's UIT Summer Institute brought together fourteen faculty from across Tufts University to focus on developing technology-enhanced learning designs for their courses and programs. UIT Academic Technology shaped this year's program as a guided "backward design" process for the participating faculty, who each focused on developing a learning design for a particular course and on exploring new options for learning activities, new forms of assessment, and new technologies for teaching, learning, and collaboration.
The form, structure, and practices of the Institute supported the principles and frameworks we explored. Each person could anchor his or her experience in a concrete focus that mattered personally, and faculty came away with a process they can re-use, as well as a new community of practice on which they can draw for continued inspiration, shared reflections on teaching practices, and peer models of experimentation and success. In the Summer Institute wrap-up sessions and evaluations, faculty reported that they enjoyed the layering of technologies and the clear message (and demonstration) that we select particular technologies and approaches to suit specific goals and contexts.
Representative comments from the Summer Institute evaluations:
"This conference truly energized me. Part of it, of course, was the content/subject. It helped me rethink the courses I teach and presented possibilities that will make them -- and my teaching-- stronger. Yet as importantly were the people involved. In particular, the UIT staff and the participants. Thus, the value of the conference was not simply derived from what we learned as participants, but how much we enjoyed the process. This was a conference none of us dreaded coming to; instead, we looked forward to what each new day would bring. Thanks and congratulations."
"This has been inspiring and informative. I look forward to doing more of these in the future. I would really like to be able to return in the future to re-examine what I've learned. I would also like to have help using some of this information in terms of organizing and sharing my professional information and scholarship."
"Overall, an excellent program. I got a tremendous amount out of it and am excited by developing on the things I've learned. Knowing that I can call on the presenters for support is unique and extremely valuable. It keeps the Institute alive. Thank you all."
"I enjoyed this institute very much. My very sincere thanks to all the staff. You all are so supportive, friendly, knowledgeable and thoughtful. I share, though may not be up to the same caliber, your passion and view towards incorporating technology wisely into education. I look forward to our interaction and co-operation in future. Thanks."
UIT Contributors:
* Hannah Reeves, Instructional Design & Technology Specialist: program design lead, coordination, and program delivery
* Rebecca Sholes, Senior Faculty Development Consultant: project manager, program design and delivery contributions
* Sheryl Barnes, Senior Educational Technology Specialist: program design and delivery contributions
* David Grogan, Manager, Curricular Technology Group: program design and delivery contributions
* Melanie St. James, Senior Interactive Media Designer: program design and delivery contributions
* Gina Siesing, Associate Director, Educational Technology: program design and delivery contributions
* Ian Altgilbers, Academic Systems Administrators: anticipated and met technology infrastructure and support needs in outstanding ways
* Matthew McVey, Learning Technologies Developer & Academic Systems Administrator: anticipated and met technology infrastructure and support needs in outstanding ways
* Susan Ward, Office Coordinator: logistics support
* Bill Sivret, Web Applications Team Lead: videotaping and video editing, which enabled us to post immediately to Spark MediaMarkups for use in the Institute