Notes & News Graduate Student Learning Community
Technical Competency Pilot Project The Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology was awarded one of thirty-one state-wide grants from the Ohio Learning Network (OLN) in 2002-2003 to develop a technical competency program for graduate teaching assistants. A core team composed of the following cross-departmental members was formed to develop the initial specifications of the project: Connie Molnar, Assistant Director, CTLT; Dan Madigan, Director, CTLT; Michael Thompson, Instructional Designer/Technologist, CTLT; Cathi Cardwell, Chair, Library Teaching & Learning and Co-Director, General Education, University Libraries; Terry Herman, Director, Distance Learning; Gwen Evans, Library Associate; Kristine Blair, Associate Professor, English; Savilla Bannister, Assistant Professor, Division of Teaching and Learning; and Matthew Wilber, External Consultant, Programmer. Throughout the 2002-2003 year, team members attended OLN meetings in Columbus as well as traveled to Kent State University for an institute composed of several other grant recipients from universities around the state. In addition, this team developed the specifications for the “Graduate Student Technical Competency� project that was launched at BGSU at the start of the Fall, 2003 semester. The project consists of the creation and delivery of an online course with the goal of developing a technical competency in graduate teaching assistants. This course is unique however, in relation to other online courses, beGraduate sudents discuss the online assessment tool. cause it focuses on technical concepts rather than being an application-based technology course. In addition, there is a focus on how the technical concepts can be applied to teaching to best enhance student learning. Ultimately, the goal is to provide future faculty/educators with the knowledge of technical concepts and their application in teaching and learning so that wherever these students go in the future, they can apply the concepts to any technical platform as well as understand how to use them in an educational setting. Team members Connie Molnar, Dan Madigan, Michael Thompson, and Cathi Cardwell are delivering the initial offering of this course to a select group of graduate students who were interviewed in the summer of 2003 for a learning community. The learning community members must complete the course as well as participate in several face-to-face meetings throughout the semester. Graduate students in the learning community received the loan of a laptop computer for the AY 2003-2004, as well as a $500 development stipend for their participation. In addition to grant monies received from OLN, this project is made possible this year through a joint effort of the CTLT, ITS, and the Graduate College. Special thanks to Bruce Petryshak from ITS and Heinz Bulmahn and Barb Peck of the Graduate College for their generous contributions of time and resources to this project.
Graduate students learn about the online discussion board.
For additional information about this project as well as a list of the graduate students in the program, go to: http://ctlt.bgsu.edu/communities/grad.php. The Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology * 201 University Hall * 419-372-6898 * http://ctlt.bgsu.edu/ December, 2003
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Volume 4, Issue 3