Faculty Technology Resources
Provides Instructional Design Support

During Winter Quarter, the Faculty Technology Resources Center (FTRC) established a new instructional design team. The team consists of four staffers (two whose time is split with the Presentation Technologies and Services Group) and several student employees. The team's primary role is to assist faculty in placing courses online.
At the FRTC, faculty are at the center of the instructional design process. During Winter Quarter, our new design team submitted eleven software inventions, ten of which were designed by UC faculty, for copyrights.

The intensive design process begins with a consultation where faculty present their ideas to the instructional design team. After several design meetings, the participants are ready to beta test the software, on UCFileSpace or Blackboard. Beta testing can be challenging, but many faculty have weathered the transition to a multi-user environment.

All of our software is built to be reusable. We drop video, audio, images, and text into the appropriate folders. We use an Excel spreadsheet to sequence material and menus. In many cases, multiple instructors use the same software template for different online classes.

Brief descriptions of the instructor-designed applications completed during the Winter Quarter follow. These templates are available for redesign or distribution to UC faculty. For information, please contact Michael Lively at Michael.Lively@UC.Edu.

1. Cue Setter Program by Dr. Nancy Jennings
   The Cue Setter Program gives instructors the ability to synch (timestamp) presentation slides to audio, to enhance podcasts. This program is being used in five courses. 
2. History Template by Dr. Pamela Baker
   History Template creates a multimedia environment which sequences URLs, images, and text with a chatroom, image magnifier, and Google search function. This program is being used in three courses.
3. Multimedia Textbook by Professor Sandy Ogden
   Multimedia Textbook interweaves images, audio, and video into a math environment which allows easy access and sequencing of multimedia materials. This program is being used in three courses.
4. Audio Textbook by Dr. Michele Vialet
   Audio Textbook sequences audio with images and has an auto play function which allows for continuous play. This program is being used in two courses and several online presentations.
5. Eraser Program by Dr. Warren Huff
   The Eraser Program enables full screen transmission of mathematics by using an eraser principle which greatly reduces bandwidth requirements. This software is presently being redesigned for further application by Dr. Paul Sontag and Professor Sandy Ogden of the math department. This program is being used in one course.
6. Multi-Video Player by Dr. Warren Huff
   Multi-Video Player plays multiple flash videos with the option of pull-down text, image boxes, and auto play. It is being used in one course and for FTRC faculty training classes.
7. Virtual Field Trip by Dr. Warren Huff
   Virtual Field Trip gives instructors the ability to synch (timestamp) an entire multimedia environment (including video, text, and web sites) to audio, to enhance podcasts. It is being used in two courses.
8. Live WebPush by Dr. Warren Huff
   Live WebPush creates a multimedia online office hour experience with live "talking head" video, text chat, duplex audio transmission, and web push. It is being used in one course.
9. Survey software by Dr. Terry Premo
   This Survey software allows for the creation of multiple surveys for online implementation. It will be incorporated in courses soon.
10. Multimedia Chatroom by Professor Karen Lankisch
    Multimedia Chatroom enables a multi-chatroom environment with audio duplex, entry lobby, and instructor creation features. It is being used in five courses.

Spring Quarter

With a successful Winter Quarter behind us, we are looking forward to an exciting Spring Quarter. Presently, we have about twenty design projects which range from UC|21 capstone web sites to live-multimedia chatrooms. Visit http://homepages.uc.edu/~livelyml/id/ to keep abreast of what is going on in instructional design at the FTRC. (We update the site weekly.)

previous article | next article

Return to the Spring 2006 index.