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Innovation focus of next round of IU SBC Fellows Program grants
Forum is May 13 at IUPUI
By Marsha Waren
IU and SBC team up again this year to support faculty in exploring the use of technology in teaching and learning. Technology-enhanced instruction is a growing emphasis in education at all levels across the state. The IU SBC Fellows Program provides faculty grant recipients with the resources necessary to examine and develop innovative ways of teaching. This year's program (Round 6) focuses on leveraging the capabilities of IU's learning environment, a set of tools, technologies and strategies that support teaching and learning, including:

* Oncourse Collaboration and Learning (CL) environment: Oncourse CL is a Web-based system giving students round-the-clock access to course syllabi; chat, discussion, and mail tools for class interactions; online quizzes and surveys; space for sharing files; and customized learning tools--all in a single, easy-to-use, personalized environment. For faculty, Oncourse makes it easy to provide a wide range of online learning tools without knowing how to program for the Web.

* Learning spaces and wireless technologies: Newly developed learning spaces and wireless technologies will expand the learning environment.

* ePortfolio: Students use ePortfolio to create a personal, digital collection of assignments, documents, videos and other materials to demonstrate learning achievement, similar to an artist's portfolio. Instructors, potential employers and the students themselves can use the portfolio to assess a student's progress.

* Multi-campus collaboration: The IU SBC Fellows Program emphasizes faculty collaboration and mentoring to gain the widest benefit of innovators' efforts and outcomes, extending the next generation learning environment across the university.

Grants will be awarded in three categories:

* Preparing for Innovation: Faculty will be invited to share best practices for solving the complex issues associated with moving course materials from Oncourse Classic to Oncourse CL, while considering opportunities for taking advantage of CL's expanded capabilities.

* Examining Innovation: Faculty will conduct applied research on instructional strategies using one or more of IU's learning environments and will advocate for technology innovation.

* Implementing Innovation: Faculty will create and implement innovative, multi-disciplinary uses of one or more of IU's learning environments to enhance student learning.

All grantees will be asked to mentor other faculty in the use of their innovations, contribute to the IU good practices database, publish in related journals as appropriate, make campus presentations and participate in the annual IU SBC Fellows Summer Leadership Forum.

The 2005 forum is scheduled Friday, May 13, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Informatics and Communications Technology Complex (IT 152) on the IUPUI campus.

IU established the SBC Fellows Program in the fall of 1999, with a gift of $1 million from SBC to support a program of innovation in teaching and learning with technology. Since 1999, five rounds of funding and awards have made possible 54 innovative projects that span the IU campuses and represent the gamut of disciplines and subjects.

SBC-funded projects have included such diverse subjects as Chinese and African language instructions via the Web; using gaming theory to teach energy efficiency; a virtual microscope that dental students use to learn cell biology; an online music theory placement test; a CD-ROM to help pre-service teachers learn how to teach students who display disruptive classroom behavior; and guidelines for teaching a class with students in more than one country. Other SBC- funded projects included individualized instruction in English pronunciation for foreign students; digitizing the eminent Ars Femina Library of music by women composers; teaching color online; Web-based tools for studying the Andromeda galaxy; a Web- and telephone-based Spanish course for health care where students complete tasks.

http://sbcf.iu.edu