Staff Message

Where is the summer? We can hardly believe it is gone. This summer was very special for CTELT. We sadly bid farewell to Martin Kollman, our faculty support specialist who served FHSU community for 11 years and left to pursue a doctorate degree at the University of Kansas. Kenny Rigler, another faculty support staff, accepted a teaching position in the Department of Technology Studies. Michelle Weigel, our Office Manager, left for a similar position in the Department of Information Networking and Telecommunications after her five-year services in CTELT. While saying good-bye to our old friends and wishing them good luck with all their future endeavors, we welcome our new staff, Shanna Butel, for Michelle's position; Matt Carroll replacing Kenny; Jake Glover, interim Faculty Development Coordinator; and Dr. Bo Yang, for Martin’s position.

We want to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience with us during this transition period. Looking back over the spring semester, we completed three major projects: lab enhancement, a software research project, and an instructor’s guide to mobile teaching and learning.

With the advancement of technology and the mobile computing initiative of the university, the CTELT Faculty and Staff Development Lab was no longer a good fit for faculty training and support. Based on research, a group of staff members re-designed the lab and added new equipment to meet the new needs of faculty support and services. Equipment added to the lab includes a presentation station, a wireless projector, a Smart Board, new computer monitors, new tables, and new lighting effect control system.

With the rapid growth of the online programs, we are facing the challenge of extending our training and services to the adjunct faculty in different parts of the country. A committee of staff members conducted research on six synchronous learning management systems in the spring. Based on the research result, we have chosen Elluminate and purchased a limited number of licenses. We plan to provide some infobytes in the virtual environment so that faculty off campus will be able to have access to CTELT training and services.

One of the challenges faculty have is to apply mobile technology tools in teaching. Based on the skills and resources available, we created an instructor’s guide to mobile teaching and learning. In addition to sharing our own experiences, we wanted to provide faculty members an avenue to share their mobile teaching and learning experiences. As a result, we completed a wiki for the FHSU community to share at http://ctelt.pbwiki.com. If you would like to share your own experience in teaching in a mobile computing environment, you are welcome to contact CTELT to secure access for editing.

With the mobile computing initiative and more technologies used in teaching and learning, we are facing the challenges of keeping ourselves informed about the current or emerging technologies and studying their possible integration into the classroom. We enjoy the opportunity to work with the FHSU community. It is a challenge for us, but it is more a privilege, a responsibility, and an enjoyment.

Have a successful new semester!