Welcome back, Faculty - From the Department of Academic Technologies

Hello Faculty,

On behalf of the Department of Academic Technologies, I would like to welcome you back to campus for the beginning of the fall 2013 term. I trust you will find our department staff responsive and professional, so please do not hesitate to ask for assistance with your academic technology needs.

I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a few changes since last year.

Classroom Updates

First, some faculty will have the opportunity to teach their classes in one of the 15 rooms across campus that has been equipped with new technology. Each of these rooms has a nice teaching lectern that houses a new computer and touch screen panel for controlling your audio/video presentation, and the rooms also have new ceiling mounted projector and speakers. You may notice that there is a wall mounted camera and hanging microphones as well; this equipment will be central to the implementation of a campus-wide lecture capture system that will be rolled out for the beginning of the spring term. Future plans are to equip 30 more of these rooms this fall, and then continue the expansion across the entire campus over the next 3 to 4 years.

Clickers

Second, over the summer the Department of Academic Technology partnered with First Year Experience (FYE) in evaluating student response systems (clickers) for incoming freshmen. The result was that the TurningPoint system was chosen and every freshman will be given a clicker during the first week of their FYE course. While the university is not taking a stance of adopting an "official" clicker system, it will not be long before a large percentage of our students will be carrying around a clicker device.

Virtual Faculty Resource Center

Third, within Angel you have access to a new course entitled Virtual Faculty Resource Center. This is a place where the Department of Academic Technologies will be posting tutorials, announcements, a calendar, and other useful information specifically for faculty. For example, if you would like to know where the newly equipped classrooms are around campus, or would like to investigate utilizing clickers in your course, this information can be easily found in the VFRC. While this VFRC course already has some great information posted, please know that we will continue to add resources as they are developed and we are open to suggestions about to best use the Angel course.

New Director of Academic Technologies and eLearning

Finally, you may be wondering about the author of this email. My name is Chad Hyatt and I am serving as the Director of Academic Technologies & eLearning for the university. I began this position in late April, so I have not had the opportunity to meet most of you. Please feel free to email me at chad.hyatt@uah.edu or call me at 824-6813 if you have any specific needs.

As I look ahead through the 2013 – 2014 academic year there will be more innovations and improvements to either evaluate or implement. I will try to keep everyone informed as we continue to move forward in Academic Technology, and there will most likely be times that I ask for faculty assistance with ideas and/or to help evaluate tools. I would enjoy engaging in these conversations, and I definitely look forward to working with you in the near future

Thank you, and have a wonderful fall semester.

Chad Hyatt