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Instructional Design Projects

The Instructional Design Team (IDT) provides support and guidance to faculty in the development of teaching and learning strategies and specialized applications utilizing instructional technologies. A summary of the following projects that we support is provided below with additional information available on the linked pages:

 

WebCampus Administration and Support

The use of WebCampus continues to increase dramatically from year to year. In the Fall 2008 semester, there were 856 Fall 08 academic courses, accounting for 1384 sections, and 410 non-academic course accounts (courses not in SIS) on WebCampus. There were approximately 600 instructors associated with these academic course accounts and a total of 14,400 unique student users (students with at least one course that uses WebCampus). For questions regarding use of WebCampus, email webcampus@unr.edu or call 775-682-6798. For more information, see the WebCampus Student Resources and WebCampus Faculty Resources webpages.

Instructional Technology Training and Support

The Instructional Design Team offers workshops in the use of WebCampus, Clickers, the Adobe Creative Suite CS4 applications (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign), PowerPoint and a large number of other teaching and learning applicatons. To view our Spring 2009 schedule and to register for workshops, go to https://www.cis.unr.edu/TLT/Events.aspx. In addition to the workshops, we also do one on one and small group consultations and training upon request. For questions regarding workshops or consultation with an Instructional Designer, email idt@unr.edu or call 775-682-6798.

Clicker Support and Training

Clickers are small hand-held devices that allow students to provide responses during a classroom session. Professors collect and tabulate the responses instantly, providing immediate feedback for their own and students’ use.  Reviews in the literature on clickers indicate that they improve exam scores, student engagement and attendance.

Clickers have been gaining popularity at UNR over the last 6 years and in 2005 a standard system, Interwrite Learning, was chosen.  About 150 instructors have expressed interest in learning more about clickers and have attended our workshops or individual consultations. In the 2008 alone 4,400 clickers were sold by the ASUN bookstore. For questions regarding clickers, email idt@unr.edu or call Teaching & Learning Technologies, 775-784-6085.

Checkbox Survey Administration and Support

Checkbox Web is an online survey tool that is available for University of Nevada faculty and staff members.  Currently we have over 100 users and we are adding users each week.  With every new user, a consultation session is available.  During these consultations, faculty members receive a packet of information, which includes information about beginning the survey process, contact information, invitation requests, privacy policy information, and how to create a survey.  The consultations last between 30 – 45 minutes.  At the conclusion of the consultation, a new user will be able to login to Checkbox Web, edit a “training survey”, and view a customized report and observe the invitation process. For questions about Checkbox, email idt@unr.edu or call Sarah Hearne-Bennett, 775-682-9306. 

Wimba (Live) Classroom Support

Wimba Classroom is a live, virtual classroom environment with features that include audio, video, application sharing and content display. Faculty use Wimba Classroom to create a synchronous online teaching environment within WebCampus. Live Classroom can also be used to facilitate a presentation or meeting that has face to face participants, as well as online participants. For example, it has been used by remote participants to attend the last three Town Talk meetings online. For questions about Wimba Classroom, email idt@unr.edu or contact Jill Wallace, jwallace@unr.edu, 775-682-6789.

WebCampus Course Makeover Project

The goal of the WebCampus Course Makeover Project is to assist instructors with WebCampus course development by providing them with an opportunity to participate in constructive feedback regarding WebCampus course design and/or course delivery. For the WebCampus courses submitted to the Course Makeover program, participants receive detailed pedagogical advice and feedback on their own course from a team consisting of peers, instructional designers and students. For more details about this project, see the WebCampus Course Makeover Project webpage or contact Alina Solovyova-Vincent, alinas@unr.edu, 775-682-6795.

Technology Internship Projects for Students

This project has the dual purpose of supporting UNR faculty in adopting and implementing instructional technologies into their teaching and of offering opportunities for selected UNR students to participate in the development, implementation and support of technology-enhanced instructional strategies.  In summary, the instructional designers will match project proposals from faculty with students, who will receive internship or independent study credit in their major departments. In addition, the instructional designers will provide the primary support, training and supervision for the student participating in the internship. To learn more about this project and how to get involved, see the TIPS website.