DTLT News: February 2, 2009

Welcome Back

We hope everyone had a great break and that the semester is going well so far. We're pleased to bring you DTLT's first newsletter for spring 2009.

Blackboard News and Links

Over the holiday break the University upgraded from Blackboard Basic 6 to Blackboard Enterprise 8. Resources for using the new version of Blackboard can be found at www.umw.edu/technology/blackboard/default.php. In addition, you may want to check out upcoming Blackboard training opportunities offered by User Services in February: http://tinyurl.com/ckh4ye. As always, the staff of DTLT is available to assist you in thinking about how to use Blackboard, or any other digital tools, to enhance and augment your teaching. Please contact your ITS or another member of DTLT if you'd like to request assistance! (You can find a current listing of DTLT staff and departmental assignments at www.umw.edu/doit/dtlt/directory/default.php.)

Bandwidth Upgrades

Hopefully, you've begun to notice some marked improvements in the speed of the UMW network. Over the last few months, the Department of Information Technologies has implemented several changes, including adding significant bandwidth and out-sourcing the residential halls to a commercial network provider. If you continue to experience network speed issues with your office computer or a classroom system, please contact the Help Desk at x2255 or helpdesk@umw.edu.

DTLT on the Go

As a resource for the University community, we've put together a podcast feed that you can plugin into iTunes (or whatever software you like to use to download podcasts) to listen to recent interviews with and audio offerings from DTLT staff. As new audio is released by us or others that feature DTLT and, more importantly, the work we do with faculty at UMW, we'll be adding to this feed. So fill up your iPod (or just tune in from your computer) and have a listen! You can find the feed at http://feeds.delicious.com/v2/rss/rushaw/tltpodcast.

Faculty Academy Planning

Many thanks to those faculty who have volunteered to assist with programming for this spring's Faculty Academy. As the semester progresses, we want to encourage all faculty to think about what topics you'd like to hear about at the conference. In particular, if you're interested in putting together a presentation or panel discussion about a particular topic and you're looking for colleagues to collaborate with, feel free to contact me (Martha Burtis) at mburtis@umw.edu. I'll be happy to work on pairing or matching faculty who have similar presentation or panel ideas.

NITLE Opportunities

Several faculty members have already taken us up on participation in NITLE's online workshops, but we still have a few programming units left. You may be interested in attending one of these upcoming workshops:

* Tablet PCs In and Outside the Classroom: What Difference Do They Make?
www.nitle.org/www/events/852-special-topics-for-instructional-technologists-7
February 6, 2009, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM. EST. Delivered online in NITLE MIV Auditorium
Registration Deadline has passed, but seats may still be available.

* Special Topics in Digital Teaching
www.nitle.org/www/events/856-special-topics-in-digital-teaching-8
February 25, 2009, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM. EST. Delivered online in NITLE MIV Auditorium
Registration Deadline: February 13

* Creating Cartograms: Making Geographic Areas Speak Volumes
www.nitle.org/www/events/917-creating-cartograms-making-geographic-areas-speak-volumes
February 26, 2009, 4:00 - 5:15 PM. EST. Delivered online in NITLE MIV Auditorium
Registration Deadline: February 15

* Visualizing the Solid Earth Using Virtual Globes Such As Google Earth
www.nitle.org/www/events/918-visualizing-the-solid-earth-using-virtual-globes-such-as-google-earth
March 17, 2009, 4:00 - 5:15 PM. EST. Delivered online in NITLE MIV Auditorium
Registration Deadline: February 27

* Technology and Less-Commonly Taught Languages
www.nitle.org/www/events/926-special-topics-teaching-tools-for-the-global-age
March 19, 2009, 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM. EST. Delivered online in NITLE MIV Auditorium
Registration Deadline: March 6, 2009

* Virtual Voyages: Using Technology to Convey a Sense of Place
www.nitle.org/www/events/927-special-topics-teaching-tools-for-the-global-age-2
April 9, 2009, 4:00 PM - 5:15 PM. EST. Delivered online in NITLE MIV Auditorium
Registration Deadline: March 27, 2009

You can see a complete listing of NITLE events at www.nitle.org/www/events.

New Publications from EDUCAUSE

The latest issue of EDUCAUSE Review (http://connect.educause.edu/er) is out and features several compelling articles about technology in higher education. A series of articles in "The Case of the Textbook: Open or Closed" showcase how the world of academic publishing is changing due to both the rise of publication costs and the emergence of new digital publishing solutions. In "Making Uncommon Common," EDUCAUSE president and 2005 Faculty Academy keynote speaker Diana Oblinger examines what higher education can (and should) learn about the use of IT in higher education by examining global and worldwide trends.

Faculty may also be interested in the latest in the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's "7 Things" series. In "7 Things You Should Know about Alternate Reality Games," you'll read about how these complex games weave together clues and content to encourage students to think critically and solve problems. You can find the entire "7 Things" series at www.educause.edu/node/7495.

We hope you all are experiencing a relatively smooth start to your semesters! Look for another edition of this newsletter in about two weeks.