I am not currently teaching
formal courses; however, I can offer three opportunities for interested
students. First,
I enjoy serving on doctoral committees and am currently a member
of Shauna Shullo’s dissertation committee. Shauna is
investigating the effectiveness of new web-based synchronous software
for instruction at the university level. I am particularly
interested in dissertations focusing on the instructional uses of
technology in K-12 and higher education settings. Second, I
review articles for the Journal for Research in Technology Education
and would be pleased to give interested doctoral students the opportunity
to critique manuscripts and compare their reviews with mine. Third,
the USF Kiran C. Patel Charter School, located across from
the Sundome, provides opportunities for interested students to volunteer
their time working with students. The school is becoming more and
more active in integrating technology into teaching. If you’d
like to work with at-risk children in an exciting environment on
technology projects, please let me know.
2. As an instructional technologist and a dean, how do you
envision preparing graduate students to enter the field of instructional
design and technology?
First, let me say how fortunate I believe students are who are
enrolled in the IT program in Secondary Education. Drs. Ann
Barron, Bill Kealy, Jim White, and Frank Breit have done an outstanding
job of developing graduate level programs for students pursuing
careers as instructional developers in business and in academic
settings. When I reviewed the program offerings in IT as
a candidate for the deanship, I was very impressed by the extensive
range of coursework offered and the options students have to pursue
master’s, doctoral, and certificate programs. I know
of few institutions where students can gain such a robust knowledge
of IT in areas ranging from web design, computer networks, digital
video, distance learning. You name it, and our faculty teach
it! We have an outstanding faculty in IT and I am very pleased
that we will be searching for an additional tenure track faculty
member in IT this year.
While the range of coursework offered is impressive, the quality
of the program is also outstanding. Recently, the doctoral
program in IT was evaluated as part of the University’s efforts
to assess the quality of all doctoral programs on campus. The
external reviewers for the IT program, who were well known and
well respected faculty in IT from other institutions, commented
on the "quality and commitment of the faculty and the talent
and dedication of the graduate students."
The reviewers
further noted that "a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology is
a degree with great value for anyone who wishes to become a faculty
member in higher education, provide technology integration leadership
in K-12 schools, or apply interactive training and performance
support expertise in business, industry, government, healthcare,
or the military."
In addition, the reviewers stated that "The program at
the University of South Florida has a unique focus in terms of the
important roles for instructional technologists in the Information
Age, especially as it relates to Lifelong learning and online teaching
and learning environments." |
Finally, they noted that the Florida
Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT) is an extraordinary
resource that "offers particular opportunities for both school
and corporate links." It was a pleasure to receive the
report of the external reviewers and I commend the faculty in IT
for the outstanding program they have developed.
3. What do you see as the
most interesting developments in the field?
I am very enthusiastic about 1:1 laptop initiatives. The
notion of ubiquitous computing is one that I find to be very appealing. I
am so pleased that we have a laptop initiative in
the College of Education Last year we had one cohort
of students in Childhood Education who participated in the project. This
year 3 cohorts of students in Childhood Education and Special Education
are involved in the
laptop initiative along with faculty in Childhood Education, Secondary
Education, Special Education, Psychological and Social Foundations,
and Educational Research and Measurement. All of these students
and several faculty have been outfitted with their own laptop computers. Our
students are learning to teach in fundamentally different ways
than most teachers –- they are harnessing the power of technology
and integrating it in meaningful ways into their teaching. The
notion of “anytime” “anywhere” teaching
is precisely what we need to be doing in education! I am
very proud of the faculty associated with this program and the
teacher education candidates who are participating in the laptop
initiative.
Another development that I’m very fond of is e-books. The
notion of holding not one book in your hand, but all books is absolutely
amazing to me. Once again, if we think about lifelong learning
and having access to information, what more could one want than
Wi-Fi Internet access everywhere at no cost and some e-books to
download? I doubt we’ve
even scratched the surface of the technological revolution we will
experience.
The notion of “anytime” “anywhere” teaching
is precisely what we need to be doing in education!
That’s one reason why I enjoy reading about
the “next” technological development on sites such
as Howard Rheingold’s “Smart Mobs: The Next Social
Revolution”. The advances
in technology that are being made, and that I know our students
will contribute to, hold the promise for truly revolutionizing
education and maximizing the lifelong learning opportunities for
all children, families, and adults.
|
One of the benefits of Contribute is
that users don’t have to know html, Dreamweaver, or have technical
expertise. They can publish to the web in three simple steps: simply
browse to the page that needs updating, edit it, and click publish.
The intuitive, visual interface enables users to simply point-and-click
to perform operations.
Users can quickly link any document to a website or copy and paste
from Microsoft Office while keeping text formatting and HTML code
standards intact. Macromedia FlashPaper 2 for Mac OS and Windows
converts any file into a fast-loading, accessible Flash document
with full text search and selection. Plus, the Windows version
of FlashPaper can create Adobe PDF files. Also, another benefit
is the ability of website administrators to control who can edit
and who can publish. The flexible approval system allows edited
web pages to be reviewed before publishing and includes a draft
console that summarizes the status of work in progress. Groups
can work together safely using built-in versioning, one-click rollback,
and page locking to prevent accidental overwrites. |
|
Contribute enables website administrators
to exercise direct, comprehensive control using publishing roles
for named users
and groups. Users must provide a username and password to edit their
sites. New editing permissions can specify the location of dependent
files, as well as the size and quality of images. Enhanced controls
for CSS and support for Dreamweaver templates protect the integrity
of page layout and design. For the College of Education, website
administrators provide each department with a basic template with
certain features that are editable, such as content, and features
that are not editable, such as the main menu. So far, the feedback
we’ve received from departments on Contribute has been very
positive. The price for Contribute 3 (the latest version) is $149.
It is $79 with an educational discount. High volume purchasing offers
further discounts. |
One of the first (and more difficult) aspects of
developing this web site was determining who my target audience
was going to be. After all, I was really looking to expand my skill-set
as well as my portfolio; so I didn’t want to rule anyone
out. I had to find an approach that worked for as many different
people as possible…so Technology Consulting was born. My
plan was to market an economical no-nonsense approach to everyday
consumers, yet still use my friends and colleagues as a professional
resource for larger contracts that I couldn’t handle alone.
Following Jakob Nielsen’s approach of “less is more” in
web design – I chose to outline my philosophy, introduce
Technology Consulting, reference a diverse clientele, and specify
some of the services we can provide…all in three sentences
and a couple of bullets on the very first page. The pages that
followed would simply expand and provide details on those individual
concepts that clients might be interested in. Where I differ with
Mr. Nielsen, is in the overall design of an E-Portfolio/personal
website. I have seen many websites created by “instructional
designers” that follow the “less is more” philosophy
to an extreme, creating overly-simplistic HTML pages in Microsoft
FrontPage or Notepad.
These sites may be pedagogically sound, but usually don’t
grab a potential employer’s attention. The individuals that
I’ve recently met with want to see what you can bring to
the table. In other words, if you can create stylish and technologically
sophisticated deliverables, you can certainly create simpler streamlined
content; however, the opposite may not be true. Personally, I have
found that an instructional designer that can bring a working knowledge
of multiple software packages adds a great deal of credibility
to the M.Ed credential. |
So, when it comes to advertising yourself,
more is definitely more – just stay away from the bells and
whistles that do not add anything meaningful to your site.
I have seen many websites created by “instructional designers” that
follow the “less is more” philosophy ... These sites
may be pedagogically sound, but usually don’t
grab a potential employer’s attention.
Lastly, if you don’t have many professional projects to
add to your portfolio - innovate and practice. Create fictional
websites using Dreamweaver in your off time. Try to design some
logos using Photoshop, Illustrator, or Freehand. Experiment with
colors, layout, layers, slices, and learn how to create sites and
FTP content. Try your best to show a diverse skill-set…I’ve
found that it’s very beneficial to know as many of the programming
nuts and bolts before you begin to design content.
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