One Size Doesn't Fit All: Designing Scaleable, Client-Centered Support for Technology in Teaching

Abstract

This paper explains the University of Washington's UWired program and its approach to supporting technology in teaching and learning. UWired is a partnership among the University Libraries, the Office of Undergraduate Education, and Computing & Communications to promote and support educational technology. During 1998, UWired aggressively reexamined its programs, practices and facilities, engaged stakeholders in broad conversations on the role of technology in teaching, and embarked on a significant redesign of its support model and physical spaces. This paper describes the evolution of their faculty support model and why they decided against adopting an all-in-one courseware product in favor of adopting a strategy for supporting educators. The initiative to change the support model was named the Catalyst Project and it was decided that the Web would be the primary means to deliver support. The authors describe the five core components of the Catalyst Web site and the lessons learned from UWired's experience.