Academic Technology Newsletters » Teaching With Technology

Director’s Message

Fedro Zazueta — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:46:15 +0000

Greetings! Over the summer a number of initiatives were undertaken to improve the academic support services provided. As a result the following new services are now being offered:

lynda.com

Through the Student Technology Fee Grants program, UFIT is pleased to announce funding and support of a 1-year pilot program featuring unlimited access to lynda.com for all students, faculty, and staff.

The lynda.com Online Training Library® includes more than 1,100 courses, with several courses added each week. Courses range from Web development, animation, and video graphics courses to engineering and business software and SharePoint training.

Members of the lynda.com staff will visit our campus in October. They are especially interested in meeting with faculty members to identify ways to incorporate their

… More

Teaching Assistance for Busy Faculty

Jennifer Smith — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:45:03 +0000

There is a new Website that connects faculty to teaching resources: http://teach.ufl.edu/.

The site is a resources portal for centrally supported services, tools, and training.

The resources are divided into the following categories:

Faculty Assistance
Resources
How To. . .
Support Units

There are several offices providing faculty with assistance in course design and development. You’ll find these offices listed on the Faculty Assistance page. With the new financial chargeback model in place at UF, these services are now provided centrally at no cost to the individual faculty member or department. Faculty who would like assistance with course design or course development should fill out the Course Assistance Request Form to begin the process.

The Resources page… More

Mediasite Recordings Now Embeddable into e-Learning

Mark McCallister — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:44:56 +0000

Mediasite catalogs are now fully embeddable in Sakai course pages:

In your Sakai course page, go to Site Info
Select Edit Tools from the links at the top
Check the box for Web Links and click Continue
Enter a Title for how you want the link to appear in the left menu (i.e., Lectures)
Paste the catalog link in as the Source
Click Continue, and then Finish
Select the new link from the menu on the left
Click on Options
Set the Frame Height to 600 pixels (if it isn’t already)
Click on Update Options
Your lectures will show up here immediately following the recording.

Two additional Mediasite features are now available:

Course catalogs and/or individual presentations within

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The End and Beginning of Eras for E-Learning at UF: WebCT, Blackboard, Sakai

Doug Johnson — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:43:19 +0000

At 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday May 31, the University of Florida license for WebCT/Blackboard Vista expired. A highly successful experiment of more than 11 years came to an end.

The WebCT (Web Course Tools) system was set up in 1999. It started out as a small experiment running on a desktop computer in the CITT, back when Academic Technology was called the Office of Instructional Resources (OIR). In true, “if you build it, they will come” mode, WebCT grew rapidly to become one of the top, mission-critical systems at the University of Florida.

The WebCT system was created by Murray Goldberg, a member of the computer science faculty at the University of British Columbia (UBC). His research into Web-based educational… More

Classroom Presentations with an iPad 2

Mark McCallister — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:42:33 +0000

The newest media tablets, such as the iPad 2 and Motorola Xoom, have video-out ports. This means you can use a presentation application (“app”) and display it on a large monitor. Both the iPad 2 (an Apple iOS device) and the Motorola Xoom (a Google Android device) have ports allowing for HDMI adapter use, which will connect either device to a flat-screen display. Apple also sells a VGA adapter for the iPad 2 that allows you to show the display from your iPad 2 directly on the projectors in university classrooms using the VGA laptop cables at the podiums. Since you are still connected to the podium with the VGA cable, you won’t be able to wander far; but if… More

Tired of Chalk Dust and Dry-Erase Ink?

Mark McCallister — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:42:25 +0000

All general classrooms at UF are equipped with SMART Sympodium monitors on the installed computers. Instead of turning your back to the class to write on the chalkboard or whiteboard, try using the digital pen attached to the back of the SMART Sympodium to write on top of blank or partially completed PowerPoint slides using the built-in SMART Board Tools software.

To get started, first open PowerPoint and then open the SMART Board Tools toolbar. Use the controls on the toolbar, or the buttons on the top of the monitor itself, to change pen colors as you write or draw.

Would you prefer your students to concentrate on what you say and not on trying to take verbatim notes? … More

Record Your Lecture

Mark McCallister — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:41:19 +0000

Have you ever wanted to record a lecture for a student who must be absent, or just so students can review your lectures after the fact to improve their notes and understanding? Every classroom at UF is equipped with Camtasia Relay, a software you can use to record both your lecture (voice) and the documents on the classroom’s computer desktop. Request your Camtasia Relay account at http://video.ufl.edu. Recording is as simple as logging in and pushing the big red record button! Recorded presentations are automatically uploaded to the destination of your choice.

Some lecture halls are also equipped with the high-end Mediasite recording systems. These specially equipped rooms have a camera in the back of the room. With Mediasite… More

Fran McDonell Retires

Ayola Singh-Kreitz — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 19:40:16 +0000

On June 30, 2011, the university career of Fran McDonell was celebrated. Fran worked for the University of Florida for nearly
38 years.

Fran began her UF career immediately following completion of her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering, among the first women to complete this program. In 1973 Fran began her career at was then the UF Computing Center in SSRB. Within a year, she joined the Center for Instructional and Research Computing Activities (CIRCA). Within CIRCA, Fran worked with the team that created UF’s GatorLink account service. The GatorLink account service went live on August 18, 1977, with 1,875 customers. This formerly optional service is of course now a requirement for any incoming, active, and former student,… More

Director’s Message

Fedro Zazueta — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:26:46 +0000

Mobile devices are mature, readily available and cost effective. The ability to access the Internet from handheld devices and their usable interface provides an opportunity to create new learning environments and convenient access to campus services. As evidence about their use begins to collect, it’s becoming clear that these devices improve learning outcomes, can reach a large number of constituents, provide opportunities for non-traditional education, and facilitate student and alumni access to institutional services.
Today, about 50% of students own a handheld device, and it is expected that by 2013 mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common access device worldwide. It is clear that mobile access is of strategic importance to online education and needs to be… More

Conversion to Sakai: End Game for the Old Blackboard / WebCT E-Learning System!

Doug Johnson — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:09:33 +0000

Rocky Start

January 2011 greeted e-Learning in Sakai and the E-Learning System with a rocky start to the term. Repeated problems in various components of the University authentication system frustrated users repeatedly throughout much of the month. However, by the end of the third week of January fixes were applied and service settled into normal operations.
Heavy load on Sakai was a major component of those problems. Although the total number of Sakai courses is not dramatically different from this time last year, or even from the previous semester, what is unusual is the number of people logged into Sakai at peak periods. In the old E-Learning System, peak loads typically hit around 4,500 concurrent users. In Sakai, we… More

Microsoft Media Distribution & Installation Services

Ayola Singh-Kreitz — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:04:39 +0000

If you want to upgrade your operating system or need Microsoft Office Suite, this media is now available for purchase. The different media available are: Windows 7 operating system Upgrade, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 (32-bit/64-bit) for PC or Microsoft Office for Mac 2011.
Please be aware that under this agreement, a UF faculty, staff and students and Shands employees are entitled to install only one copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Upgrade and one copy of Office Suite. Installation media are available at the distribution cost of $15.00 + tax. Any additional licenses can be purchased at the full retail price.
For individuals wanting to upgrade their operating system we strongly encourage them to run the… More

Student Technology Fee

Anne Allen — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:48:02 +0000

Now in its second year, the Student Technology Fee funds projects proposed by students, staff and faculty through a competitive process. The Technology Fee was established by the Florida Legislature to meet the evolving needs of students and faculty related to technology and its use in an academic setting. This year, the Advisory Committee has received seventeen Concept Papers for review and will select a certain number of those to advance to the full proposal stage. The proposals are varied in nature, but all seek to enhance the student experience by utilizing technology for teaching and learning. The Committee acts in an advisory capacity to the CIO, who makes the final decision on projects to be funded and implemented.
Each year, everyone… More

Collaborating with Faculty to Reach Students

Academic Technology — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:41:43 +0000

The Achieving Excellence in Chemistry (ACE) program is a collaborative effort by the Teaching Center and the Chemistry Department to provide learning assistance to students in Chemistry 1025. The tutors, known as ACE leaders, are recommended by Chemistry Professor John Mitchell and trained by Rob Bailey, the Teaching Center Supplemental Instruction Coordinator. These tutors are then enrolled in CHM 4940 Supervised Teaching in Chemistry, a one-credit course in the Chemistry Department. Every week of the semester, each ACE leader holds three small-group tutoring sessions which focus on mastering the course content and improving overall study skills for students enrolled in CHM 1025. The study sessions include active learning techniques such as note review, creating concept maps and note cards, learning… More

Recording a Presentation, Quickly and Easily

Mark McCallister — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 14:12:39 +0000

The Academic Technology Digital Media Hub is designed to let you record a presentation of any length on a computer for your students to view. Camtasia Relay is an easy-to-use program that you can download and install on any computer, including office, home, and laptop computers. Camtasia Relay allows you to record your voice along with your computer desktop. Scenarios for using this technology might include:

Recording an entire lecture for students to use as review material
Recording a lecture when you or a student must be absent from class as make-up material
Recording a short segment of additional instruction on a difficult or alternate topic

The Camtasia Relay software is already installed… More

Director’s Message: Update on the Implementation of the IT Action Plan

Fedro Zazueta — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:18:21 +0000

The Information Technology Action Plan (ITAP) focused on a set of actions and recommendations to structure UF IT under a CIO and build a firm base for an IT organization and services in support of the UF mission. These included recommendations related to sustainable funding, efficiency and performance measurement, IT governance and priority setting, combining like functions and services, and cost effectiveness.

Sakai Update – Transition to Sakai

Doug Johnson — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:54:00 +0000

After a successful Summer A pilot and Summer B “soft roll-out,” the new e-Learning in Sakai collaboration and learning system rolled into full production for the Fall term. The old E-Learning System has been heavily used since 2004, and there are nearly 13,000 course accounts that need to be evaluated for migration to Sakai. As a result, Sakai will be running in parallel with Vista for the 2010-2011 school year. The E-Learning System is scheduled to be turned off when the current license expires on May 31, 2011; at that point, e-Learning in Sakai will be the single, centrally-supported course management system.

Students Can Review Lectures with Mediasite

Mark McCallister — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:46:09 +0000

An entirely automated lecture recording system is available for faculty request in nine of the busiest lecture halls on campus. Mediasite, UF’s rich media recording and streaming system, simultaneously records the computer display, video from a camera at the back of the room, and audio picked up from the wireless microphone.

Provost E-Learning Initiative in Fourth Round of Proposals

Jennifer Smith — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:34:04 +0000

The Provost E-Learning Initiative was created in 2007 in an effort to improve learning outcomes, facilitate efficient use of faculty time and reduce instruction costs. The program was also intended to address departmental and college issues involving sufficient numbers of seats in core prerequisites and disparities across multiple sections of the same course.

Technology Fee Proposals for 2010 Selected

Anne Allen — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:31:16 +0000

A Technology Fee was implemented for all UF students beginning Fall 2009 and is to be used to enhance instructional technology services and infrastructure for students and faculty at the University of Florida. A portion of this money was allocated to funding projects.

Recording Presentations with Camtasia Relay

Mark McCallister — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:24:19 +0000

Camtasia Relay is a computer screen and audio recording application. Camtasia Relay can automatically record, process, and upload recording sessions from a computer directly to a streaming media server or iTunes U, with fewer steps than are required with traditional presentation recording software to get recorded media posted on the web to be watched or downloaded. The best part about Camtasia Relay is that it is absolutely free to use...