{"id":60297,"date":"2017-11-02T12:18:45","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T17:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/instructional\/?p=60297"},"modified":"2017-11-02T12:18:45","modified_gmt":"2017-11-02T17:18:45","slug":"innovating-with-instructors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.uww.edu\/instructional\/2017\/11\/02\/innovating-with-instructors\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovating with Instructors"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my first blog post, I shared the LTC\u2019s mission with you<\/a>, and in my last blog post I talked about how the LTC supports instructors through cutting edge programming with partners<\/a> (like the LEARN Center). Today, I want to talk about the next hexagon–how we innovate. <\/span>\"LTC-mission-statement-v5\"<\/span><\/p>\n

According to our mission, \u201cwe innovate with instructors by initiative emerging technology exploration projects that investigate learning technology trends in higher education and how they may be used here at UWW.\u201d Every year instructors receive a survey from the LTC asking about satisfaction with our services, and challenges they may be having in the classroom. We analyze this data to understand the key challenges instructors are having and merge that with other data from the literature (e.g., key new pieces of research, the ELI Key Issues for Teaching and Learning, the NMC Horizon Report, etc.). Together, these data points drive the tool we investigate. From there, the LTC recruits instructors who would like to use the tool in their classes through an open call and then works with them to learn the tool, implement it into their course, and evaluate its ability to solve the pedagogical challenge that it was selected to solve. <\/span><\/p>\n

From our last instructor support survey we knew that instructors were concerned with student engagement. This semester (Fall 2017), as part of an emerging technology exploration project<\/a>, we have ten instructors who are busy at work using Cisco Spark in their classes to engage students in different ways. Cisco Spark is a two-part system that features an interactive board and virtual space to increase student engagement through collaboration, communication, and interaction inside and outside of class. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"sparkboard\"The Interactive Spark Board simplifies collaboration, sharing, and bringing in guest speakers by combining three common teaching tools in one:<\/span><\/p>\n