ASC Academic Instructional Technology designed to meet distance education needs (10-31-07)
Adams State College added the Academic Instructional Technology Center to assist faculty and academic staff with technology needs. As the popularity of on-line courses and degree plans grows, so does the need to keep up with this current trend.
Currently, Adams State College's Extended Studies connects with more than 13,500 students with over 24,000 enrollments, and 1,400 instructors globally to provide quality learning and teaching opportunities.
According to the Academic Instructional Technology Director Dr. Mark Manzanares the new department was developed to assist with the every growing need for technological support for both distant and on site campus classrooms.
"The department was developed to meet the technology needs for professors, on and off campus," Manzanares said. "Many departments use WebCT to provide education on-line. It was obvious the need to support those departments and the faculty teaching the courses has increased."
Manzanares helped develop counselor education's on-line degree programs.
"While I was working on my doctorate degree, I worked with the latest technology in on-line course offerings," Manzanares said. "Adams State College has kept up with the latest trends using WebCT."
The Adams State Counselor Education Department offers a master's degree on-line as does the Human Performance and Physical Education Department (HPPE), Humanities and the Teacher Education Department supplements their master's program with on-line offerings.
The office hours are 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. for the Academic Instructional Technology Center, a graduate assistant will be on staff as well as the Instructional Designer, Tracy Parks, who started in July.
Parks received her bachelor of science degree in sociology from Kansas State and her master's in technology from the University of Texas, where she then worked as an instructional designer.
Her duties in the Academic Instructional Technology Center include ensuring high quality and accessibility for students taking the on-line classes.
"I want to help faculty be comfortable using the technology," Parks said. "I believe the students should receive the same quality from their on-line courses as they would if they were sitting in a traditional classroom."
She said her first challenge in the new department was prioritizing the needs of the campus community.
"In good design practice you start with analysis," Parks said. "I listen to the leaders of Adams State's on-line learning and hear what has worked, and what hasn't."
Parks said she is also figuring out what offerings to undergraduates, graduate students are the most critical and in demand.
"I am prioritizing some of the areas that are in high demand and will get those courses up to a high level and help expand the campus' distance learning opportunities," Parks said.
Academic Instructional Technology will also provide other technological needs including scanning documents, providing use to projectors and overheads, and will serve as a media technical center. The department is located on the first floor (102) of the Education and Social Studies (ES) Building.
"Our center will coordinate with other departments on campus to meet the needs of faculty and academic staff," Manzanares said. "We already have a few departments on campus that have expressed the desire to share equipment, including has a large-format ink-blot printer belonging to the earth science program and an analog digital converter and duplicator in the counselor education department."
The AITC staff will teach users how to use the available equipment. "We are here to provide technological skills and help faculty use the equipment," Manzanares said. "It will be our responsibility to maintain the equipment and learn about copyright laws, to help the faculty understand the laws and uses of the equipment."
The center provides on-site SMART Board training, and can be available to shoot videos of special sessions or classrooms as needed by academic departments.
"Academic Instructional Technology Center has access to network programming which allows faculty to record educational programs for the classroom and will also be available in case of a national crisis," Manzanares said. "We will be the center on campus to obtain information about what is happening in the rest of the world."
He said he will continue to teach a class a semester.
"I want to teach one course a semester on-line," Manzanares said. "I need to be using the technology to understand and teach the process and as new technology develops I will try it out on my students and trouble shoot."
By Linda Relyea
