Two new centers will be the first of their kind to provide Information Technology support to faculty and students on campus.The Visualization Services Center and the Faculty Technology Center are located in Middleton Library across from Community Coffee House.A broad range of IT support will be provided, including hardware and software training.Faculty and students who need help may walk in or schedule an appointment with IT professionals.The Visualization Services Center and Faculty Technology Center were built based on the Flagship Information Technology Strategic Plan, which aims to transform the University into a national leader in technology among public universities.The plan calls for the development of support services to help engage faculty in their efforts to incorporate information technology into their teaching.The Visualization Services Center supplies visualization technical equipment, and the Faculty Technology Center serves more as a help desk.Work stations with a variety of software and systems for 3-D viewing, scanning and powerful projection and display are available in the center.The majority of the efforts of the Faculty Technology Center are focused on Moodle, but the center may shift gears this semester as professors become more familiar with Moodle, according to Sheri Thompson, Information Technology planning and communications officer.”One of the issues we had with Blackboard and Semester Book was that a majority of the faculty utilized either of them,” Thompson said. “We want Moodle to be a resource that is utilized by faculty to enhance their teaching experience.”The Faculty Technology Center will help professors use Moodle by setting up their courses and teaching the technical differences from the previous course management systems.The Visualization Services Center’s goal is to improve student and faculty’s data presentation skills by visualizing the data and results from surveys, modeling and simulations.Students are able to conduct research or work on class projects in the center.The center will host a formal opening later this semester along with training sessions on the visualization software.—-Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]
IT centers open in Middleton
August 26, 2008