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Dream Team
 DIIA’s IAE team members showcase their teaching, testing, and evaluation expertise at inaugural assessment institute. [more]
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Tapping Innovative Teaching
 DIIA will assist faculty in preparing entries for annual instructional technology competition. [more]
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Team Effort
 ~FAST Tex grant and support program helps faculty achieve ideas for teaching with technology. [more]
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Rhetorical Argument
 With help from ~FAST Tex, instructors from the Computer Writing and Research Lab customize a video game for teaching rhetoric. [more]
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Roadmap for Success
 Graduate student receives GSI Award for innovative teaching incorporating technology.
[more]
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The Good Life
 Leslie Jarmon receives major UT System grant
to support innovative teaching initiative based on Second Life.
[more]
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Opportunity Knocks
 Professional colloquium for graduate students showcases
best teaching practices while modeling professional development skills.
[more]
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Welcome Home
 DIIA’s annual orientation seminar offers support for arriving faculty.
[more]
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Team Leader
 Michael
Sweet begins tenure as president-elect of international group-learning
organization.
[more]
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National Leadership
 Judy Ashcroft begins term as president-elect of UCEA.
[more]
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Home Improvement
 Design class takes on Bridgeway beautification as a course project.
[more]
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Teaching the Test
 The Assessment Institute highlights the role of assessment in teaching.
[more]
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Let the Games Begin
 Bruce
Pennycook’s music students produce game prototypes using DIIA’s
digital media lab. [more]
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Measuring Up
 Inaugural
institute will promote a culture of assessment in higher education. [more]
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Star Award Winner
 Mario Guerra puts users at ease with instructional technology. [more]
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Campus Leaders Briefed on Emerging Instructional Technologies
 DIIA
hosted the Horizon Report Executive Briefing on May 20, where campus
leaders received the findings of the sixth annual Horizon
Report. Presenters including keynote speaker Laurence F. Johnson, chief
executive officer of the New Media Consortium,
shared insights into emerging technologies likely to enter mainstream
use within one to five years. [more]
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Annual IT Showcase to Highlight Tools for Teaching with Technology
 On
May 28 at the special events room in the College of Business Administration
(CBA 3.304), DIIA will host the annual Instructional
Technology Showcase, with displays by IT staff from across campus,
which are sure to inspire questions, comments, and discussions concerning
technology-enhanced teaching and learning. [more]
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DIIA to Host Horizon Report Executive Briefing
 On
May 20, DIIA will host a briefing for UT Austin’s executive leadership
on the 2009 Horizon
Report, a summary of “emerging technologies likely to have
a large impact on teaching, learning, research, or creative expression” in
education. The report is produced annually by the New
Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE
Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program. [more]
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Proposal Deadline Nears for Fall Graduate Student Colloquium
 The
sixth annual Graduate Student Colloquium (GSC) will
convene September 12 to feature a panel, poster sessions, and workshops,
presented by graduate students to showcase best practices and research
in teaching. The event will kick off DIIA’s 2009-2010 Graduate
Student Instructor (GSI) Program, an initiative of the Office
of the Provost, the Office of
Graduate Studies, and DIIA to enhance GSIs’ experience by providing
opportunities for pedagogical, professional, and personal development. [more]
|
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Top Honors at 2009 IITAP Showcase Awarded to Quest Learning Assessment
System
 At
the 12th annual IITAP Showcase on April 28, four
awards were presented in recognition of innovative approaches to teaching
using emerging instructional technology.
K. Sata Sathasivan and
his development team received the Gold Award for the Quest
Learning and Assessment System that allows instructors to build
assignments and to automate grading and feedback. The award included
a prize of $5000. [more] |
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Awards Program To Showcase Innovative Instructional Technology
 On
Tuesday, April 28 at the 12th annual Innovative Instructional
Technology Awards Program (IITAP), eight creative faculty members who
have modeled pioneering teaching with technology will learn who will be
honored with cash awards totaling $10,000.[more]
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UT’s French Connection: Students Save and Rave with Electronic
Learning Resources
 Who
knew where it would lead when Karen Kelton and colleagues at the Texas
Language Technology Center (TLTC) won 1st place at DIIA’s inaugural
Innovative Instructional Technology Awards Program (IITAP) in 1997?
Kelton’s
group had developed a CD—remember them?—to accompany the Prentice
Hall textbook Parallèles: Communication et culture. Their
work was a pioneering effort to exploit emerging technology to support
pedagogy by encouraging innovative teaching to encourage active learning. [more]
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DIIA’s Role Significant in Accreditation Process
 In
December’s end-of-semester rush it was easy to miss the news that
UT Austin’s accreditation has been reaffirmed by the Commission on
Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS).
The announcement at the 113th annual meeting of SACS on
December 9 made for a happy ending to a story that began in fall
2005 with the launch of the review process that produced two self-study
documents from UT Austin academic departments and administrative units,
with considerable assistance from DIIA’s Research,
Evaluation, and Assessment (REA) section. The documents were central
to the work of the On-Site Review Committee that visited Austin in
April 2008. [more]
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A Sweet Welcome to Austin for TBL Conference Participants
 In
Austin, March comes in less like a lion and more like a bat, with
the largest urban bat colony in the world arriving on cue to spend the
warm months. Thanks to DIIA’s Michael Sweet, this March included
plenty of RATs too as UT Austin hosted the eighth annual Team-Based Learning
(TBL) conference at
the Thompson Conference Center. [more]
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Ongoing Course Assessment Gives Faculty Powerful Tool for Fine Tuning
Teaching
 Now
that spring break has arrived, it’s a good time for UT Austin faculty
to use the power and convenience of the Web to get a mid-semester
reading of how their courses are going. With DIIA’s Ongoing
Course Assessment (OCA) online survey tool, instructors can obtain
confidential, low-stakes, anonymous feedback from their students
whenever they choose. [more]
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Second Wind for Second Life
 It
wasn’t long after the virtual world Second
Life came to life in the vanguard of the Web 2.0 evolution that faculty
at UT Austin got wind of it.
In 2003, lecturer Leslie Jarmon, now a faculty development specialist
at DIIA, beat the crowd and joined Second Life, becoming a role model and
advocate for colleagues looking to refresh pedagogy with innovative uses
of emerging technology. In 2006, English professor Jerome Bump and assistant
instructor Joe Sanchez—a DIIA staff member at the time—tapped
the potential of the 3D virtual-world technology to allow students
to transcend the limits of physical classrooms. They designed a course
in which students visited virtual locations, attended virtual events, constructed
virtual objects, and interacted with classmates and others, transforming
teaching to make learning active and engaged. [more] |
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~FAST Tex 2009: Last Call for Proposals
 When
pedagogy meets technology, it’s possible to tap vast potential for
transforming teaching to enhance learning. The deadline has arrived to
submit proposals for DIIA’s acclaimed ~FAST
Tex grant and support program.
Team up with tech-savvy students to develop novel instructional technologies
to empower students as active learners. The deadline is Monday, March
9 to submit online proposals for
instructional technology projects
to be completed in December 2009 or May 2010. [more] |
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DIIA to Welcome International Conference on Team-Based Learning
 In
the late 1970s, Larry Michaelsen pondered a dilemma. As a junior
faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, he faced the challenge of
teaching classes triple the size of those he’d had before. Ignoring
the counsel of colleagues, he decided to devote the majority of class time
to group work, inviting students to share with him responsibility for their
learning—and
for that of their peers. Today, Michaelsen is the acknowledged developer
of Team-Based Learning (TBL),
an instructional strategy that has been found to work in classes
of all sizes in virtually all disciplines. [more]
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Workshops Highlight Instructional Benefits of Classroom Clickers
 Who
doesn’t envy someone accomplished at a skill we’d love to have?
Football looks easy when the Longhorns play it. Making money looks easy
when Donald Trump does it. And doesn’t teaching look easy when someone
else does it? For faculty at UT Austin, DIIA has been supporting
technology to help appearance edge closer to reality. [more]
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Teaching Excellence Award Presented to Elizabeth Keating
 At
DIIA’s annual Teaching and Learning Colloquium on
January 14, Elizabeth Keating was
honored as the recipient of the 2009 Award for Excellence in Teaching.
A professor in the Department
of Anthropology, Keating teaches courses in culture and communication,
societal impacts of science and technology, and visual anthropology. [more]
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~FAST Tex 2009 Call for Proposals
 When
pedagogy meets technology, it’s possible to tap vast potential for
transforming teaching to enhance learning. Through DIIA’s acclaimed ~FAST
Tex grant and support program, UT Austin faculty members have been
teaming with tech-savvy students to develop novel instructional technologies
to support innovative approaches to empowering students as active
learners. DIIA is pleased to invite proposals for
instructional technology projects
to be completed in December 2009 or May 2010. [more]
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Star Award Winner Traphagan Touches All the Bases
 It
should have been apparent last spring that Tomoko Traphagan was poised
to have a breakout season in 2008.
When the modest plastic recycling program she introduced in the Bridgeway
building blossomed into a full-fledged green initiative, she found herself
becoming the logical choice to represent DIIA at a monthly meeting of the Green ‘Horns,
a volunteer organization of UT Austin employees dedicated to helping
staff and faculty reduce their personal environmental footprints, and that
of UT Austin overall. [more]
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Last Call for Entries for IITAP 2009
 At UT Austin, most students studying Portuguese have studied Spanish
as well, which means there is much for them to unlearn even as they study
their newest language. Fortunately, they can turn to an innovative resource
for help: a series of 40 podcast lessons, called Tá Falado,
focused on differences and similarities in pronunciation for Spanish and
Portuguese.
A gold award winner at the 2008 Innovative Instructional
Technology Awards Program (IITAP), Tá Falado is but one of
several ground-breaking uses by UT Austin faculty of instructional
technology to enhance teaching to transform learning. An initiative of
the provost to encourage, support, and reward innovation in using instructional
technology, the annual IITAP presentations showcase exemplars of instructional
innovation that makes teaching more effective, relevant, and efficient. [more]
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Teaching and Learning Colloquium to Address Keys to Successful Learning
 In
collaboration with innovative UT Austin faculty, DIIA has been especially
proactive in the past year in facilitating experiential learning through
formative assessment, instructional technology, and educational research,
resources for transcending the limitations of classroom walls. The theme
for this year’s DIIA Teaching and Learning Colloquium—Teaching,
Research, and Service: Pathways to Successful Learning—reflects the
power of an integrated approach to learning excellence, one that empowers
instructors to make students’ learning relevant, interactive, and
collegial. [more]
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Award-Winning Former GSI Regards Teaching and Research as Twin
ASPECTS of Scholarship
 It
has been a while since the story of Catherine Dossin first appeared in this
space.
In September 2007, Dossin, a doctoral candidate in art history, received
the inaugural Graduate Student Instructor Award in
recognition of her vision and skill in developing an interactive Web site
to support a large-enrollment classics course for pre-med majors. Not content
to simply organize exam study sessions or hold office hours, she used skills
in technology and teaching she’d acquired through DIIA’s ASPECTS program
to incorporate art, mythology, and history to engage students through visual
aids, interactive assignments, and audio resources. In the story that
appeared at the time, GSI Program Coordinator Mark Decker explained that
the purpose of the award is “to recognize a TA or AI who has made
an especially significant contribution to the undergraduate classroom experience.”
The story, it turns out, is far from over. [more]
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Introducing the iDIIA Talks: Exploring Connections among Teaching, Technology,
and Learning
 The
talk at DIIA has always been about how to transform teaching to enhance
learning. And it’s true that DIIA has offered more than just talk
when it comes to addressing the needs of 21st
century students. DIIA’s support of innovation and collaboration
in promoting instructional technology is evident in several visible initiatives,
including Digital Media Services, ~FAST
Tex, IITAP, Ongoing Course
Assessment, classroom response systems, lecture
webcasting, Blackboard,
and instructional use of virtual worlds such as Second
Life.
Sometimes, however, just talk is just fine. [more] |
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Shernaz Garcia Recognized for Passion to Serve Marginalized Students
 It
would be less than accurate to report simply that Shernaz
Garcia was presented the 2008 Marilla D. Svinicki Burnt Orange Apple
Award last week. For when CIE Dean
Judy Ashcroft, Vice Provost Judith
Langlois, and Garcia’s many colleagues and friends gathered at
the Littlefield House, the purpose was to return the favor for a
distinguished teacher whose passion is to recognize students marginalized
by culture or by language. Let it be said accurately that Shernaz Garcia—and
her work on behalf of students at risk—was recognized by the award
named for a gifted teacher and a founding member of DIIA. [more]
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Second Life Training Addresses Quest for Brave New World
 Since
joining DIIA’s instructional
technology group this fall, Leslie Jarmon has had enough work to fill,
well, a Second Life.
Jarmon has been a leader in UT Austin’s venture into reinventing
teaching by integrating virtual world environments into course design to
transcend the limits of physical classrooms. Three-dimensional modeling
tools such as Linden Lab’s Second
Life allow participants to visit virtual locations, attend virtual events,
construct virtual objects, and interact with real others, prompting students
to be active, engaged learners. In excess of 300 universities and a number
of corporate residents have taken up residence in Second Life. IBM alone
has purchased 50 islands in Second Life.
And the word is still spreading. [more]
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Course-Instructor Survey Benefits Students and Faculty
 When
used to its full potential the Course-Instructor
Survey (CIS) offers students the ability to encourage professors to
make effective changes, or continue using successful teaching strategies
in the UT-Austin classroom. The CIS is an opportunity for students to
make a real difference in improving courses and instruction by giving
specific feedback in the written comments along with examples or descriptions
of how to improve or what is going well. [more]
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Entries Invited for 12th Annual IITAP Showcase
 At last spring’s Innovative Instructional Technology Awards Program (IITAP) showcase, faculty exhibited inventive approaches to teaching challenges as diverse as helping foreign language students with pronunciation, engaging engineering students in spatial reasoning, and confronting communications students with real discourse environments. [more]
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Ongoing Course Assessment Gives Faculty Powerful Tool for Fine Tuning Teaching
 In a world where even the best laid plans go awry, UT Austin faculty can now use the power and convenience of the Web to monitor the effectiveness of their teaching throughout the semester. With DIIA’s Ongoing Course Assessment (OCA) online survey tool, instructors can obtain confidential, low-stakes, anonymous feedback from their students whenever they choose. [more]
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Access to Albright Event at LBJ School Widened with Help from DIIA
 Last month the LBJ School of Public Affairs welcomed former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright for a public conversation on emerging global challenges, in the inaugural event for the school’s new master’s program in Global Policy Studies (MGPS). Albright, renowned for her diplomatic skills and extensive experience in global affairs, joined LBJ School Dean James B. Steinberg in discussion of how the emerging generation of young leaders can fashion innovative strategies for transnational issues of the 21st century. [more]
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Kickoff Arrives for Fall Enrichment Seminars on Teaching and Assessment
 Two
popular seminar series kick off DIIA’s fall program of professional
enrichment for faculty, staff, and administrators. [more]
|
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At Campus Technology Conference, DIIA Shares Secret of IT Success
 Going
from Austin to Boston to trade ideas for thriving in the Next-Gen educational
environment, Susanna Herndon and Rob Bruce were featured presenters at
the 2008
Campus Technology Conference on July 30. They collaborated on a session
titled Supporting Next-Gen Academic Development in a Web 2.0 World. The
annual conference attracts higher education administrators, IT professionals,
and faculty interested in the latest in technology products, services,
and applications of strategic interest in serving undergraduates. [more]
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For Students of GSI Award Recipient, Venus and Mars Align
 Never
mind that engineers are from Mars and writers are from Venus. Kerk
Kee has visited both places, and he has found that he speaks the language
well in each.
That’s good news for students of this award-winning graduate student
instructor, who has been helping undergraduates in the Department
of Communication Studies understand theories, strategies, and best practices
in organizational and small group communication in a global context of
disparate cultures, contrasting disciplines, and competing paradigms. At
the annual Graduate
Student Colloquium on September 6, Kee was presented the Graduate Student
Instructor Award in recognition of his outstanding service and scholarship
in promoting excellence in teaching and learning. [more]
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Annual Graduate Student Colloquium to Explore Teaching and Professional
Development
 At
the fifth annual Graduate Student Colloquium
(GSC) in Welch
Hall 2.224 on September 6, graduate student presenters and participants
will explore best practices in teaching and research with workshops, presentations,
and a panel. The colloquium is open to all graduate students at no cost.
The event will kick off DIIA’s 2008-09 Graduate
Student Instructor (GSI) Program, designed to enhance GSIs’ experience
by providing opportunities for pedagogical, professional, and personal development. [more]
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New Faculty To Be Welcomed at Annual Teaching Seminar
Besides the start of UT football practice, the surest sign of fall is DIIA’s
annual University of Texas at Austin Faculty Orientation Seminar, to kick off this year on August 19 at the Avaya
Auditorium, adjacent to O's Campus Cafe in the ACES
building. The four mornings of workshops, panels, and presentations will
feature distinguished faculty, administrators, staff, and students sharing
experiences, insight, and advice concerning teaching and research on the
Forty Acres. And at resources and benefits fairs, seminar participants will
be able to ask questions and attend to the business of getting settled at
the university. [more]
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Spring Star Award Heralds Launching of Amy Miller 2.0
left to right: Kevin Wier, Amy Miller, Judy Ashcroft and Rob Bruce
Apparently, her colleagues at DIIA have finally caught on to Amy Miller.
Amy Miller 1.0 arrived at UT Austin in 1986 to work as a programmer at
the Computation Center: an anonymous position for an anonymous unit in perhaps
the most anonymous building on campus. Who knew that a template for success
had been cast: work underground—quite literally—providing very
visible services critical to supporting the university’s mission.
Miller has been slipping under the radar ever since. Taking the low profile.
Hiding in plain sight. Going through the back door
Until now. [more]
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Meet DIIA’s Newest Innovative Educator—If
You Can Find Her
 Sometimes
the story behind a story is the story.
First, here is the story.
Senior Lecturer Leslie
Jarmon, after ten years service in the Office
of Graduate Studies, will be joining DIIA’s
Instructional Technology Group as a faculty development specialist.
With a history of pioneering initiatives in applying technology to
transform learning, Jarmon will direct instructional technology design
initiatives. [more]
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Exploring What It Means to Teach 21st Century Students
 DIIA
has been talking about teaching 21st century students for a long time.
Now, it seems everybody is talking about it.
Educause, a nonprofit association
committed to “promoting the intelligent use of information technology,” lists
many titles with a certain familiar theme—Authentic Learning for
the 21st Century; Faculty Work for the 21st Century; How to Use What
We Know: 21st Century Faculty and Students. [more]
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Do Try This at Home: Instructional Assessment Web Site Empowers Instructors
To Examine Teaching Myths
 At
the opening of the popular Discovery Channel program Mythbusters, the
two central cast members deliver a predictable disclaimer that viewers should
not try at home anything they see on the show, which consists of an hour
of popular science applied in the testing of urban legends—particularly
ones that involve combustibles and explosives. At the opening of DIIA’s Instructional
Assessment Resources (IAR) Web site, you’ll find no such disclaimer,
though its purpose is analogous: to see that no teaching myths are considered
un-testable. For teachers, DIIA believes, busting pedagogy myths should
be very much a hands-on enterprise. [more]
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Winner of TA Award Values ASPECTS Focus on Teaching Excellence
 Andrea
Hilkovitz has been living in the past, and as a result she’s helping
bring undergraduate teaching at UT Austin into the future.
Hilkovitz’s past includes two years of service as a Teach
for America corps member, when she soaked up pre-service training, on-the-job
experience, and in-service mentoring in discovering a passion for teaching
that hasn’t faded. Her future includes completing all seven of DIIA’s ASPECTS certificate
programs, by penning summary essays sure to contain insights into how
even an experienced, resourceful teacher can still find more to learn about
innovative pedagogy. [more]
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Team-Based Learning Emerging as a Sweet Approach to Innovative Teaching
 If
you were to accuse DIIA instructional consultant Michael Sweet of encouraging
groupthink, he’d surely just smile.
For more than a decade Sweet has been helping teachers across scholarly
disciplines employ Team-Based
Learning (TBL), an exciting teaching strategy for promoting active learning
in undergraduate classes. Now, Sweet has teamed with Larry Michaelsen
to produce an article on the power of Team-Based Learning for the June
newsletter of the National Education Association: Thriving
in Academe—Reflections on Helping Students Learn. Production of
Thriving in Academe is a collaborative initiative of the National Education
Association and the Professional and Organizational Development Network
in Higher Education. [more]
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CSI: Texas—DIIA’s Fingerprints Turning
Up in Varied Places
 When
the UT Learning Center envisioned launching a new Web site, they knew someone
to turn to for help. When Survey Monkey envisioned offering a best-practices
primer for its customers, they knew where to look for help. When Leslie
Jarmon envisioned empowering graduate students with digital media skills,
she knew how to find help. And when CIE’s University Extension Office
(UEX) envisioned transitioning online courses to the Blackboard system,
they knew they didn’t have to look very far for help. [more]
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Testing Services Staff among the First to Welcome New Students
to the Forty Acres
 There’s
little that’s lazy or hazy about the days of summer for Connie Williams,
Mellanie Patterson, and Student
Testing Services (STS) staff, who will be putting a face to UT Austin
for hundreds of incoming freshmen and their parents over the next several
weeks. In the course of six four-day summer
orientation sessions, STS staff members will counsel 1700 students and
administer 12,000 placement
tests that most students need before they can register for their first
semester of classes. [more]
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Proposal Deadline Nears for Fall Graduate Student Colloquium
 With
the theme Creating Meaningful Learning, the fifth annual Graduate
Student Colloquium (GSC) will convene September 6 to feature workshops,
panels, and poster sessions prepared by graduate students to showcase best
practices and research in teaching. The event will kick off DIIA’s
2008-09 Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Program,
an initiative of the Office of
the Provost, the Office of Graduate
Studies, and DIIA to enhance GSIs’ experience by providing opportunities
for pedagogical, professional, and personal development. [more]
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New Faculty to be Welcomed at Annual Teaching Seminar August
19-22
 Underscoring
UT Austin’s commitment to teaching excellence, DIIA will welcome incoming
faculty from around the globe at its annual University of Texas at Austin Faculty Orientation Seminar just prior to the fall semester.
The four half-days of workshops, panels, and presentations will feature
distinguished faculty, administrators, staff, and students sharing experiences,
insight, and advice concerning teaching and research on the Forty Acres.
And at the resources fair each morning and the benefits fair on Friday,
seminar participants will be able to ask questions and attend to the business
of getting settled at the university. [more]
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Annual IT Showcase to Highlight Teaching, Technology, and T-Shirts
 On
May 28 at the special events room in the College of Business Administration
(CBA 3.304), DIIA will host the annual Instructional
Technology Showcase, with displays by IT staff from across campus, which
are sure to inspire questions, comments, and discussions concerning technology-enhanced
teaching and learning. With its considerable experience in faculty development,
assessment, and instructional technology, DIIA is proud to promote this
annual end-of-semester, informal gathering of IT innovators to see what’s
going on with colleagues, share experiences, and enjoy free pizza. Presenters
and participants from throughout the university will share innovations
spanning the sciences, the humanities, the arts, and the professions. [more]
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Lynn Jones Eaton Addresses Under-Represented Students at Graduate
School Recruiting Event
 DIIA
Associate Director Lynn Jones Eaton joined
a distinguished group of speakers at the first annual Come to Texas event
on March 6 and 7, a campus-visitation program of the Graduate
School, in partnership with the International
Office, to encourage prospective graduate students from under-represented
groups to choose UT Austin. Eaton described the extensive professional
development opportunities provided by DIIA’s Graduate
Student Instructor (GSI) Program, an initiative of the Office of the
Provost and of the Office of Graduate Studies to advance the pedagogical,
professional, and personal development of graduate teaching assistants and
assistant instructors. [more]
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DIIA Assuming Varied Roles in Supporting Core Curriculum Development
 With
the recent announcement that DIIA and Undergraduate
Studies (UGS) will be teaming to create online professional development
modules for Signature Course faculty, DIIA assumed yet another important
role in implementing the vision of the Commission
of 125 for a core curriculum. The Signature
Course program is the centerpiece of curriculum reform envisioned by
the commission. Designed to help first-year students master essential
skills for higher education, the courses will focus on problem-based learning
from an interdisciplinary perspective. [more]
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IITAP Gold Awards Recognize Innovative Instructional Technology
in Engineering and Foreign Languages
 At
the 11th annual IITAP Showcase on
April 23, gold awards were announced in two categories of innovative use
of instructional technology. For accomplishment in Web-based Multimedia
Learning, Orlando Kelm, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, was recognized
for his entry Tá Falado:
Brazilian Portuguese Pronunciation. For accomplishment in an Innovative
Learning Environment, William O’Brien, Department of Civil, Architectural
and Environmental Engineering, was recognized for his entry Expanding
the Classroom: Mobile Technologies for Construction Education.
Leslie Jarmon was selected for a Special Recognition Award for her entry Raising
the Bar: Using Second Life in an Interdisciplinary Communications Course, recognized
for promoting community engagement in a virtual world. [more]
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Awards Program To Showcase Innovative Instructional Technology
 On
Wednesday, April 23 at the 11th annual Innovative
Instructional Technology Awards Program (IITAP), twelve inventive
faculty members who have modeled pioneering teaching with technology will
learn who will be honored as bronze, silver, and gold winners, for cash
awards totaling $10,000. [more]
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Coordinating Board Funds Project to Develop Critical Thinking Modules for Signature Course Faculty
 DIIA,
in collaboration with the Office
of Undergraduate Studies (UGS), has won funding from the Texas
Higher Education Coordinating Board to create online professional development
modules to showcase best practices for teaching critical thinking to first-year
students. The DIIA/UGS proposal is to design 14 modules to prepare Signature
Course faculty to address 10 specific critical thinking skills by means
of 4 proven pedagogies. The modules—featuring diverse media including
text, graphics, audio, video, and animation—will be integrated into
workshops and individual consultations. [more]
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Creation of Green Team Signals Green Light for Green Thinking
 After
Tomoko Traphagan started a modest plastic recycling program in the Bridgeway
building, she soon learned the truth about being careful what you wish
for. She became the logical choice to represent DIIA at a monthly meeting
of the Green ‘Horns,
a volunteer organization of UT Austin employees dedicated to helping
staff and faculty reduce their personal environmental footprints and that
of UT Austin overall. Now Traphagan, joined by Cindy Story, is heading DIIA’s
fledgling Green Team volunteer initiative, joining 13 other Green Teams
across campus helping faculty, staff, and students work together on campus
environmental issues at the departmental or building levels. [more]
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Peers Help GSIs with ASPECTS of Teaching
 The instructional development professionals behind DIIA's ASPECTS
program know the power of peer pressure. They exploit their credibility
as grad-students-who-teach to support the pedagogical, professional,
and personal development of UT Austin's most junior group of teachers.
Mark Decker, head of DIIA’s Graduate Student
Instructor (GSI) Program, and staff
members Josh Iorio and Rachel Barrera are the faces behind the semester-long
series in pedagogy. ASPECTS is one of several features of the GSI Program,
an initiative of the Office of
the Provost
to cultivate excellence in graduate student teaching in collaboration
with departments, graduate student support organizations, and the Office
of Graduate Studies. [more]
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Timeliness of DIIA Technology Initiatives Evident at SXSW Interactive Festival
 Unless you’re one of DIIA’s specialists in multimedia, instructional technology, or information and Web design, you may only think of music or film when you think of Austin’s annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival. But for DIIA’s techies, the SXSW Interactive Festival—just concluded last week—was music to the ears, packing five days with exhibits, panels, book readings, conversations, and presentations addressing the latest tends in online resources, Web design and production, and interactive technology. [more]
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Michael Jones Receives Star Award
 In
baseball a utility man is prized for his flexibility in playing multiple
positions and filling multiple roles to help his team, though he's often
overlooked by fans who cheer the star home run hitters. In choosing Michael
Jones as the first recipient of the Star Award, DIIA staff have demonstrated
that they know a true star when they see one. [more]
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Faculty: the ~FAST Tex 2008 Call for Proposals Deadline is March 10
 There is still time for UT-Austin faculty members to submit proposals for the 2008 Faculty and Student Teams for Technology program. ~FAST Tex pairs tech-savvy students from a wide range of academic disciplines with faculty to work as teams to develop instructional projects for use in UT courses. [more]
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DIIA Lends Assessment Expertise to SACS Accreditation Process
 With
assistance from DIIA's Research,
Evaluation, and Assessment (REA) section, UT Austin academic departments
and administrative units are bringing to a close an important review process
that began in fall 2005. Two self-study documents central to the university's
reaffirmation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools' Commission
on Colleges (SACS/COC)
have been completed in preparation for the on-site visit that will take
place later this spring. [more]
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Instructional Use of Second Life Gets High Marks from Students
 It was serendipity when English professor Jerome Bump, an early-adopter of instructional technology to enhance teaching, was considering upgrading from multi-user object-oriented technology (MOO) at about the time DIIA was conceiving a pilot study to evaluate the practicality of using virtual worlds in instructional settings. As a result, the Second Life pilot project was conceived, which ran over the two-semester period including fall 2006 and spring 2007. [more]
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DIIA Teaching Excellence Award Presented to Alexandra Albright
 CIE
Dean Judy Ashcroft presented the 2008 Award for Excellence in Teaching
to Alexandra
W. Albright at DIIA’s annual Teaching and Learning Colloquium
on January 8. Albright, Senior Lecturer and Associate Dean at The School
of Law, teaches Texas civil procedure and oversees technology and facilities.
The award was established in 2006 to honor faculty members who exemplify
excellence in teaching by best demonstrating inspiration, innovation,
technology, collaboration, and assessment. [more]
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Ongoing Faculty Development Series Offers New Sessions
DIIA encourages faculty to participate in the free, monthly instructional
development series in FAC 327, "Instructor and Student Success with
Teaching & Learning." Join
colleagues for in-depth pedagogical insight and hands-on experience.
Learn new techniques, ask questions, and build classroom instructional
materials that work. [more]
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~FAST Tex 2008 Call for Proposals
The Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment invites faculty to submit proposals for the 2008 Faculty And Student Teams for Technology program. ~FAST Tex pairs tech-savvy students from a wide range of academic disciplines with faculty to work as teams to develop instructional projects for use in UT Austin courses. [more]
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Lynn Jones Eaton Joins Leadership Texas Class of 2008
 On February 18 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Lynn Jones Eaton, Associate Director for Faculty and Graduate Student Instructional Development, will participate in the first of five three-day working sessions of the Leadership Texas Class of 2008. As one of three accomplished women leaders selected from UT Austin, Eaton will work with cohorts from throughout Texas for goal-setting, mentoring, and investigating major issues affecting Texans in areas including technology, education, business, government, and the environment. Eaton joins Judy Ashcroft, Dean of Continuing and Innovative Education and an alumna of the Class of 2004, as a DIIA leader selected for the prestigious program. [more]
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Last Call for Entries for IITAP 2008
 The
deadline to submit entries for the eleventh annual Innovative Instructional
Technology Awards Program (IITAP) is less than a week away. An initiative
of the provost to encourage, support, and reward innovation in using
instructional technology, IITAP will present a total of $10,000 in cash
awards at the showcase
event on Wednesday, April 23. [more]
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