A very nice description of the LTDC was written in a brochure for the UW System President’s Summit. It’s a good summary of who we are and what we do, and it is written in language that applies to those who are familiar with us as well as those who are not. Here is the text of that document:
We do instructional technology. We actively seek out new and emerging technologies and look for ways they can enhance the teaching and learning experience. We try things. We experiment. We look for innovative uses of existing technologies. Our passion is the teaching and learning process and our focus is technology.
We are experts at pedagogy, especially as it relates to technology. As much as we enjoy working with technology, it does not work for us unless it fills both a pedagogical need and the expectations of the faculty we work with. Our goal is to positively affect student learning outcomes with the effective use of technology.
We exist on every UW campus. The organizational structure and staffing of local Learning Technology Centers might vary but the essentials are there. On our individual campuses, we conduct training sessions on existing instructional technologies and promotional presentations on new and emerging ones. We work one on one with instructors and answer a myriad of questions. We guide instructors through technology projects. We actually like talking pedagogy and enjoy the challenges of an academic environment. All faculty have someone local who they can contact and work with.
We provide or are closely associated with the first line support and administration on your campus for Learn@UW, aka, Desire2Learn. We indirectly touch the academic lives of the vast majority of our students and about half of all our instructors.
We work together. Through the Curricular Redesign and Emerging Technology Grants, faculty PI and instructional technology experts collaborate on some very large multi-campus pilot projects, as well as smaller single campus pilot projects. Many of the instructional technologies so widely used today got their big boost in one of these projects.
We regularly present our findings at national and international conferences and organizations. We actively participate well beyond the boundaries of the state of Wisconsin.
Our current repertoire of instructional technologies include:
- Student Response Systems (Clickers)
- Digital Storytelling
- Podcasting
- Virtual World (Second Life)
- GIS (Geographic Information System)
- Lecture Capture
- Web Conferencing Tools
- Online and Hybrid Course Design
- Web 2.0 Technologies
- E-portfolio
- Rich Media
We welcome ideas from faculty. We want to hear your concerns and suggestions about how we together can transform higher education learning through the pedagogically sound integration of technology and instruction.
Connect with your campus Learning Technology Development Council Representative today!
Learning Technology Development Council 