H1>I. Mission and Goals Mission Instructional Support Services is a faculty development organization of 22 fulltime employees and 50 student assistants. ISS is committed to providing comprehensive faculty training and support for pedagogically and technologically effective university teaching. Goals Goals: ISS is dedicated to Improving instructional design in UTEP courses and curricula Supporting faculty and graduate students in their transition to instruction at UTEP Facilitating the faculty s use of technology in teaching, research and service Promoting the geographical reach of UTEP academics by use of distance learning technologies Assessing the quality of teaching and learning at UTEP Engaging faculty in the scholarship of teaching II. Major ongoing priorities Short Term UTEP Compact Priority #3: Improving Undergraduate Student Success. In addressing UTEP Compact Priority #3, ISS will leverage distance learning technologies to extend the academic reach of UTEP departments. To do this, ISS adopt a decidedly more pro-active strategy to help departments and programs discover alternative ways of delivering quality courses and programs. Technology-based delivery methods are key to pull-through, in that students may be more likely to continue their studies in the face of adversities if programs can provide more convenience and flexibility of access. Implement an incentives-based system to recruit those academic programs for which a distance learning or hybrid model of delivery are most likely to have an impact on student success Focus on new faculty as candidates most likely to respond to opportunities for hybrid course development Regularize administrative procedures concerning listing and management of hybrid and distance learning courses Align internal ISS production processes to address curriculum level efforts to adopt distance learning technologies ISS will partner with Academic Affairs in order to identify new candidates for adoption of distance learning formats for program delivery. A strong promotional initiative will also be pursued, to educate the campus faculty about the teaching and learning gains made possible by hybrid instruction. ISS will seek AA funding for incentives, in order to ensure that recruitment efforts align with academic goals, needs, and realities. Internally, ISS will continue the re-alignment of current staff in order to respond to the needs of this new initiative; recruitment and hiring of replacement staff will also reflect these priorities. Much of this priority can be achieved with better use of current resources. In addition, ISS anticipates new income from the Distance Learning Fee assessed on 100% online courses, beginning Fall 2005. However, faculty incentive funds will need to be found outside of ISS.
Progress Measures 1. Two new curriculum-level hybrid implementations per year, each resulting in no less than 7 new sections each available in a technologically enhanced format 2. ISS promotional presentations on instructional technology to be delivered in departmental meetings in 20% of academic departments. 3. 10 new individual (non-curricular) course enhancements for hybrid delivery Major Obstacles Getting academic leaders to re-imagine instruction from the point of view of the user is the biggest challenge to this initiative. Faculty workload will present a major challenge for department chairs, as they seek to re-allocate resources to implement a radical use of instructional technology UTEP Compact Priority #4: Graduate Program Development and Expansion As UTEP s graduate enrollment expands, more pressure (from SACS and other agencies) will be placed on departments and academic programs to ensure the complete professional preparation of graduates, including training in teaching and the use of instructional technology. This will emerge as a future issue for graduate program assessment and accreditation. ISS will expand its current efforts in this arena, which have emerged as an extensive collaboration among the Graduate School, CETaL, and ISS (ATLAS) 1. Revive the Graduate Student Teaching Certificate program, which includes training of graduate students in a broad array of instructional skills 2. Build within ISS the instructional dimension of a grad-student-managed professional development program for all UTEP graduate students 3. Establish UTEP graduate student standards for participation in the scholarship of teaching Over the past 2 years ISS has collaborated with the Graduate School to build a support structure for graduate student professional development. With the help of 6 new graduate student research assistants contributed from the Graduate School, The ATLAS computer lab is in the process of re-focusing its mission toward achieving the above objectives. Over the coming 2 years the FIT Lab will join this effort. The strategy is three-fold: 1) create management opportunities for graduate students, who gain leadership experience in overseeing lab operations; 2) create teaching opportunities for graduate students, who run technology workshops for students, and visit classrooms to help faculty introduce technology to their students; 3) Use the skills, energy and personnel assembled in ISS s labs to create and run a student-centered, student-managed professional development program for all graduate students. This program will serve as a resource for all academic departments with graduate students. 4) Create a new graduate student position, Coordinator of the Graduate Teaching Certificate program, to integrate the necessary elements for instructional development of graduate students Current resources are inadequate to expand programs for graduate students. The ATLAS lab runs a 50-60K deficit annually, due to insufficient wages and paper supply. The FIT Lab currently has no budget. ISS will seek an increase in technology fees to bring the budgets to the proper level, and to create the conditions for expansion of these programs. Progress Measures 75% participation rate of UTEP graduate students in at least one aspect of graduate student professional development programs Increased contribution of research assistant positions from Graduate School to manage ISS labs
Successful matriculation of 30 graduate students in new Certificate Program Major Obstacles Funding for student positions Support from and coordination with academic departments UTEP Compact Priority #5: Increased Efficiency Infrastructural technology investments benefit the university only if faculty take advantage of what is available to them. The key to this outcome is a competent, well-publicized program of faculty development targeting the use of technologies that will provide immediate benefits to faculty in their professional endeavors. In the area of instruction, online delivery and hybrid courses will be key to allowing UTEP to grow its academic programs in spite of cost and space limitations. Hybrid courses allow a 100% improvement in the use of classroom space. 100% online courses allow for virtually infinite expansion of curricula and programs, with no new bricks and mortar. : Institutionalize an integrated preparation of new faculty in use of the tools and systems of UTEP s instructional and information technologies (ISS, IT, Library). Create a framework of continual support for faculty for learning and implementing new technologies in their professional work Develop a pro-active approach to recruit faculty and programs into hybridizing their courses and curricula : ISS will visit departmental and college meetings to explain the benefits and promote the effectiveness of hybrid courses ISS will work with IRP and Academic Affairs to create a permanent funding source for the timely purchase of equipment (laptops and projectors) for incoming faculty. The Technology Orientation for new faculty that was launched in 2004 will be assessed, re-worked, and expanded into a year-long, coordinated, ongoing program (a New Faculty Academy) that addresses the needs of all levels of technology users. The FIT Lab, which opened in January 2005, will become into the focal point of UTEP training and support in the use of instructional technologies. FIT services will grow to include tracking of new faculty for pro-active follow-up assessment and support. FIT will also provide a growing array of user services in varying formats, including face-to-face consultation and online tutorials. The ISS Events and Publications unit, working with CETaL, will undertake a systematic campaign to recruit new participants into instructional technology programs. Current resources in ISS will be re-allocated to achieve the above objectives Progress measures 1. 75% of new faculty professed use of at least one advanced form of instructional technology 2. 100% incoming faculty participation in the Technology Orientation. 75% in the faculty development program for instructional technology 3. A baseline projection of use rates will be established for the FIT Lab; subsequent measures will be derived from the baseline. 4. 50% increase of faculty use of WebCT or other courseware Major Obstacles The identities of many new faculty members are difficult to determine, given the lack of a central process to register new hires and enter them into the UTEP information system. ISS will work with IT to create a new process that ensures consolidation of information about new faculty, for the purposes of early communication and orientation. Departmental support for use instructional technology is weak, thus the efficiencies gained are spotty. ISS will make a focused effort to inform and support at the departmental level.
III. Future Initiatives of Strategic Importance ISS Future Initiative #1: Enhance ISS growth potential through self-sustaining income streams. ISS recognizes that growth and improvement in instructional technology-related services depend in part on commensurate growth in funding, which is not a certainty in the future. ISS intends, therefore, to become more entrepreneurial and look for ways to market its core skills (for example, distance learning course development) for supplemental income. This initiative aligns with UTEP Longer-term priority #1: Resource Development, Re-allocation, and Sustainability. Create multiple revenue streams from externally marketable services, skills and processes Ensure ISS access to revenue streams available from opportunities developing within UTEP ISS has for many years under-priced its services. As a result, this unit has over-committed to large but weakly funded projects that distract employees from the primary mission of providing instructional services to UTEP faculty. Through this initiative ISS will define a production service that is a clearly contained, marketable commodity. A pilot for this external marketing is underway under the current ATCP grant ISS is planning to develop UT TeleCampus courses for other UT campuses. ISS will establish a promotion and marketing procedure for its course production, as well as videoconference-hosting, targeting non-university users in the local community. ISS will engage with ORSP to identify developing grant applications that could benefit from instructional technology enhancement ISS will partner with IT in pursuit of developing a 24/7 Helpdesk for online courseware, a service that could be sold system-wide for a profit. ISS will continue to assess internal costs and prudently pursue distance learning fees for online courses. No additional resources will be needed Progress Measures Amount of regular income from videoconference hosting services Completion and sale of UT TeleCampus courses Establishment of a customer base for course development for PACE and for colleges and universities outside UTEP ISS presence in new grant proposals by UTEP academic entities ISS Future Initiative #2: Creation of a seamless academic course and resource delivery system for UTEP and its academic partners in El Paso The implementation of the ORION Ring and UTEP s link-in to Internet 2 present new opportunities to re-think the way instructional technology can contribute to a regional strategy for education. This initiative aligns with UTEP Long-term priority #3: Enrollment management and recognition as national model for the education of hispanics Establish a partnership among UTEP, EPCC and EPISD to select and deploy a common Learning Management System (LMS) for El Paso Create a network of institutional linkages to provide a Learning Objects Repository for access by learners in the El Paso region
UTEP is already engaged in discussion with the ORION partners about the technological infrastructure that will be needed to create a seamless community learning network. ISS will take the lead in building community consensus on a shared solution for choosing, purchasing and implementing an appropriate courseware for course delivery. This process will include forums to identify criteria, an RFP, a public assessment process, and a process to procure funding from the partners. EPCC has already offered to host an incipient learning objects repository. The first set of objects will be an image database and set of instructional modules developed by the UTEP Art Dept. Contributions from all 3 primary ORION partners Grant monies Progress Measures Successful contract with one of several courseware vendors Completion of the prototype database of images Successful grant proposals IV. Other Critical Issues Related to Institutional Priorities A. Impact of Initiatives See items in individual sections, above. B. Unexpected Opportunities Faculty and student assessment facilitation via technology. ISS is in the process of developing two different tools that will have an impact on Faculty, Administration, and Students. The Faculty Portfolio project will allow faculty to catalog and organize electronically all of their professional work, for ease of use in grant proposals, self-assessment, departmental evaluation, and program assessment. (Relates to Short-Term Priority #2: Research Development) Student Portfolio project will provide a means for students to record their academic progress electronically, for use within academic programs and for export to entities that might be interested. Academic programs and the university as a whole will be able to use this tool for outcomes assessment. (Relates to Short-term Priority #3: Improving Undergraduate Student Success) V. University and State Priorities Increasing student access and success ISS focus on pro-active development of instructional technologies to extend UTEP s academic reach will directly affect student access. Using technology will create flexible alternatives to face-to-face courses, that will allow students to remain in academic tracks even in the face of major life distractions. Collaborations among System institutions, particularly academic-health institution collaborations ISS will continue to facilitate system-wide collaborations via development of programs via the UT TeleCampus. Currently ISS provides technology support to multi-campus collaborations with Nursing; Teacher Education; Kinesiology, and others. VI. Compact Development Process Since Fall 2004 ISS has instituted a systematic reflection by staff on the various functions of the organization. Six function-focused teams, each composed of staff members from all areas, were created to analyze and plan for each ISS function.
1. Faculty and Instructional Development 2. Mediated and Distance Learning 3. Publications and Promotions 4. Graduate Student Professional Development 5. Instructional Technology Services 6. Administrative Support The heterogeneity of the team memberships ensured non-conventional, creative reflection for each team, which subsequently produced goals statements for each function. Those documents became the basis for a broad conversation about new directions for ISS. This series of conversations culminated in a goal-setting retreat in January 2005, whose outcomes suggested the outline for the ISS Compact.