Colleagues,

I know that many of you were unable to make the presentation I made today regarding the ITC (1:00 until 2:00 in the Panara Theatre). Therefore, I have attached the notes I used in making the presentation. Please pardon the roughness of these notes.

..................................Jim

First, let me wish you all a happy new year in person. I know that I have done that electronically, but it is much nicer to have this chance to do so in person.

This afternoon I would like to take about ten to fifteen minutes of your time to discuss what I consider to be a very exciting and forward looking effort to provide faculty members of this college with opportunities to apply new and emerging technologies. I am speaking here of the NTID Instructional Technology Consortium.

Before I enter directly into discussion of the consortium, I would like to set a context and place this presentation of the consortium within the framework of the NTID Strategic Plan.

You will recall that we made a commitment to the feds that we would implement our strategic plan without asking for additional funding for that purpose. This became an even more daunting commitment when we were also confronted with the budget reductions of a few years ago. Irrespective, we made those reductions and have generated the funds needed to implement our strategic plan.

For the past five years now we have been vigorously addressing our strategic objectives related to curriculum and we are well on our way to bringing those to fruition. These efforts have demanded much of our community and you have risen to that challenge--the first year experience is up and running, the pre-baccalaureate is being offered, technical curriculum are in compliance with the recommendations of the balance task force, new curriculum are under development in our technical program areas, and a baccalaureate in interpreter education is under development; to name only a few. All-in-all an impressive array.

Unfortunately, we have not as vigorously tackled our strategic goals related to "Technology." Bob recognized this long before the end of his first year with us and asked that I work with the leadership team to address this important area of concern. Parenthetically, this is an area that was also isolated by the NTID National Advisory Group.

Therefore, Bob set aside significant resources for use in addressing technology, and we are executing the following efforts:

we are investing $2.2 million in the ethernetting of the all NTID facilities as a full partner in the university-wide effort;

we have established the classroom renovation committee and we will be receiving their recommendation shortly--a total of $1.1 million has been set aside for these and other building renovations; and,

this year we set aside $2.5 million for the purchase of equipment--historically we have budgeted $.5 million annually for this purpose. This year we have allocated and appropriated $.5 million solely for big ticket items that have been on the waiting list for quite a period of time. The center directors are now in the process of preparing purchase orders for this equipment. Finally, the equipment prioritization committee has been provided a target of $2 million for the purchase of equipment this year. For future budget years, our equipment line will be $1 million.

These initiatives have to do with the purchase of hardware and the revitalization of our technological infrastructure. However, these investments would be for naught if our faculty and staff are not provided the opportunity to develop competence in the use and applications of these technologies for innovative pedagogy. Therefore, in this academic year we implemented:

NTID short term leaves for professional development. For academic year 1997-118 and the next three years, we will be setting aside $600,000 annually to provide faculty and staff the opportunity for professional development and rejuvenation. I anticipate that this program will provide ample opportunity for faculty to pursue new technologies, innovative pedagogy, scholarship (ala Boyer) and professional development related to the mission and goals of our college.

In addition to our short-term leaves, we are now ready to implement an innovative approach to enhancing teaching and learning with deaf and hard-of-hearing students thorough the use of instructional technology and innovative teaching strategies. Initially, such a concept was proposed in the strategic plan as a place somewhat akin to our learning center. After careful consideration by the leadership team and some thoughtful critique from various members of our community, it was determined that we needed a different conceptual framework, that is, a consortium of experts who would work with faculty colleagues to develop, offer and maintain an educational network of workshops and consultations that meet faculty needs in the application of innovative pedagogy.

Technology, software and networks have moved so quickly that the leadership team concluded that we should implement a model where users are provided with the instructional technology, software, updates, consultation and training needed for application in the education of our students.

In effect, we are opting for a decentralized model of development and instructional technology.

Therefore, we will construct a consortium committee of faculty who will steer the efforts of the ITC. That is, a steering committee that will determine the kind of training and the myriad technology that could be applied. The committee will have as it overriding goals:

1. improving student learning and the practice of teaching by putting new instructional tools directly into the hand of instructional faculty;

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

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

The consortium will be chaired by a coordinator who will be drawn from among our tenured faculty. This appointment will be for a pre-specified duration, the individual maintaining his or her home department affiliation.

This ITC will be developed and executed in full collaboration with the greater university which is in the process of developing primer workshops for offering to faculty this Summer. I have been collaborating directly with Reno Antonietti who, along with the Interim Associate Provost (Kit Mayberry), have been charged by the provost with establishing the workshops before the end of June. RIT-wide committees are being established to achieve this end. Marc Marschark, to whom the ITC will report, is sitting on the university steering committee for these workshops.

The first order of business of the ITC will be working in partnership with the greater university to offer the primer workshops. In addition to the University offerings, we will offer college-specific programming in June. This will be done by teams of faculty members and a CRTL instructional developer or technologist. The content will be determined by the ITC. Those who participate in our college-specific efforts will develop a working knowledge of the instructional technologies covered and will exit with the necessary equipment and software to apply the technologies learned. Consultant support, follow-up training and access to other 'big ticket' equipment and software will also be available as follow-up resources for program participants.

Participants will be drawn from self nominations based upon criteria developed by the ITC. We will assure that, over time, every person who wishes to participate in the training opportunities will have an opportunity to do so.

There is much that has been left undefined because of the need to assure that the consortium committee and the coordinator are able to shape the ITC in such a way as to address the needs of our faculty. The committee, therefore, has a very important role to play in the definition of the consortium--that definition to exist within the bounds of the principles and guidelines articulated here and in the electronic mail message distributed to you on 18 December of 1997.

I strongly believe the ITC is a new and innovative avenue of fostering the application of instructional technology. The ITC should improve learning and the practice of teaching by putting instructional technology directly into the hands of our faculty and providing support in the use of those technologies.

When we couple the ITC together with our efforts to renovate our classrooms, purchase new technology, ethernet our facilities and provide short term leaves for faculty members, we should be well positioned to maintain the vitality which has been the hallmark of our college.

I appreciate your being here this afternoon. I look forward with great anticipation to implementing the ITC this June. I am even more excited about the prospects of returning from my leave next academic year and seeing what the ITC has become. I fully expect it will place us squarely at the forefront in supplying new and innovative instructional technology in the education of deaf students.

James J. DeCaro