Preface

RIT is moving with all deliberate haste to upgrade its campus- wide computer network. The university is in the process of wiring all dormitories, classrooms and offices so that students, faculty and staff can have ready access to the campus network. NTID is a full partner in this effort and has committed significant resources to networking all our facilities. In addition, we have invested substantial resources in the NTID Learning Center in order to positively influence student learning outcomes. Further, we are investing heavily in upgrading our classrooms, and we also will be investing significant resources (e.g., an initial $2.5 million in AY 97-98) to upgrade technology for our curriculum.

All these investments, taken together, will be for naught if our faculty are not provided with the opportunity to develop skills in applying these technologies to innovative pedagogy. That is, if we are to continue to maintain our technical edge in preparing students for the rapidly changing technological society and work place, our faculty must be provided the resources and opportunity to develop and refine competencies in delivering innovative instruction for students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.

NTID, therefore, must support faculty as they explore and develop state-of-the-art approaches to delivering instruction. We must have a faculty that is not only committed to the imaginative use of instructional technology, but is provided with an infrastructure that fully supports its development and use. This is currently the direction in which forward-thinking institutions are moving.

In 1992, NTID's strategic plan envisioned instructional technology support which would "...house a year-round learning environment that will encourage faculty....to develop further technology skills; that will allow faculty....to access media professionals for consultation and advice; and that will allow faculty and staff to try new and emerging technologies for classroom use and the development of instructional materials...." What follows is a plan to move us vigorously forward in this direction. When this effort is coupled together with our significant investment in technology and our annual commitment of $600,000 for short term leaves, we should be well positioned to maintain the vitality which has been a hallmark of our college.

The NTID Instructional Technology Consortium (ITC) is a collaborative, faculty-driven initiative for enhancing teaching and learning with deaf and hard of hearing students through the use of technology and related innovative teaching strategies. The ITC will provide initial instruction and ongoing support for pedagogy and instructional technology at NTID with the following goals:

1. improve student learning and the practice of teaching by putting new instructional tools directly into the hands of instructional faculty for application in the teaching/learning process;

2. provide an environment in which we can keep pace with the changing pedagogical needs of students; and,

3. provide a model for excellence in the application of instructional technology in the education of deaf and hard-of- hearing students.

A primary mechanism for this instructional technology initiative will be a summer program coordinated by the ITC, the Learning Center Consortium and the Center for Research Teaching and Learning that is planned, developed and executed in full collaboration and cooperation with the greater university, which is in the planning stages for initial primer workshops in the Summer of 1998. These will be followed by NTID college-specific programs making use of the Learning Center and other NTID instructional resources. The college-specific offerings would focus on the innovative application of technologies to instruction and student learning, e.g., the Internet/WWW, multimedia, and the like. In addition, an equivalent series of workshops during the academic year, and covering the same content, will be offered. Finally, other innovative mechanisms for developing faculty skill in the application of instructional technology will be created and implemented by the ITC.

The content of college-specific training will be determined by the members of the ITC. The first order of business of the ITC, however, will be working in partnership on the greater university effort to offer primer workshops for interested faculty members. College-specific programming will be conducted by teams of internal experts---including at least one teaching faculty member and at least one member of CRTL who have developed expertise with the application of instructional technology to teaching and learning (the CRTL member of the team will serve as a resource consultant to program participants after the summer program, or offerings during an academic year). Further, student instructional technology consortium assistants will participate in offering the programs. These will be deaf baccalaureate and graduate students who are skilled and knowledgeable in the applications being taught.

Faculty participants will be selected from self nominations based upon criteria developed by the ITC. Interest and ability to apply the skills learned to a project or course that is central to departmental curriculum/instructional efforts will be a critical criteria. This might include course development specified in a faculty member's (or faculty team's) plan of work or technology applications of interest to a department. Program participants, therefore, will focus their newly acquired skills on such a defined project objective, with ongoing support and consultation from those who conduct the training session.

Faculty will exit the training programs (and follow-up workshops for skills updating) with a working knowledge and expertise in pedagogy and the various instructional technologies covered. Equally important, they will leave the program with the necessary equipment and software to put into practice the skills they have learned. Further, as indicated above, they will be provided with consultant support and access to other 'big ticket' equipment and software needed to apply the new technologies within the teaching/learning environment.

In order to maintain momentum associated with the acquisition of new skills, a mechanism for continuing education and continuing upgrades of equipment and software will be an important part of the system. It is anticipated that the former will occur in targeted follow-up skills development activities. It is expected that upgrades of software will initially be handled through the ITC and eventually be assumed in departmental budgets (with appropriate allocation adjustments from college funds), and additional equipment purchases will be handled through the regular NTID equipment process.

Those trained early in the process will serve as resources for newly trained colleagues as they apply the skills learned to instruction. A mentor/colleague support network of program participants will be formed. Further, arrangements will be made for specialized instructional technology equipment and support to be available in distributed locations for those who have developed the skills in the use of the technology. This might best be accomplished by locating multiple sites in the vicinity of existing personnel and equipment that could support such an initiative. Such sites will be coordinated with existing NTID sites and university-wide sites.

A distributed instructional technology initiative such as the ITC will require ongoing support by those who provide training. Therefore faculty and staff with such expertise will be selected to include provision of such support and consultation as a portion of their plan of work or as an overload.

Members of the ITC will be drawn from across the college. College-wide self nominations, colleague nominations, and nominations from the NTID Faculty Congress and Staff Council Representatives will be sought. A member of the faculty from each of the NTID's faculty centers will be appointed by the Dean of NTID (in consultation with the Center Directors) to serve on the consortium. Resource consultants from CIS, CRTL and the Learning Center Consortium will also be appointed, as will a member of the greater university knowledgeable in the application of instructional technology.

Finally, a tenured faculty member will be selected to serve as the coordinator of the ITC. The position initially will be a renewable appointment for a period of up to three years with the faculty member retaining his/her home department assignment. The individual selected will serve as the coordinator, facilitator and expeditor of the ITC and will oversee the workshops offered under its auspices. For academic years 97, 98 and 99, the appointment may need to be a full-time assignment---thereafter, it will in all likelihood be a half-time assignment.

The coordinator of the ITC will report to the director of CRTL, who will serve as a member of the steering committee for the aforementioned university-wide effort. The success and on-going effectiveness of the ITC and its work, however, will be very dependent upon how well the vision and activities are coordinated, supported and integrated with several other units within the college, including departments of both the CRTL and the Center for Institutional Services (CIS). In particular, both the CRTL and CIS will participate in on-going technical and professional assistance operations of the ITC, and it is expected that the ITC coordinator and the director of the CRTL will consult with the director of CIS on a regular basis. In particular, aspects of ITC operation or planning that will require CRTL or CIS resources will be dealt with in a collaborative manner, and, where appropriate, review and impact analyses will be conducted by both directors. It is the responsibility of those directors to keep the dean appropriately informed of any college-wide issues relating to the ITC.

It is essential that the effectiveness of the ITC activities be evaluated--both formatively and summatively. Therefore, the ITC will develop an evaluation plan for approval by the dean of NTID. The plan will assess the impact of the workshops, seminars and continuing education offered through the consortium upon the practice of teaching and also upon student learning outcomes. It is expected that the ITC will develop and execute its evaluation plan collaboratively with researchers in NTID's Center for Research Teaching and Learning.


18 December 1997 JJD