IT Plan Initiative - Connects to Research Instructional Technology for Impact and Establish an Innovation Incubator

Sponsor/Decision Maker: Vice Provosts for Teaching and Learning & Information Technology

Project Lead: No Leads per se. Campus eLearning Roadmap Group/Teaching and Learning Community will use this space for further maturation of ideas.

Key Partners: Campus eLearning Roadmap Group, DoIT-AT Staff, Teaching Academy, Delta, TEL Committee, DoIT - AT, ComETS members, Members of the Library System, University Assessment Council, TLE and ComETS website organizers, Engage Faculty Advisory Board, School/College Administration,  Writing Center, Campus Groups invested in research on teaching and learning (e.g. WCER, WPST, GLS, Writing Center, etc.), Residential Communities.

Challenge: Understanding the impact that an instructional technology has on a teaching challenge may take more time, advocacy and analysis than originally thought. In order to make sure that these ideas have a place to ripen, and don't "die on the vine" we need to be able to have an 'iterative development stage' where we can research a solution further based on some clear criteria. In this stage, the main goals are

1. to help promising teaching and learning solutions by developing more evidence, more advocacy and/or more technical support for them, and
2. revist those solutions as they continue to mature.

How might we address this?: In Stage Three, the Campus eLearning Roadmap Group (CERG) will be able to look at learning technology approaches and practices with evidence provided from Stages One and Two and determine if it needs more evidence. In providing feedback and suggestions for gathering further evidence, the CERG can help the T&L Community and instructional technologists understand where we as a campus community need to know more about a certain instructional technology solution and its related teaching and learning challenge. The CERG can also form small research teams using willing members of campus who can provide deeper analysis of the topic.

• Deepen and widen the skills and knowledge required to evaluate learning technology solutions and measure the impact on student learning outcomes. This could involve more action-research partnerships with faculty, more cross-disciplinary research teams, and more opportunities for professional development around assessment and evaluation.
• Fund TLE and ComETS to develop virtual spaces that foster conversations around emerging technologies at different stages of their evolution

How will we know we've made progress?:

A virtual space could be created to help catalogue and track the progress of those ideas in Stage 2.5. As part of its charge, the Campus eLearning Roadmap Group could agree to check the space on a regular basis. This virtual space would be accessible to the Teaching and Learning Community as well so that interested persons could see what T&L challenge/instructional technology solutions are being worked on and, if they so choose, contribute to its further development.

Possible Pathways to Grow the Idea More:

• Faculty departmental presentations
• Faculty Brownbags sponsored by TLE, DELTA, ComETS
• Formation of a Learning Technology community or working group through ComETS
• Campus eLearning Roadmap Group could work with TLE and ComETS site developers to create a virtual showcase for ideas at this stage.
• Short presentation at ITC (part of a new, semesterly emerging technology session on stage 2.5 ideas?)
• Presentation at discipline specific teaching and learning conferences (e.g., Society for Teaching of Psychology)
• Presentations at the Teaching and Learning Symposium, CIC, Educause
• ...

Possible Funding Pathways:

• OPID Conference Development (CD) Grant Program - to spark a system-wide conversation and help connect with partners and collaborators in the UW-System

• Approach School/College administration for more funding and support

• Possible support from some combination of TEL and Engage