FITS Newsletter Home

Contributed by Michael Gough, Instructional Technologist and Coordinator of Student Technology Support

New technologies and innovative pedagogies develop very quickly.  Staying current is a daunting task, even for instructional technologists. To meet this challenge FITS has a team approach for researching and sharing new ideas in technology for teaching and learning. We use the social bookmarking tool Delicious to “tag” articles and share them.  A common tag, “fitsdpu” is used whenever an article is found that could be relevant to faculty members or others in FITS.  Searching for this tag in Delicious creates a list of all the instructional technology-related articles we have tagged.  You can view this list in real time by following the link below.

http://www.depauw.edu/univ/fits/support/delfeed.asp

In addition to our Delicious feed, there are a number of publications that are very useful for keeping up with the latest trends in technology as well as teaching and learning in higher education.  Below is a short list of publications we have found to offer reliable and timely information.  While this includes only a fraction of the publications we read, this is a good representative sample.

Educause 7 things you should know about… Series

This short, online publication is published once a month and offers timely and to-the-point information about a technology trend and its implications in higher education.  In addition to describing the technology without technical jargon, most articles also include a teaching example.  Click on the link below to see an up-to-date list of publications:

http://www.educause.edu/7Things

National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE): The Daily NITLE

Edited and published by NITLE (about NITLE), this blog includes a combination of technology innovations, pedagogy, trends, and best practices in using technology in liberal arts education.

http://blogs.nitle.org/

Educause Quarterly

This online, peer-reviewed journal highlights trends, best practices, and case studies in the use of information technology in higher education from a practitioner’s perspective.  While this publication is not specific to instructional technology, many of the articles highlight implications for teaching and learning.

http://www.educause.edu/eq

ProfHacker

This blog is written from the point of view of tech-savvy faculty members and is a good resource for tips and tricks on pedagogy and technology.

“ProfHacker delivers tips, tutorials, and commentary on pedagogy, productivity, and technology in higher education.”

http://www.profhacker.com/

Campus Technology

This monthly journal focuses on innovations in technology on college campuses.  While not always geared directly towards pedagogy, its articles often discuss larger issues in using technology for teaching and learning along with practical applications of technology.   A new practice or technology highlighted in this journal often prompts FITS to test it and discuss how it could be used in the classroom.

http://campustechnology.com/Home.aspx

Contributed by Carol L. Smith, CIO

DePauw’s current email system, Novell GroupWise and TigerMail, needs upgraded. After having spent the past year studying viable options, Information Services is recommending that DePauw move to Google Apps for Education, a free suite of hosted communication and collaboration applications designed for schools and universities.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Carol Smith, at clsmith@depauw.edu or x4287.

Faculty Instructional Technology Services (FITS) provides consulting and technical support for faculty who wish to explore and develop uses of instructional technology in their teaching. Our mission is to assist faculty members in enhancing their teaching and their students’ learning through technology. FITS focuses on the pedagogical uses of technology. We consult with faculty members to determine what technologies best fit with the goals and objectives of the project.

Contact a FITS instructional Technologist:

Michael Gough
Instructional Technologist and Coordinator of START
 michaelgough at depauw.edu (x1093)

Veronica Pejril
Instructional Technologist/Coordinator of the Music Instructional Technology Center
 Diedriech
Technical Training Coordinator
 ddiedriech at depauw.edu class=”email”> (x6442)

Beth Wilkerson
FITS GIS Specialist
 FITS’ sister program, Student Technology Assessment and Resources Training (START), offers workshops for students using technologies and instructional methods that enhance learning. START can tailor workshops for class projects that use technology to support instruction. START utilizes ITAP associates as trainers to deliver instruction on technology. START also provides one–on–one consultation M-F from 8 am–5 pm for students to provide assistance with specialized software. START also has consultants to help students with basic technology issues, located at three service points: at the digital media lab (dml) in Roy O. West library, at the Prevo library in Julian, and at the Help Desk in the Union Building. These services are available Sunday through Thursday (times vary between 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm & 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm.

For more information about START contact Michael Gough, Instructional Technologist and Coordinator of START (michaelgough@depauw.edu or x1093)

Contributed by Michael Gough

Published monthly, the FITS newsletter contains information on emerging technologies, project spotlights, up and coming events, and other information relating to instructional technology.

Inside this “Special Moodle Edition” issue you will find articles addressing our progress transitioning from Blackboard to Moodle, our new open-source learning management system. Finally, we hope to get you acquainted with RSS readers in our emerging technology feature.

Some of you may have noticed that the FITS newsletter has a new look and format this year. We have implemented a new WordPress blogging system to publish our newsletter online. This change offers four main benefits. First it allows for a space where multiple people can edit and write articles online before publication. We no longer have to pass around drafts via email. Instead, we can use the system to collaborate and edit what has been written by our colleagues. Second, it allows for category organization with tags. You might notice that along the right side you see some category tags. As we continue to accumulate articles on certain topics throughout multiple newsletters, WordPress will keep track of all articles tagged with that topic. For instance, to view all articles related to Moodle, click on the Moodle Category link. Third, Word press automatically generates RSS feeds. This means you can subscribe to this newsletter and receive real time updates to your RSS reader. If you are already using a RSS reader, click here to subscribe to our newsletter. For more information on RSS readers, see the featured article in this issue. Lastly, we have the option of enabling comments on certain articles to facilitate online discussions on a certain topic.

You are always invited to suggest topics for future newsletter articles or even request to write an article. If you would like to contribute, please contact Michael Gough at MichaelGough@depauw.edu or x 1093.