Faculty Support #1
1 Technical assistance is provided for faculty during online course development and online teaching.
Deficient Developing Accomplished Exemplary
iSchool faculty members have a broad range of technical assistance options to support their online teaching.
The iSchool provides abundant support for use of the Canvas learning management system. Two Canvas support administrators are dedicated for iSchool faculty and staff. Support features include:
- iSchool Technical Support Form (responses are handled within 24 hours, often much more quickly)
- iSchool Canvas tutorials for instructors
The iSchool Network Administrator is available by email, instant messaging, or phone to assist with technical support related to account requests for server space, web conferencing, management of locally hosted wikis and blogs, and use of software such as Panopto (for lecture capture).
The iSchool has a full-time Equipment/Help-Desk Technician who assists faculty with computer issues. Remote troubleshooting is carried out via a variety of communication media including telephone, email, and desktop sharing.
The Director of Online Learning provides technical support for the web conferencing platform. Under her direction, student assistants assist faculty and students each semester through a training and class assistance program.
The iSchool Web Technologist leads a team of staff and student assistants who provide assistance with all class-related web resources. Faculty text book selections and course syllabi are all available on the iSchool web site. The iSchool web support staff member provides timely support to faculty members who post their course information each semester.
When faculty members begin to prepare their first course, they must complete the Teaching Online course, an online course taught by the Director of Online Learning. Specific technical assistance resources and staff are introduced in the course which consists of five modules covering the technology instructors will use as well as the pedagogy of teaching online.
The online faculty handbook provides technical reference material and tutorials to guide faculty members through a broad range of topics related to their online teaching. See the Faculty Handbook.
The iSchool T3 (Teaching Tips and Techniques) series includes presentations on technology and tools such as Panopto, Canvas Studio, VoiceThread, social media, wikis, blogs, and Zoom. Sessions also cover online teaching pedagogy, flipped classroom concepts, rubrics etc. Faculty are required to attend at least one session a semester.
