Fall 2009
Director’s Message: H1N1 Planning
Current planning efforts to mitigate the effects of the H1N1 virus pandemic at UF revolve around an expected number of absences of students over an extended period of time, possible faculty absence due to illness or need to care for an ill family member, and as an extreme measure closure of the university. For planning and preparation purposes, the Provost has appointed a workgroup, chaired by Dr. Andy McCollough, to address these scenarios. Please see his memorandum. More »
UF’s Pandemic Planning
Current planning efforts to mitigate the effect of an H1N1 virus pandemic on the academic programs of UF are designed to:
- Provide access to content and review activities for students who miss class due to the pandemic;
- Provide teaching continuity if the instructor is ill;
- Provide for instruction continuation through online resources when and if normally scheduled classes are suspended.
The tools available to accomplish these objectives include:
- Create and make available E-learning System course accounts for faculty who choose to use this system.
- Install lecture capture equipment in all large auditoria (200+ seating capacity) and capture as many lectures as possible for delivery to enrolled students through the web.
- Provide information for instructors in regards to other tools that can be used to create instructional activity for asymmetric delivery.
Information about these resources along with training, tutorials, and support details is now available at www.at.ufl.edu/flu .
Successful response to this situation will depend primarily on the faculty. The response mechanisms outlined above are intended to assist. The objective is teaching continuity. The time for planning is now. Please share with me any suggestions or concerns.
UF Adopts Sakai to be New E-Learning System
After an 8-month evaluation process, the University of Florida has selected the open source Sakai course management system to be the new course management system. By choosing an open source system, UF joins a growing trend among colleges and universities. More »
Workshops and Other Teaching Center News
This fall the AT Teaching Center and the Graduate School will once again offer our TA Development Workshops – a series of approximately 20 professional development sessions taught by professors from various UF departments and units – to help all UF Teaching Assistants improve their skills and classroom performance. More »
Help Desk Updates
The 2009 calendar year has brought an addition of multiple services to the UF Computing Help Desk to better serve the UF Community. The following services have been added since the Spring of 2009 and continue to grow as the University’s needs expand: More »
AT Computer Labs and Classrooms Updates
In preparation for the 2009-2010 academic year, computers in AT computer labs and classrooms have been upgraded in a number of ways. All iMac computers now allow users to choose either Mac OS X or Windows XP operating system. This new dual-boot technology permits instructors who want to use computers with different operating systems at different times to do so without changing rooms. It also allows classes to be taught entirely with Windows software in any of the three iMac classrooms (Architecture 120, Norman G512, Norman G514i). All PCs in classrooms were also upgraded to dual core architecture. labs.at.ufl.edu More »