Faculty gets new technology center

The Faculty Center for Instructional Innovation officially opened yesterday in Room 337 of the Center for Computing and Information Technology.

"I'm in awe about what we've done," said Martha Gilliland, academic vice president for information and human resources.

Gilliland, who was instrumental in getting administrative support for the center, said the need for the center was so great that it quickly became a university priority.

That priority status helped the center get approval for developing the shell space in CCIT that now is the Faculty Center.

Gilliland also credited the University of Arizona Foundation for a $100,000 grant, which paid for the equipment in the lab. She noted that such a collaboration with the Foundation is rare.

"Technology is a way in which we view society, but there is also the human side and the way we interact," said Timothy Kolosick, a music professor and member of the center's Faculty Development Partnership.

He said the center should be a way to bridge the technological and the human elements.

Stacie Widdifield, an associate professor of art history, is already bridging the gap in her Modern Mexican Art class, which is taught simultaneously to students at the UA and Arizona State University.

Widdifield teaches in a video services classroom in the Harvill Building where she lectures to about 25 students and a camera.

Her lecture is transmitted via NAUnet to a similar video classroom at ASU where another 25 students are enrolled in the class, she said.

Microphones are also set up in the rooms, allowing ASU students to interact with Widdifield and UA students.

She said the greatest benefits to the virtual classroom or distance learning are providing classes that would otherwise not be available to students and increasing interaction between the students and herself.

"Some students who are hesitant to go into office hours are more willing to communicate by e-mail," she said.

The services offered include:

• CCIT's Faculty Resources for Instruction facility, which has operated for 10 years. The center relocated to the new Faculty Center and provides "entry-level instruction to help faculty find what they need," said Anita Almond, CCIT support systems analyst.

• The University Teaching Center, which has set up a video editing bay where faculty will be able to compile and edit their own videos. Two video authoring stations will also be added.

• An electronic team workroom, which features a Softboard Electronic Whiteboard, which directly inputs the writing on the board into an attached computer. Users can then rearrange, save and print their ideas as they develop.

• Desktop video conferencing, available through "CU-See Me" software from Cornell University. A monitor, camera and computer combine to bring people at up to six locations together.

The center is a partnership that includes the center itself, CCIT, the Main Library, University Teaching Center, Treistman Fine Arts Center for New Media and Videoservices.