The Instructional Technology Group is branching out and offering training opportunities in new ways for UCF faculty.

Until recently, faculty from regional campuses had to travel to the main campus to attend training workshops; a significant investment in time. In April of 2007, the ITG offered the first “Exploring Webcourses@UCF” remote training workshop for Cocoa campus faculty and staff.

Led by Elisabeth Mayfield from a video training room on the main campus, regional participants attend a hands-on workshop at their home campus. Two-way video and sound allows the instructor and attendees to communicate easily, and the instructor’s computer screen is projected in the remote classroom, enabling workshop members to follow step-by-step skill-building. Materials are provided both online and in paper form, and we are currently investigating the possibility of recording sessions to allow attendees and others to replay workshops.

Working with UCF Regional Campus Technology Specialist, Roz Veltenaar, the ITG plans to offer the full range of available workshops to multiple campuses simultaneously over the summer sessions. Each two-hour workshop will focus on a specific tool or topic, from “Mastering the Gradebook” to “Communicating with Students in Webcourses@UCF.” A maximum of three campuses will participate at a given time, with limited class seating to ensure a quality workshop experience. Sessions will rotate among campuses based on faculty demand.

If you are interested in attending a regional training opportunity, please visit http://webprep.ucf.edu/facultysurvey.html and fill out the short form. For full workshop descriptions and the upcoming schedule of main campus training opportunities, please visit http://teach.ucf.edu/webctupgrade/training/.

Migration to the New WebCT Platform
Contributed by Bob Reed, Assistant Director, Center for Distributed Learning

Faculty use of the new WebCT Vista platform (known as Webcourses@UCF) has grown to nearly 20% of all student registrations utilizing WebCT. The new platform was introduced for the fall term 2006, and in this past spring term, there were 15,082 student registrations in classes supported by the new software. Incidentally, the nearly 77,000 student registrations served in the last term by WebCT services represent 43% of the total number of UCF’s student registrations.

Library Instruction for Online Courses
Contributed by Rachel Viggiano, Librarian, Information Literacy & Outreach

Are you looking for a way to incorporate library instruction or information literacy concepts into your online courses? UCF librarians have been working individually with faculty members to transition library instruction into a web-friendly module that suits an online course. You can see examples of these course-specific modules online (http://library.ucf.edu/Reference/Guides/webct.asp). Librarians then participate in the WebCT course, grading the library assignment and answering students’ questions via course-mail and discussion postings. If you are interested in working with a librarian to develop a module and assignment for your course, please contact Rachel Viggiano, Distance Learning Librarian at rviggian@mail.ucf.edu.

There are also online streaming videos to assist your students at their point of
need. There are general and subject-specific videos available online at http://library.ucf.edu/Reference/Videos/Default.asp, and new videos are currently under development.

Contact the Information Literacy & Outreach department with any questions or requests for library instruction: http://library.ucf.edu/ILO

KnightOWL and Regional Campus Resources for UCF Students
Contributed by Russell Carpenter, Visiting Instructor and University Writing Center Coordinator

There’s a lot to get excited about at the UCF University Writing Center (UWC) these days. We have successfully implemented UCF’s first online writing center (known affectionately as KnightOWL), and we now have writing centers in development at the UCF Cocoa and UCF Daytona Beach campuses. Combined, these new services will help expand existing UWC resources, allowing access to writing consultations for both place-bound and Regional Campus students. In fact, we conduct regular KnightOWL consultations with UCF students throughout the United States and have even consulted students in other countries. We’re proud of these services and encourage your students to check them out! Here are a few highlights about KnightOWL and Regional Campus services.

KnightOWL: Online and Phone Consultations

KnightOWL includes both online and phone consultations. Its primary purpose is to offer graduate and undergraduate consultations to place-bound students or students who cannot make it to campus for one reason or another. All KnightOWL consultations are synchronous in that they are real-time. Students can schedule either one hour or thirty minutes for online and phone consultations, although we typically suggest scheduling an hour-long consultation for papers over seven pages. These consultations are ideal for students who work during the day or live far from campus. Students will need to schedule these appointments through the online scheduler, located at https://www.uwcscheduler.ucf.edu/.

For KnightOWL online and phone consultations, students should:

• • Schedule online or phone consultation well in advance. We are not able to offer walk-ins in either mode.
• • E-mail papers to webuwc@mail.ucf.edu well in advance of the online consultation appointment time. This will help account for any unforeseen technological glitches that may occur.
• • Schedule appointments for individuals only (no groups) for both modes.
• • Ensure that they have reliable and uninterrupted Internet or phone (reception)
• • access so that the consultation will not be interrupted.
• • Remind the consultant to send a Record of Consultation(RoC) if it is needed for class.
• • Call the UWC at 407-823-2197 or sign into the online chat portal (at: http://www.uwc.ucf.edu/Scheduler/About%20our%20Appointments.htm) a few minutes before the scheduled appointment time.

Regional Campus Writing Centers

In addition to KnightOWL phone and online consultations, the UWC is also developing new facilities at UCF Cocoa and UCF Daytona Beach. These two Regional Campus locations will offer face-to-face consultations similar to those at the Orlando campus. On April 9, 2007, UWC Cocoa made a series of “crunch time” library appearances in the last three weeks of the Spring semester. Barbara Rau Kyle, UWC Coordinator for Regional Campuses, and three new peer consultants worked with several UCF and Brevard Community College students and staff members on their end-of-semester writings. Face-to-face consultations will continue to be offered in Cocoa on a limited basis through the summer, supplemented, as they have been since 2006, by Orlando’s KnightOWL. Fall 2007 will see a writing center partnership with BCC, the addition of BCC faculty consultants, and a permanent home on the Cocoa campus. UWC Daytona Beach is also ready to open in the fall semester. Five new peer consultants will staff a centrally located and highly visible new writing center in the Building 150 courtyard.

Consultants at both locations will train with the Orlando staff in order to provide the same superior level of writing support service that our students, faculty, and staff have come to expect. Progress updates and other details can be found on the UWC Web site, www.uwc.ucf.edu.

For more information on writing centers at UCF Cocoa or UCF Daytona Beach, please contact Barb at bkyle@mail.ucf.edu or 321-433-7873. Please contact Rusty Carpenter, UWC Coordinator, for information regarding the Orlando campus facility or KnightOWL.

Rusty Carpenter, Coordinator
University Writing Center, UCF
407-882-0076, rgcarpen@mail.ucf.edu

Book Review: Teach Beyond Your Reach 
Contributed by Dr. Dorothy Pick, Instructional Designer, Course Development and Web Services

Whether you’re new to teaching online or experienced but looking for additional online teaching tips and tricks, Teach Beyond Your Reach (Neidorf, 2006) offers wonderful, practical suggestions. Although Neidorf organized the information in a logical start-to-finish manner, the layout of the content enables (and encourages) flipping around to peruse topics of special interest.

She begins by providing a guided approach to distributed teaching and learning terms and technology, including how to evaluate different tools to meet your environment and needs best. Next is an overview to help a teacher prepare for and envision the online student with descriptions about generational differences, attitudes, learning styles, and developing a learner-centered approach to teaching.

Neidorf dedicates most of the book to designing, developing, and delivering an online class, offering suggestions for how to create online learning communities and develop collaborative learning. Possibly one of my favorite aspects about her book is the quantity and quality of her rubrics and tables. If you’re not a fan of reading non-fiction cover-to-cover, the majority of Neidorf’s message can be gleaned from reading her visual representations.

If you’re looking for a quick summer read designed to enhance your reaching skills, consider this book!