Services
Training and Instruction
ASSETT’s team can assist members of A&S in a variety of topics. One-on-one consultations, group workshops, and online resources are all available. Faculty also can call 5-HELP to contact ASSETT DATCs (Distributed Academic Technology Coordinators).
DATCs work with faculty as consultants and trainers to advance teaching and learning through educational technologies. We’ll help you imagine and explore new ideas for achieving your teaching goals. A sample of technologies include:
- CULearn
- CUClickers
- Office suites- Word, PowerPoint, Excel
- Web pages
- Discussion and collaboration tools
- Multimedia
- Social networking applications
- Web 2.0
- Emerging technologies
….and more
Teaching Technology Assistance
Teaching Technology Assistants (TTAs) are a group of helpful undergraduate students who are comfortable with technology and with learning more about it. Their primary goal is to help the departments learn to use and maintain technology. To this end, TTAs work directly with department staff to help maintain their departments’ technology, including web pages, staff computers, and teaching labs, and to address other technology needs as they arise. They research technologies that are or may be used on campus, and act as a resource for those wishing to use that technology by writing tutorials; helping faculty, staff, and students become comfortable with new and existing technologies; and actually going into classrooms while technology is being used to help faculty and students to ensure it works properly.
Because the TTAs are undergraduates, ASSETT often looks to them for a student perspective on projects and initiatives in order to make sure that the services we provide are as valuable to students as they are to faculty and staff.
Website and Presentation Assistance
Professional designers work with faculty and units to develop websites, pedagogical materials, and presentations that better meet teaching and learning objectives.
Assessment and Evaluation
Evaluating technologies and technology use is a critical component in the process of supporting teaching and learning through technology. ASSETT adheres to a data-centered approach to assessment that supports an informed understanding of the impact of technologies. Our data-centered approach is guided by an appreciation for how unique practices and contexts shape the criteria of evaluation. This data-centered, context specific approach to evaluation and assessment informs how we work with faculty and staff to help them reach their pedagogical goals.
In conversation with faculty and staff about their specific projects, the research and assessment team at ASSETT provides a number of customized options for assessment such as the design and delivery of surveys, interviews, and focus groups. Based upon specific needs, faculty and staff may choose one or any combination of these methods. In addition to developing the tools for evaluation and assessment, ASSETT also provides an informed interpretation of the results. The goal of any evaluation and assessment is to gain useful information that can be used guide and inform current and future practices.
Partnerships and Special Initiatives
We work to connect people and build community for the use of technology in teaching and learning. We host “brown bag” seminars on special topics, support meet-n-greets, and sponsor conferences (like the COLTT conference) and events that advance our mission. We fund faculty teaching projects and develop custom web applications for innovative support of teaching and learning. And we actively seek to partner with others on campus that are working toward a similar mission. We are working with University Communications on A&S department websites and web identity standards for multimedia. We partner with the Libraries for digitizing and delivering multimedia content. With the President’s Teaching Scholars and the Faculty Teaching Excellence Program (FTEP), we are developing new teaching resources and launching new studies of effective teaching and student engagement.