UT4Me Fall 2007 UTTC Community

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Meet the Course Development and Technology Department
Instructional designers and multi-media programmers work with an increasing base of educational and corporate clients for contract course development, in addition to the hundreds of courses offered via the UT TeleCampus. Reviewing each course, each semester prior to delivery, course developers provide comprehensive consulting and ongoing training in the course platform. They offer faculty solutions year round for new innovations leading to better instructional design.

Technology staff administer the course hosting, TIS, and Help Desk service providers; they also manage a growing array of technical services from student websites to system databases, from specialized library and media servers to the UTTC website.

Link to profiles to find out more about this department – including what they like most about their jobs.

UTTC Faculty Partner Will Teach from Asia this Summer
Dr. Richard Cornell, emeritus professor at UCF-Orlando, and adjunct emeritus professor at UTB, shares that he will be teaching his online course from Asia in summer 2008. He writes:

For the past four years it has been my privilege to teach EDCI 6336 International Technology Issues for UTB. (The course is now offered Systemwide via UTTC.) The course examines the use of technology in education and business globally, and focuses mainly on China and Taiwan, given the critical importance to Texans of these locales.

Over the past years I have taught this class from my home office in Central Florida. In 2008, the plan is to teach it "on-location" with the first month originating from Taipei, Hualin, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, going from north to south. The second month will include stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Xian, and Chengdu.

It just seemed the right thing to do - go to places where true international issues occur, and bring in multiple sources - people, pictures and sounds, and ideas that currently frame what is happening in much of Southeast Asia. A synchronous interchange lasting about forty minutes will take place on Wimba each week with all sessions being archived for those who cannot take part in our discourses live.

Why is this important? Check closely to see who holds some or part of the mortgage on your home or business. Some smart investigation may amaze students when they find that many of the investors are located in Southeast Asia, particularly in Taiwan and China, increasingly the latter! They are often passive investors but their combined shares of these investments is growing rapidly.

So, for once, two case studies of China and Taiwan, plus others involving Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, and others will serve as point and counter-points as student compare and contrast radically different technological and ethnic cultures that increasingly impact their futures.

If this type of graduate course intrigues you, come on in! For further information contact me at cornell@mail.ucf.edu

Hope to see you soon - from Asia!

Dick Cornell
Emeritus Professor
Instructional Systems
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~cornell/

Find out more about his interesting course which is offered as part of the M.Ed. in Educational Technology program.

UT TeleCampus Represented at the 2007 AIR Austin Rally
Four members of the UT TeleCampus course development and technology team participated in the 2007 AIR Austin Rally. Jennifer Chance, Jennifer Freeman, George Irwin and Jeremy Gordon volunteered for this unique competitive event which matches teams of web designers/developers with non-profit groups to make their websites more accessible for people with disabilities. The UT TeleCampus team was matched with the Austin Memorial and Burial Information Society and they competed against fourteen other teams for the honor of having their site declared “Most Accessible Web Site."

In their daily work, the CDT group uses cutting edge web technologies to develop and manage online courses for the 15 institutions in the UT System. Together, they are well versed in W3C compliant web technologies, database integration, learning and content management systems, Flash development, and graphic design.

Members of the team have had the honor of presenting at SXSW Interactive and have received various awards, such as the 2005 APEX Award of Excellence, and the UCEA Program of Excellence. They work collaboratively towards the integration of web technology as a tool to help individuals across the world gain access to higher education.

UT TeleCampus Contacts
Because UTTC works in partnership with all 15 UT System institutions, it is vital that our department has an official TeleCampus contact at each institution who keeps us up-to-date on campus issues. Contacts also act as a conduit for important UTTC information back to the institution. Designated by each campus' president, they are usually in a position to be able to provide us with a "big picture" view from the institution. In turn, the contact disseminates TeleCampus information across his or her institution.

Attendees heard from Dr. David Prior, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, about current and future aspects of the TeleCampus. They also met with Marge Knox, associate vice chancellor and chief information officer, regarding a System-wide look at the use of Blackboard and WebCT courseware management systems. Fourteen UT System institutions were represented at the meeting.

Readership Survey
Please take a few minutes to fill out this very brief survey to help us better understand who are readers are and make suggestions on how to improve this newsletter. Thank you in advance!

Campus News
Check out what’s happening at each campus.

• UT Arlington: http://www.theshorthorn.com/
• UT Austin: http://www.dailytexanonline.com/
• UT Dallas: http://www.utdmercury.com/
• UT El Paso: http://www.utep.edu/prosmine/
• UT Pan American: http://www.panam.edu/2000/news/
• UT Permian Basin: http://www.utpb.edu/pubinfo/newsrel.htm
• UT San Antonio: http://www.utsa.edu/today/
• UT Tyler: http://www.uttyler.edu/news/index.htm

Thank you for reading the Fall 2007 issue of UT4Me. Look for the Spring issue soon.