News

Posted July 1, 2008 Plans are underway to move the PRESENT site from its temporary location in 221 McDowell Hall to the downstairs front of 87 E. Main Street. This will a temporary location until the Smith Hall HVAC renovations are complete. We expect to be up and running in the new location on Tuesday, July 8. As usual, faculty are encouraged to make appointments by phone at 302.831.0640 or via e-mail to present-site@udel.edu.

Posted June 27, 2008 The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is teaming up with Apple to provide college students across the United States with the opportunity to share how they define freedom. Teams of college students can create and submit a short video (3 minutes or less) expressing the qualities, importance, and impact of freedom in their lives today.

Information and rules can be found at the contest web site.

June 10, 2008

The 2008 Summer Faculty Institute held June 2-6 focused on matching technology tools to learning goals. Building upon faculty learning goals for their students, the institute presented an overview of the myriad technology choices available and guided participants toward specific strategies for their teaching. Podcasts are available for the following featured sessions:

• Selecting Sakai tools based on how people learn, Fred Hofstetter, Professor of Education
• The evolution of the digital learner, Lester Ray, Apple, Inc.
• Using technology to enhance instruction & engage students, Kimberly Dyar, Cecil County Public Schools
• 50 ways to tell a story, Alan Levine, New Media Consortium

Find our more about the sessions and podcasts on the 2008 Summer Faculty Institute archive page.

Posted June 6, 2008 The University of Delaware has released the Sakai learning management system (LMS) to UD faculty. “We are in the process of introducing as many faculty as possible to the new LMS,” said Leila Lyons, director, IT-User Services.

“We've focused on Sakai at this year's Summer Faculty Institute, visited about a dozen faculty meetings and have set up a Web site that allows faculty to follow our progress and sign up for training.”

Like many other universities, UD is phasing in Sakai as a replacement for WebCT. Sakai, “built by educators for educators,” includes the functionality of an LMS and adds new tools that enable faculty to engage their students.

“We're looking forward to continuing to introduce faculty to Sakai@UD over the summer,” said Janet de Vry, manager, IT-User Services. “We're developing online training modules, planning workshops and meeting with individual faculty members.”

Beginning June 10, IT will offer training to faculty who wish to move to Sakai@UD for the fall 2008 semester. All UD faculty members are invited to register for the training session “Basics of Sakai@UD.” Visit the IT Professional Development Calendar and register for the session that fits your schedule.

For more information:

• Read the full UDaily article, "Sakai@UD released to faculty"
• Visit UD's LMS site
• Check out examples of Sakai use
• Read "Campus prepares for new learning management system"
• Go to Sakai@UD Training Resources

Posted June 4, 2008

Lester Ray, a development executive with Apple Inc., hosted the afternoon session of UD's Summer Faculty Institute on Tuesday, June 3, in Gore Hall, during which he addressed the frequent divide between technologically savvy college students and traditional lecture hall teaching practices.

Ray opened his presentation with "Did You Know," a YouTube podcast produced by Shift Happens, that cites jaw-dropping demographic, educational and Internet-use statistics all pointing toward a worldwide shift in information sharing and learning. (Click here to see the podcast.) Ray then shared tips on how university-level educators can best reach students and boost instruction time through the use of computer-based technologies.

“The amount of technological information is more than doubling every two years,” Ray said, “and we live in a much more competitive environment than we've ever lived in before.”

He focused particularly on the educational value of podcasts and emphasized their versatility and portability before making the point that in this day and age “digital environments can happen anywhere.

“Syndication feeds for playback on portable devices enhance the possibilities for both transmitting and receiving information,” Ray said. “And podcasting is not just one thing. It's a range of resources.”

Ray outlined the different types of podcasts, from simple audio feeds to video and audio feeds to enhanced podcasts, and addressed the uses of each, as well as his own strategies for creating them, before capping his lecture with examples of effective podcasts and opening the floor to questions and answers.

“The technology isn't the hard part,” he said. “The hard part is finding out how to enrich learning and make best use of class time.”