Released: April 24, 2006
Contact: communications@ihets.org

INDIANAPOLIS—Several of Indiana's best and brightest educational innovators were acknowledged last week for their outstanding accomplishments in using technology to enhance teaching and learning. The recognition was announced April 21 during the annual All Partners Conference held by the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS) at the University of Indianapolis. Each recipient received a plaque and a cash award for further professional development.

Thanks to their efforts, Indiana is among leading U.S. states in using e-learning. The awards were sponsored by the Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education (IPSE), the primary leadership committee within the IHETS consortium focusing on program delivery and facilitation of e-learning courses and programs. Thirty-one nominations in three categories were received from colleges and universities throughout the state.

Support for online teaching and learning

Two winners were selected in this category.

The staff of the Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis were nominated for their work to support faculty in the innovative use of technology. The scope of work and depth of expertise that makes CTL so effective includes several areas of accomplishment.

In 2005, CTL staff engaged in nearly 1,000 consultations with IUPUI faculty across all campus disciplines regarding online instruction and support of course development. Their energy and skill in developing course prototypes has engaged the faculty and ensured meaningful contexts for teaching and learning.

One of CTL’s most successful programs, Jump Start, is an intensive four-day workshop in which faculty work with staff to design online courses in an accelerated time frame. Since its inception in 2003, a total of 42 courses have been completed.

The Academic Transformation Grants program provides support to schools and departments with large, multi-section courses to explore how technology can be used to achieve cost savings and improved student learning. CTL staff have developed several resources for faculty, including a series of self-paced online modules called “Teaching in Support of Student Success.” Through careful assessment, a focus on strategic planning, and scholarship in instructional technology, the center is locally and nationally recognized as a leader.

CTL staff include: Ron Alcasid, Jennifer Beasley, Dakin Burdick, Jon Eynon, Tom Janke, Rhett McDaniel, Sally Neal, Jesse Nelson, Randy Newbrough, Megan Palmer, Nicole Powell, Lorie Shuck, Nelson Soto, and Terri Tarr.

The second winner in this category is Professor Gary Friesen, director of instructional and academic technology at Taylor University, was recognized last week for his outstanding support of online teaching and learning at an annual conference sponsored by the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS).

The Support for Online Teaching & Learning Award, established by the Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education (IPSE), was announced April 21 at IHETS’ annual All Partners Conference held at the University of Indianapolis.

Friesen is widely recognized at Taylor for his stellar service to faculty, students, and staff.  His expertise in and advocacy for utilizing emerging technologies has impacted more than 80 percent of Taylor’s faculty. Through one-on-one counsel, group training sessions, seminars, and workshops, Friesen motivates faculty to be confident and creative in using technology. Through his perseverance, nearly every Taylor instructor is using some aspect of Blackboard to support their teaching.

Instrumental in establishing Taylor’s Center for Teaching & Learning Excellence, he has helped create an environment where all classrooms are equipped with advanced technology. As a result, faculty can choose from an array of tools to engage students and bring subject matter to life.

Through a Lilly Endowment grant, he is providing technology training for secondary teachers in local school districts. In addition, he is managing the technology portion of another Lilly grant to create a mobile wireless computer lab and install wireless transceivers for buildings on Taylor’s Upland and Fort Wayne campuses.

Teaching with technology in a distance education program

In this category, Dr. Diane Billings, associate dean for teaching, learning, and information resources for the Indiana University School of Nursing (IUSON), was selected for her pioneering efforts.

Billings, a chancellor’s professor in the Department of Environments for Health, has used technology to teach undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education nursing courses since 1986.  She has developed and teaches five online courses to prepare nurses for nurse educator roles. One of her two online certificate programs is endorsed and offered by the National League for Nursing.

With a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Billings developed an innovative online critical care course. Offered for academic credit or continuing education units, the course enrolls nursing students from across the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and Canada.

Instrumental in establishing one of the nation’s first distance-accessible PhD programs in nursing at IUSON, she leads a six-person technology support unit within the school for faculty and students using distance education technology. Billings is contributing editor of an award-winning book titled Conversations in E-Learning for nurse educators engaged in online teaching and learning.

 

Teaching with technology on campus

There were two winners in this category.

Keith Anliker, lecturer and director of laboratory and curriculum support for the Department of Chemistry at IUPUI, was recognized last week for teaching with technology on campus.

Anliker has incorporated technology into his classroom since 1991. An advocate of using technology to enhance learning, he helped create an online laboratory manual for an elementary chemistry course using Spartan software to assist students with visualizing molecular geometry and understanding bond angles.

In 2003, he began building weekly Web-based and online assignments into his courses as a tool for measuring how well students grasped lecture material. He is currently using Macromedia’s Captivate to create short Web-based videos to model problem-solving strategies. With this software and a tablet PC, Anliker has created audio tracks accessible by students via the Web. In addition, these movies deliver syllabus details, administrative information, and other important notes outside the normal class period.

Because of positive student feedback and his leadership in promoting effective uses of technology for teaching, Anliker has received several awards for teaching innovation. He has presented his work at numerous national professional conferences.

Robert Sedlmeyer, associate professor of computer science, and Linda Meyer, director of undergraduate nursing at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), were recognized last week for teaching with technology on campus.

The recognition was held during the annual “All Partners Conference” sponsored by the Indiana Higher Education Telecommunication System (IHETS) at the University of Indianapolis. The award was established by the Indiana Partnership for Statewide Education (IPSE), a service of IHETS.

Sedlmeyer and Meyer collaborated and developed a Web-based application for tracking the clinical experiences of nursing students. Their “Essential Clinical Behaviors,” or ECB model, has improved nursing education at IPFW by increasing opportunities for student experience in using technology; enhancing self-directed student learning through awareness of the breadth and depth of clinical training; improving diversity and variety of clinical experience; and providing more accessible and timely completion of weekly clinical evaluations.

For computer science students, the ECB project has afforded opportunities to engage in realistic software development projects and gain experience in Web-based technology, graphical user interface design and evaluation, and mobile computing.

Together, Professors Sedlmeyer and Meyer have presented their work at national and international conferences and published articles in scholarly journals, resulting in several grants and awards. Among the earliest adopters and enthusiastic supporters of technology on the IPFW campus, their courses have served as models for colleagues in other disciplines and departments.

Individually, each has a long history of supporting the virtues of technology for teaching. Professor Sedlmeyer has designed course Web sites to disseminate lecture notes and make and collect assignments long before the availability of course management systems like WebCT at IPFW. Professor Meyer initiated computerized testing, interactive Web-supported courses, and comprehensive curriculum technology integration for nursing.

The IPSE Awards for Innovation and Leadership were established in 2002 to recognize faculty and staff who exhibit extraordinary innovation and leadership in the utilization of technology to enhance teaching and learning. For more information, visit www.ihets.org.

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