SELECTED
EXCERPTS FROM:
(Virtual) Teaching, Learning,
and Technology Centers™
Local (V)TLTCs™ and TLTCs™
Starter-Kit
Steven W. Gilbert, President, The TLT Group, Inc.
Revised:
October 6, 2000
.
© 2000, The TLT Group. All Rights
Reserved.
This
“Starter-Kit” is a brief collection of materials designed to help you
decide whether or not your institution needs its own Virtual Teaching,
Learning, and Technology Center – a Local
(V)TLTC; and, if so,
how to begin the preparation process using resources available from the TLT
Group.
"TLTR"™
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable
"TLTC"™
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center
"(V)TLTC"™
Virtual Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center
"Local (V)TLTC" Local Virtual Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center
CONTENTS
ORIGINAL
DOCUMENT CONTAINS 27 PAGES
I.
Introduction and Background
II.
Challenges for Colleges and Universities
III.
Solutions: TLTRs, Local
(V)TLTCs, and TLTCs
IV.
Guidelines for Local (V)TLTCs
V.
Models, and Metaphors for TLTCs and (V)TLTCs
A.
Readiness – Does Your Institution Need a Local (V)TLTC?
B.
Decisions and Preparations for Launching a Local (V)TLTC
VIII.
More Information: Launch
or Advance Local (V)TLTC
IX.
Application Form for (V)TLTC Services and/or to Become a (V)TLTC
Pilot Site
I. Introduction and Background
This
“Starter-Kit” is a brief collection of materials designed to help you
decide whether or not your institution needs its own Virtual Teaching,
Learning, and Technology Center – a Local
(V)TLTC; and, if so,
how to begin the preparation process using resources available from the TLT
Group.
"TLTR"™
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable
"TLTC"™
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center
"(V)TLTC"™
Virtual Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center
"Local
(V)TLTC"
Local Virtual Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center
Beyond
TLTRs – Meeting Rising Expectations with New Strategies, Services
The
gap is widening between rising expectations about educational uses of
information technology and the too-limited resources available for
supporting them at most colleges and universities. Local and
inter-institutional Virtual Teaching, Learning, and Technology
Centers-(V)TLTC™s-can offer more effective ways of organizing, extending,
and augmenting those resources. (V)TLTCs can offer services and materials to
help faculty members and academic support professionals keep up with the
changing options available for improving teaching and learning with
technology-and with changing needs, capabilities, and goals of learners and
teachers.
Since 1994, the TLT Group senior staff and dozens of Senior Associates
have been helping hundreds of colleges and universities to launch or advance
their own TLT Roundtables, develop and implement Flashlight studies, plan
Student Technology Assistant programs, and improve their use of information
technology to support disabled students and faculty. The ideas introduced in this document are based on hundreds
of conversations (in person and on the Internet), campus visits, and
arguments about changing conditions and goals.
The participating professionals have recognized the growing need to
provide a more operational structure and strategy – one that can build on,
and go beyond, the work of a local TLT Roundtable.
This new approach must respond to rising expectations for improving
teaching and learning with technology and address the "Support Service
Crisis" more directly. The
Local (V)TLTC strategy is the result. It
remains true to the collaborative, participatory principles of the TLTRs
while fostering more active projects, programs, and use of the Web.
This
document provides a set of guidelines for (V)TLTCs.
Extensive experience with TLT Roundtables shows that effective
implementation of such guidelines usually requires external advice and
support – best provided by professionals who have worked with similar
programs at other institutions. The
TLT Group is prepared to offer such services through its staff and network
of campus-based leaders. The
TLT Group is also developing a set of Web templates and related resources to
facilitate the development of the online component of (V)TLTCs. [We are looking for a few pilot sites to test and further
develop these templates in the year 2000.]
Finally,
the TLT Group is also developing a system for certifying that a Local
(V)TLTC adequately follows the Guidelines and is authorized to use the
"(V)TLTC"™ label.
II. Challenges for Colleges and Universities
The
"Support Service Crisis"
is growing. There is a widening
gap between rising expectations about educational uses of information
technology and the too-limited resources available for supporting them on
most campuses.
...
III. Solutions: TLTRs, Local (V)TLTCs, and TLTCs
Local
TLTCs
Forming
a local Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable is a useful first step
in achieving better-coordinated strategies, policies, and resource
allocation decisions. A TLTR is
a diverse group that builds communication, cooperation, and provides
recommendations to leading academic administrators about policies,
practices, and resource allocation for the improvement of teaching and
learning with technology. Several
hundred colleges and universities have already launched their own TLTRs.
But the challenges
listed above suggest the need for a more active, operational step –
forming a Local (V)TLTC and TLTC.
During the past decades, hundreds of colleges and universities have
developed campus centers to support faculty members’ efforts to improve
their own teaching and related scholarly pursuits.
In
addition, operating quite separately from these centers and from each
other at most higher education institutions, are technology support
services, libraries, and other related professional support
organizations-such as instructional design, language labs, media services,
and telecommunications facilities. [NOTE: Experts in
pedagogy or teacher training from departments or colleges of education are
very rarely involved in the design or operation of Teaching and Learning
Centers that serve faculty members at their own institutions.
In what ways can this under-utilized expertise be effectively
integrated?]
In
the late 1990s some institutions extended and changed this model.
They established centers located in or near the library that include
some staff and other resources from the faculty development, library, and
technology support organizations together, perhaps with the hope of
overcoming all-too-common patterns of separation and turf-defense.
We will refer to these physical centers as Teaching, Learning, and
Technology Centers (TLTCs), although few of them have that exact label.
A TLT Center is a shared physical base for developing and providing
some faculty support services. While
it is probably neither feasible nor advisable to try to situate the full
staff of any service unit within the TLT Center, having individual
representatives from some of these units working together in the same space
on a daily basis can help them develop more collaborative, cost-effective
programs.
Local
(V)TLTCs
Local
(V)TLTCs focus on improving teaching and learning with information
technology. They provide
training and consultation services and related materials for faculty members
(and, possibly, for staff, administrators, and other support professionals).
A
local (V)TLTC should include these elements:
1.
Collaborative projects and programs;
2.
Combinations of media and structures selected to meet the learning
needs of professionals;
3.
A room where some representatives of some
of the relevant support services work together some of the time;
4.
Online services and resources; and
5.
Ongoing assessment.
A
local (V)TLTC is "virtual" in two ways: organizationally and
technologically. Various
academic support services collaboratively develop and conduct projects and
programs; however, most of these services remain separated organizationally
and geographically within the institution. Information technology,
especially the Web, is used to schedule, coordinate, publicize, deliver, and
revise faculty support services and related resources available within the
institution. Additional resources and services from outside the institution
may be made accessible through this same Web site.
However, to provide the most effective professional education, local
(V)TLTCs intentionally mix face-to-face group workshops, individualized
tutorials, telecommunications, and other media. Finally, those who lead Local (V)TLTCs should often assess
the effectiveness of their own collaborative programs -- with the goal of
obtaining information that can help them make better decisions about how to
improve academic support services.
Both
Local (V)TLTCs and TLTCs offer services and materials to help faculty
members and academic support professionals.
Within a college or university, these Centers include staff and other
resources from – at least -- the faculty development, library, and
technology support organizations.
These Centers enable faculty and support professionals to keep up
with the accelerating pace of change in options for improving teaching and
learning with technology – and with changes in the needs, capabilities,
and goals of learners and teachers.
Local
(V)TLTCs are direct descendants of Teaching, Learning, and Technology
Roundtables (TLTRs), and extend their work.
A college or university does not need a currently active TLTR to
launch a Local (V)TLTC, but it helps. A
Local (V)TLTC will need an advisory or governing board quite similar in
composition to a TLTR or one of its subgroups.
The ongoing work of a Local (V)TLTC and a TLTR can be extremely
complementary, and a Local (V)TLTC can be the means for implementing some of
the recommendations of a TLTR. (See
WWW.TLTGROUP.ORG for guidelines and
other information about TLTRs).
Inter-Institutional
(V)TLTCs
Most
Local (V)TLTCs do not have the adequate staff or resources to keep up with
the rapidly growing demand for integrating information technology into
teaching and learning; nor do the faculty and professional staff members on
most campuses have the time and resources for keeping up with the
proliferation of new combinations of pedagogy and technology. To meet these
growing needs, inter-institutional collaboration in support of the work of
Local (V)TLTCs appears more attractive and (with the support of new
communications technologies) increasingly feasible. Establishing a (V)TLTC
-- for a group of institutions (consortium, state system, etc.) can
be another important step.
IV. Guidelines for Local (V)TLTCs
Here is a working draft of guidelines for establishing a Local (V)TLTC.
These guidelines should be adapted to reflect local
politics and culture. If it
helps to call the Center something other than “(V)TLTC,” then do so. However, only those institutions authorized by the TLT Group
as having adequately implemented these guidelines are permitted to use the
label "(V)TLTC"™ to describe their programs.
GUIDELINES
Local Virtual Teaching, Learning, and Technology
Centers
-- Local (V)TLTCs
(Second Working Draft – Revised
October
6, 2000
)
Mission:
Transformation and Preservation
Help
faculty and academic support professionals keep up with the accelerating
pace of change in options for improving teaching and learning – and with
changes in the needs, capabilities, and goals of learners and teachers. Help everyone to
think in useful new categories about educational structures, tools, and
information resources that were never before within their reach. Provide the coordinated expertise, training, and
support services necessary to successfully integrate and evaluate new
instructional alternatives. Use
the Web and related technology applications whenever possible to facilitate
collaboration, increase access
to resources, improve the effectiveness of services, or control costs.
Encourage
and support faculty members’ efforts to improve teaching and learning
through more effective uses of information technology while controlling
costs. Help faculty members to
evaluate, select, develop, modify, and match new combinations of
pedagogical approaches, new technology applications, and more traditional
instructional materials and settings. Develop an environment in which it is
safe for faculty members, academic support professionals, and students to
change – to take risks and even to fail occasionally.
Build
a foundation for collaboration among academic support service professionals
and for sustaining and concentrating their efforts to achieve the
institution’s educational mission. Help
everyone clarify and confirm their commitments to the deepest educational
values, even in the face of
accelerating change, by discussing their answers to these fundamental
questions about transformation and preservation :
What do we most want to gain for our students, our institution, and
ourselves? What do we cherish
most and want not to lose?
...
Collaborative Projects and Programs
New Synergies, New Expertise
(Academic Support Professionals and )
"Compassionate Pioneers"
Online
Services and Resources
Shared
Space -- TLT Center(s)
Leadership and Organizational Status
Budget and Staff
Advisory
or Governing Board
Ongoing Assessment
Students
INSERT
HERE YOUR OWN additional Local
(V)TLTC Guidelines or suggestions for revision of the above:
***
V. Models, and Metaphors for TLTCs and (V)TLTCs
The
combination of BOTH online and onsite access is likely to be the most widely
effective and powerful for most of the following functions, services, and
resources. Any Local (V)TLTC or
TLTC can usefully build on some of the metaphors and models listed
below.
NOTE:
The “Compassionate Pioneers” among the faculty are
those technology/pedagogy innovators who care about bringing along their
less self-initiating peers.
- "Directory"
Almost(?) complete list of local resources available to faculty and other academic professionals to help them improve teaching and learning with information technology. Includes the nature and availability of expert help from local "Compassionate Pioneers." [Note: Striving to develop and maintain a complete and up-to-date list of these resources is almost certainly an overwhelming and unnecessary challenge. Something like 75% is a reasonable and valuable goal.] - “Reference Desk”
Place where faculty and support professionals can get answers – or be helped to find answers -- to questions about instructional options. Pedagogy/technology/assessment directory and reference materials (print, online, etc.); training materials (print, online, etc.); help desk or hotline (staffed by consultants: professionals, student assistants or Compassionate Pioneers); drop-in services. (See TLT Directory and Compassionate Pioneer sections in “A New Vision Worth Working Toward-- Connected Education and Collaborative Change” at WWW.TLTGROUP.ORG.)
- “Base Camp”
- “Mentoring Center”
- “Resource Room”
- “Lounge/Forum”
- "Play Space"
- “Work Space”
- “Training Center”
- “Studio”
- "Innovation, Research,
and Assessment Center"
- “Overload Clinic”
VI. Related URL(s)
[This
list needs to be updated and expanded!
Please send us your recommendations!]
RELATED
INFORMATION:
Additional Links [from Ohio Learning Network, January, 2003]
INTER-INSTITUTIONAL
TLTC-LIKE EFFORTS
Appalachian
College Association – Now working on developing a Virtual Center
<http://www.acaweb.org/vcenter/default/htm>
Associated
Colleges of the South – Related Inter-Institutional Technology Support
<http://www.colleges.org/techcenter/>
COMPILATION
OF TLTC-LIKE COLLABORATIONS WITHIN INSTITUTIONS COMPILED BY DONNA REISS OF
TIDEWATER COMMUNITY COLLEGE
<http://www.tc.cc.va.us/faculty/tcreisd/projects/ecac/collabs.htm>
COMPILATION
OF TEACHING/LEARNING CENTERS – NO GUARANTEE OF INCLUSION OF TECHNOLOGY –
From University of Kansas
<http://eagle.cc.ukans.edu/~cte/EducationalSites.html>
INDIVIDUAL
INSTITUTION’S TLTC-LIKE EFFORTS
Acadia
University: Acadia Institute
for Teaching and Technology
George
Mason University
Georgetown University:
Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship
http://www.georgetown.edu/main/provost/candles/
IUPUI: The
Center for Teaching & Learning
Maricopa
Community Colleges: Maricopa
Center for Learning & Instruction (MCLI)
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/
Northwest
Missouri State University: Center for Information Technology in Education
(CITE)
http://www.nwmissouri.edu/~cite
Portland
State University: Center for
Academic Excellence
St.
Cloud State University: Learning Resources and Technology Services
http://condor.stcloudstate.edu/~tltr
Seton
Hall University : TLT Center
Temple
University: Interactive
Multimedia Advanced Applications and Research Center
University
at Buffalo (SUNY Buffalo): Educational Technology Center
University
of Calgary: Learning Commons
University
of Illinois at Springfield: Center for Teaching & Learning
(sub-unit: Office of Technology Enhanced Learning)
<http://www.uis.edu/~ctl>
(click
on OTEL icon on CTL front page for link to OTEL Website)
University
of Massachusetts Boston: The
Learning Center
<http://www.learningctr.umb.edu/>
University
of Washington: UWired's Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
http://www.washington.edu/uwired/catalyst
VII. Questions
These
questions are intended to help you organize your own thoughts and prepare to
discuss with your colleagues the need for a Local (V)TLTC or TLTC and the
specific features that would be most useful (or problematic) for your own
institution.
A. Readiness – Does Your Institution Need a Local (V)TLTC?
1. Are current support
resources and services adequate to meet the demands and expectations of
faculty members who are trying to improve teaching and learning with
technology?
2. Do most faculty members
know what support resources and services are already available to help them
improve teaching and learning with technology?
Do they know when, where, and how to use these resources?
3. Are current academic
support services for faculty members well-coordinated and focused together
on achieving a shared educational vision?
To what extent do the different services offer activities that
unnecessarily overlap in purpose or those served?
Are there some important areas of expertise not covered by any of the
support services because each assumes that some other group is taking care
of if?
4. If many more faculty
members become more actively engaged in using information technology in
their own teaching, will the technological and support service
infrastructure be adequate to support their efforts and meet their rising
expectations?
5. Does your institution
already have something quite similar to a TLTC or Local (V)TLTC?
a. If so,
what year did this Center begin?
b. In
which building and in which department is the TLT Center located
geographically and administratively?
B. Preparing to Launch a Local (V)TLTC
1. Benefits
In what ways do current collaborative efforts at your institution already help improve teaching and learning with information technology? What are (or would be) the benefits of having a Local (V)TLTC or TLTC (benefits unlikely to be available without the operation of the Center)? Who has the most to gain? Who will be the "clients" -- who will be served by the Center?
2. Obstacles
What are some of the obstacles to better coordination, communication, and collaboration among key support services? What are the obstacles likely to impede your establishing a Local (V)TLTC and TLTC? Who has the most to lose? [If you already have each, what surprising problems has your institution already encountered in establishing or running them?]
3. Units
Represented within the Local (V)TLTC
Identify
3 or 4 (or more!) organizational units that should be represented in the
Local (V)TLTC. Who provides
services or controls resources that will be essential to help support
faculty efforts to change teaching and learning (with information
technology) at your institution? More
specifically, within the administration and professional support staff,
which departments or offices or units (e.g., technology, library, A-V,
faculty development, pedagogy experts, continuing education...) do so?
For EACH such unit, provide the following information:
a.
Name of the unit.
b.
Mission or charge for the unit.
c.
“Reporting” role of the unit
(e.g., the library might "report to" the Chief Academic
Officer). To whom does this
unit report?
·
Name
·
Title
· If relevant, of which division, college, or other larger administrative unit is this group a part?
4.
Centralization vs. De-Centralization
Which
academic support organizations are already co-located (in the same building?
In adjacent offices or sharing one space?
In or near the library?) Which
other units have staff, services, or materials that could be usefully
co-located within a TLTC? Which
staff, services, or materials? Which
staff, services, or materials can be more useful when located de-centrally?
Where? [And, if you have
time, why?]
Which
of these academic support organizations are already fully merged (having the
same Director)? Which of these
report to different Vice Presidents? [e.g.,
library reports to Chief Academic Officer, Information Technology reports to
Chief Financial Officer.]
5.
Funding
What
are the most likely sources of funding for the design, development, and
launch of your TLTC and Local (V)TLTC?
For their ongoing operations?
6.
Assessment/Accomplishments
What
outcomes or indicators will
demonstrate the success of the Local (V)TLTC and TLTC?
What could be accomplished within the next 12 months that would
convince you that the Local (V)TLTC and TLTC were a success?
[See Flashlight Program – WWW.TLTGROUP.ORG.]
7.
Local (V)TLTC vs. TLTC
In
what ways will it be easier (or more difficult) to develop a virtual TLT Center than a physical one? In what ways will it be more effective to develop both a
Local (V)TLTC and a real TLT Center? How
can your TLTR, TLTC, and Local (V)TLTC each benefit from the work of the
others?
8.
Inter-Institutional Collaboration
In
what ways is your institution working with other colleges or universities to
improve teaching and learning? In
what ways is your institution using information technology and
telecommunications options to work with other colleges or universities to
improve teaching and learning? To
jointly develop shared online resources or services?
9.
Selective Online Resources
What
online resources or services have you found that provide well-organized,
highly selected information or tools designed to help your faculty members
to develop or use new Web-based instructional units?
What online resources or services have you found that provide
well-organized, highly selected information or tools designed to help your
academic support service professionals keep up to date and function more
cost-effectively?
10.
Inter-Institutional Online (V)TLTC
[TLT Co-op]
How
could your institution benefit from working with other colleges or
universities to develop an online (V)TLTC?
What elements would your institution be best able to contribute?
What elements would your institution most like others to contribute? With which colleges or universities would you most like to
jointly develop a shared online (V)TLTC?
VIII. More
Information: Launch or Advance
Local (V)TLTC
For Additional Information
For more information about the programs and services described in this
paper, contact VTLTC@TLTGROUP.ORG or watch WWW.TLTGROUP.ORG
and the AAHESGIT listserver for further updates.
For information about TLT Roundtables – the organizational strategy that
complements and supports the work of local (V)TLTCs and TLTCs – see WWW.TLTGROUP.ORG
where you will also find TLTR
Guidelines, information about the TLTR
Workbook, and related materials from the TLT Group.
You
can also subscribe to the highly moderated AAHESGIT listserver which
discusses closely related topics by sending an email message to:
LISTPROC@LIST.CREN.NET with
the text:
SUBSCRIBE AAHESGIT yourfirstname yourlastname
IX. Application Form for (V)TLTC Services and/or to Become a (V)TLTC Pilot Site
To apply to become a pilot site for (V)TLTC development work or to request
TLT Group services to help launch or advance your own Local (V)TLTC,
complete this form and send it to:
Local (V)TLTC
Headquarters office hours: 10AM to 6PM Eastern
Directions to: One Columbia
Avenue, Takoma Park, Maryland 20912 USA
phone (301) 270-8312 fax: (301)270-8110
e-mail: online@tltgroup.org
Name:
Title:
Institution:
Email:
Phone:
Fax:
Mailing
Address:
Please
contact me about:
___ A.
Becoming a pilot site for (V)TLTC development work.
___ B.
TLT Group services to help launch or advance our own Local (V)TLTC.
1.
Sponsors
Names,
titles, email addresses and phone numbers for the Chief Academic Officer and
at least one other high-ranking academic administrator who have each already
agreed to sponsor the launch or advance of a Local (V)TLTC at your
institution.
2.
Budget
How
will a budget be established for this new Local (V)TLTC?
3.
Steering Group
Names
and titles of the leaders of academic support services who have already
agreed to participate in a collaborative effort to form or advance your
Local (V)TLTC. This list must
include at least the leaders of technology support services, the
library, and faculty development services.
4.
Co-Chairs
Names
and titles of two or three individuals who are willing and able to serve as
co-chairs for the Local (V)TLTC during its first year.
To what extent are these individuals interested in being trained for
this role? To what extent do
these individuals have the time and interest for accepting this challenge?
Co-chairs of a Local (V)TLTC need to be widely respected and to be
skillful in leading a diverse group of professional colleagues to reach
consensus on difficult issues.
5.
Location of TLTC(s)
a.
Does your institution already have something quite similar to a physical
TLT Center?
b.
If so, when did this Center begin (what year)?
c.
If not, when will the new Center first open its doors for business?
d.
Where is this physical TLT Center(s) located?
[Or where will it be located?]
e. Describe the capacity of this Center for people, equipment, print material, and any other resources. How many people can work in this space comfortably at the same time? How many desk-top computers comfortably fit?
f.
Which office will "own" this space?
Whose budget will be responsible for maintenance or replacing
equipment? Who will control the schedule for access to this space?
g.
Which academic support services will assign staff to this space?
How many and how often?
6.
Precedent: Status of
TLTR
a.
Does your institution already have something quite similar to a TLT
Roundtable?
[If
your answer is "No." skip to question 7 below.]
b.
When did this TLTR begin (what year)?
c.
How often does your TLTR meet?
d.
Please give the names and titles of the TLTR Chair or Co-Chairs:
e.
Which academic or administrative leaders sponsor (publicly support
and listen to recommendations) the TLTR?
f.
To whom is the TLTR advisory?
g.
How actively does the Chief Academic Officer support the TLTR?
7.
Likely Project or Program
a.
Briefly describe the urgency of increasing your institution's
capacity to support more faculty members' efforts to use information
technology (especially email and the Web) more often and more deeply to
improve their own teaching.
b.
Briefly describe one current problem or challenge related to
improving teaching and learning with information technology that is likely
to benefit from a new project or program to be developed and run
collaboratively by two or more of your academic support services.
Confirm that the leaders of these services are receptive to this
joint effort.
8.
Optional: Related Web
Accomplishment
Please
provide one or two URLs that will show or describe an accomplishment of
which you are already proud.
