Tech support for faculty

Three Learning Technology Solutions facilities provide support for faculty members and teaching assistants. (Photo: Vibhu Sreevatsa Rangavasan)

Faculty can now find enhanced support and resources for their teaching and technology needs through one team: the Learning Technology Solutions (LTS) group.

A subgroup of the Academic Computing and Communications Center, LTS provides three major services:

• support for learning tools and environments, which include common-use learning spaces, learning management systems, web conferencing, lecture captures, media streaming and more.
• instructional design and course development help that involves identifying appropriate tools and advising or consulting faculty for course improvements or redesigns — converting face-to-face classes to blended or online courses, for example.
• multimedia resource identification and production, where faculty are taught how to create or use existing media.

Equipment lending to faculty for in-class use is available in the LTS Support Office in Lecture Center E, Room 112, for microphones, laptops and presentation remotes. In the LTS Academic Multimedia Lab in the Daley Library IDEA Commons, faculty can borrow laptops, camcorders, audio recorders and more for video production needs. In-person workshops, general help and online webinars are also available to faculty and TAs.

In the past, support for learning tools and instructional design and course development was offered by different ACCC groups — the Instructional Technology Lab and the Learning Environments & Technology Services office. But LTS has merged those services and improved them.

“Before, faculty wasn’t sure where to go,” said Elizabeth Romero, director of LTS. “So now, we’re really trying to make it accessible.”

The result is a combination of support for instructional design, software, and classroom or computer lab technology — a central point of contact for easily accessible solutions. There are three LTS facilities, including the Support Office, the Academic Multimedia Lab and the Instructional Design Office, located in Room 181 Benjamin Goldberg Research Center.

New multimedia options will let faculty “spice [courses] up using other tools,” Romero said.

The multimedia studio lets faculty record themselves talking during lectures, but a Lightboard that will be available next semester will allow faculty to record themselves while writing on a tempered, mounted glass board and displaying other relevant materials.

Call 312-413-0003 or email LTS@uic.edu for appointments.