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Return to
"Introducing The TLT Group"
Here is one set of steps for exploring the
potential value of a TLT Group subscription:
1. Perhaps your program has a grant, or other
specific needs (e.g.,
for two or more days of consulting) that more than justify
the need for a subscription. If you need two or more days of
consulting, it's cheaper to get an
Engagement subscription than to buy the consulting on its own.
2. On the other hand, your own program may
not be able to afford or justify a subscription. Or
you'd like to explore whether and how several offices and
programs at your institution might be able to share the
subscription If so, identify representatives from some
or all of these:
-
Chief academic officer;
provost; vice president for academic affairs office -
there is sometimes a person in these offices with
special interests in making sure the institution is
getting maximum educational value from its investments
in technology.
-
Distance learning;
program supporting hybrid courses
-
Facilities offices
(people who deal with 'high tech' classrooms and related
technologies such as smart boards and student response
systems)
-
Faculty development;
center for teaching excellence; large grants (e.g.,
Title III, Title V, Title VI) with faculty training
components;
-
Faculty groups, the
library, and other offices interested in technology and
the curriculum, e.g., writing across the curriculum;
general education reform; information literacy)
-
Information technology,
especially those elements that support faculty and
instructionally important technologies; administer
course management systems; experiment with new
technologies for instructional applications.
3. To help these folks learn
about The TLT Group, suggest that they take, say, 15 minutes
to explore the resources on this
"Introducing The TLT Group" web page. Invite those
that are interested to a meeting. If you like some
help from The TLT Group, contact us. We could, for example,
participate in part of your meeting via webcast or
conference call in order to answer questions.
4. As further preparation
for the meeting (or during the first part of the meeting),
suggest that the participants write answers to three
questions before they attend -- doing this before the
meeting will give them time to talk with colleagues if
needed:
-
How could my program use
TLT Group consulting, training or evaluation assistance?
Ideally, how many days of support would my program need?
-
What other TLT Group
resources (e.g., handbooks) could we use?
5. At your meeting, share your conclusions. If you just want the connections,
online workshops, evaluation resources, and materials The TLT Group offers, an inexpensive Alliance subscription
will be sufficient.
6. What would the subscription cost?
Find out if you qualify for a discount (e.g., as a returning
subscriber, a MERLOT subscriber, ...) If you're not sure
about this, or your system or consortium is interested in a
discount program, contact The TLT Group at info @
tltgroup.org or 301-270-8312.
7. Subscriptions are inexpensive enough that
interested offices may find it simplest to either split the
subscription evenly or in proportion to the number of
consulting/training/evaluation days each needs.
8. Important: If you decide
to subscribe, before your meeting ends, create an oversight
team that will meet regularly (once a quarter? once a
month?) to help assure the use of these new services and
resources. Or, if you have a committee like a
TLT Roundtable, that committee
might take on this function. Each time the team meets,
ask if you're getting the value you expected from the
subscription. As many past subscribers, satisfied and
dissatisfied, could tell you, the more effort you can put
into the subscription, the more you'll get out of it.
This team can also perform some of the
functions
of a TLT Roundtable: helping increase collaboration and
information sharing among your programs. The truth is
that, although one or more programs may be "splitting" the
subscription, each of the needs you described in step 4
above could probably benefit if two or more of your programs
collaborated. "Teaching and Learning with Technology" is
always a shared responsibility. It's this kind of
collaborative change that The TLT Group wants to support.
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