Systemic Progress in Teaching and Learning 2000 Award Winners

University of Washington

A 1994 charge from the University of Washington provost to top-level administrators "to do something about technology" has generated a vibrant, cross-campus program to bring technology into the service of teaching and learning. The partnership behind this transformation, UWired, is built on two cornerstones: UW’s well-developed infrastructure of ubiquitous, Internet-standards-based technology access and, even more importantly, a powerful and sustained collaboration of Undergraduate Education, the University Libraries, the Computing & Communications groups, and the Office of Educational Partnerships. The combination has fostered minimal duplication of efforts, maximum outreach, and participation and buy-in from all constituencies.

The UWired partnership’s efforts include:

• the Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, a faculty-oriented drop-in demonstration facility for research, development, and outreach;
• powerful toolsets like Catalyst (subject of this year’s EDUCAUSE Review Contribution of the Year award-winning article), which leverages and is integrated with the university-wide technology infrastructure to reach teachers in every UW school and college and all three campuses;
• ongoing, pragmatic efforts to improve student engagement with technology, and curriculum-based information literacy-UWired’s long-standing partnership with the university’s active Freshman Interest Group (FIG) program now reaches over 2,100 students, nearly half of last year’s entering class;
• the UWired-sponsored Program for Educational Transformation through Technology (PETTT), giving the partnership a better capability for conducting research on the science of learning and disseminating the results via Catalyst.

Together these activities, programs, and collaborations provide a notable feedback loop that encompasses experimentation, implementation, assessment, and distribution of mainstream, open standards-based tools and approaches to improve and extend teaching and learning through technology.

Honorable Mention - Seton Hall University

Seton Hall has made a major commitment to information technology over the past five years, with a plan focused on using technology in support of teaching and learning for its 5,000 students. The University developed its innovative Mobile Computing Program to make technology ubiquitous throughout the educational experience. Each student in the program-which is mandatory for all full-time entering undergraduates beginning with the Class of 2002-is provided with a notebook computer as part of their tuition and fees; faculty are encouraged to integrate technology tools into the curriculum, with special “mobile” sections created for undergraduate core courses. Support services include the university’s Teaching, Learning, and Technology Center, a Curriculum Development Initiative, and a Faculty Technology Fellows Program. An Institute for Technology Development is engaged in a longitudinal study on the impact of technology on the learning environment at Seton Hall and other institutions across the country, to serve as a national clearinghouse for best practices in the use of technology in teaching and learning as well as assessment data on the subject. A promotion and tenure policy specifically covers recognition of using technology in teaching, with a section on the scholarship of technology.

Honorable Mention - University of Technology, Sydney (Australia)

The inner-city University of Technology, Sydney, faces unique academic demands with its student population of 26,000 students of whom 48 percent are part-time and 34 percent come from non-English speaking backgrounds. Over the past three years UTS has developed and adapted a range of information technologies to advance the educational environment by enhancing the effectiveness of teaching, research, administration, and community service. The goal: to facilitate the best possible experience for students in the full range of interactions they have with the university, as potential students, current students, and alumni. A sophisticated Web site and online learning activities are particularly useful for supporting the diverse student body, with a strong emphasis on computer-mediated conferencing software. Six cross-faculty/department Flexible Learning Action Groups (FLAGs) encourage collaborative work among academics to develop ways technology can be supported across the institution using self-managed learning materials, virtual drop-in centers, staff development, and work-based learning. With a high priority on creating a flexible and responsive learning environment, the university has formed a Teaching and Learning Committee, which is developing a long-term planning/assessment model to provide continuous evaluation of the success of new strategies to inform subsequent actions and planning.