Office of the Provost

Faculty and Unclassified Staff Handbook Chapter 2 -- Academic Affairs

Academic Services

The Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Technologies (CTELT)

CTELT is a new organization at FHSU that draws together the photo, audio-visual check?out, instructional design, graphic design, audio and video production, academic computing, data analysis, audio taping, media practice classroom, closed circuit television, and interactive television (ITV) functions into a one-stop service center for academic excellence. As an academic unit under the provost, the Center still provides all of those same traditional services, while adding a new dimension of faculty development services. The Instructional Media Committee and the Faculty and Staff Development Committee advise the CTELT Director. Located in the basement of Forsyth Library and in Heather Hall, the CTELT's mission is to help the faculty and staff improve their instruction of students. In addition, it provides other support services on a reimbursable basis to off campus agencies. Both are described below.

Instructional Support

CTELT provides a wide variety of instructional support services free to the faculty. These include instructional technology and planning services.

The instructional technology services include:

• faculty development--determining needs, developing short or long courses, and assuring the relationship between feedback systems and improvement of instruction. While many of the faculty development services include instruction on how to use appropriate technologies, some will not be related to technology.
  
• integration--helping faculty and staff to integrate the right hardware and software to the instructional environment. Expertise in Apple, Mac, DOS, and Windows environments is available.
  
• development--developing professional presentations for classes, conferences, or professional meetings, as well as interactive computer-based training and presentation kiosks. These presentations can include photos, slides, transparencies, computer graphics (Mac, DOS/Windows, or Amigo), videotapes, animation, ITV, and multimedia, including CD-ROM and videodisk interaction. It is planned to add CD-ROM storage as our primary distribution medium.
  
• access--providing access to the most current hardware and software on campus in order to improve instruction. This service will mainly be provided in the Faculty and Staff Development Laboratory in Room 26 of Forsyth Library. The CTELT also provides check-out of a limited number of presentation systems for classroom use (Room 34, Forsyth Library), and will develop a public domain graphic library for faculty, staff, and student use.
  
• appropriateness--serving as a laboratory for testing appropriateness of hardware and software to the FHSU instructional environment.
  
• training--providing both formal and informal instruction on instructional hardware and software. Formal training includes short presentations (Lunch Bytes), periodic classes, and qualifying classes (e.g., ITV training before teaching using the system). Informal classes will be made available in the lab by appointment. The CTELT also provides practice rooms with video cameras and monitors.
  
• conference support--given ample advance warning, the CTELT staff will help prepare a first class conference presentation using one medium or a variety of media.

The planning function includes:

• consulting--responding to departmental and individual requests to build technology-related or presentation systems, as well as providing data analysis services.
• design--providing curriculum, course, or lesson design expertise (typically done on an appointment basis).
• review of university technology plans--reviewing all action plans that involve instructional technology to see if the right technical solutions are selected, or if FHSU can benefit from economy of scale purchases. The CTELT also reviews all new building and renovation requests to assure that the right instructional solutions are provided in formal bid proposals.
• technical grant writing--providing expertise in all instructional systems included in grant proposals. This includes, if ample time is provided, researching of the technologies to select the best one(s) for the intended instructional environment.

Support Component

Although the CTELT is primarily an instructional services unit, it does provide expertise to non-academic units on- and off-campus, as well as help to academic units involved in non-academic pursuits. These services are provided only when they do not interfere with the academic missions described above, and may require a fee for service charges. This includes:

• promotional activities--providing fliers, videotapes, multimedia, etc., intended primarily to promote or publicize the university or one of its units. Promotional activities are not intended primarily for instructional purposes; the director reserves the right to make the distinction between promotional and instructional purposes.
  
• non-academic support--labor and resources devoted to non-instructional purposes, such as video conferences.
  
• interactive television (ITV)--connecting numerous sites to FHSU through both compressed and full-motion (fiber optic) video and audio.
  
• technology clearing house--serving as a clearing house for technical services that are not of an instructional nature.
  
• other duplication--providing more than one copy of instructional materials, whether they are audio tapes, videotapes, handouts, transparencies, graphics, programs, or CD-ROMs (in the near future). This also includes transparencies for student use.

Library Services and Policy

The library is a key to providing effective higher education for our students. All faculty members are urged to encourage their students and advisees to take full advantage of library services by tying assignments to library holdings and providing an example of wise usage of the library. The library is maintained for the faculty as well as for students and faculty members are asked to provide suggestions for the acquisition of books, improvement of services, and more effective usage and development of the facility.

Since the University does not maintain departmental libraries, materials are charged to individual faculty members rather than checked out to departments. Circulating materials are subject to recall after three weeks. Non-circulating books and periodicals are normally for use only within the library. When absolutely necessary, these materials may be checked out for a brief period of time. If a faculty member sends an assistant to check out materials in the faculty member's name, authorization, and faculty ID card must be sent with that person. All faculty loans are due at the end of each semester and summer session.

Forsyth Library is maintained for the use of students and faculty members. Library staff members are ready to assist in any possible manner. Reference should be made to the library handbook which describes the organization and contents of the library in more detail. Suggestions or problems concerning library service should be sent to the director of the library.

Except when notices are posted (summer session, holidays, and vacation periods), library hours are:

Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday 2:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

All library materials should be requisitioned through the Acquisitions Librarian following the procedures outlined in the library handbook for faculty.

Faculty members wanting materials placed on reserve for student use should obtain reserve material request forms from the circulation department, and allow five working days for necessary paper work before telling students that the material is on reserve.

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