From the Desk of John Henderson - Fall 2014

From the Desk of John Henderson,
Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs for Technology:

John Henderson,

Asst. VPAA for Technology

It’s that time of year again and the Center for Academic Technology Support (CATS) staff will play a key role in providing leadership and technical support for technology initiatives across campus. CATS supports research and development of creative, innovative, and effective uses of established and emerging technologies by the university community.

Please take the time to read what your colleagues around campus are doing with established and emerging technologies in this issue of Tech Update.  As you read these articles, recognize that one size does not fit all. However, substantial heterogeneity of technology needs, capabilities, and resources exists among the various constituencies at Eastern and the explicit recognition and consideration of such differences will aid in the diffusion and adoption of technology applications.  

We will be accepting nominations for the Michael R. Hoadley award again this year. This award was established to recognize an Eastern Illinois University faculty member who has demonstrated the innovative use of new/emerging technologies or an existing technology through pedagogical innovation and its impact on the teaching and learning process.

The nominee must be a full-time instructor at Eastern Illinois University and not have received this award in previous years. The nomination process should begin at the faculty level and be submitted to the departmental chair. The departmental chair submits the nomination form along with the nomination narrative (3 pages). The nomination form can be found here.

The departmental chair will then complete a review rubric and from that point, the college dean should evaluate the nomination before being submitted by the required deadline. A selection panel comprised of the Council of Deans will judge the nominations. Nominations will be rated on a Likert scale from 1-5 with five as the highest in each of the categories listed above.

Gabe Grant was the winner of last year’s 2013 Michael R. Hoadley Excellence in the Use of Instructional Technology Award. Mr. Grant’s project incorporates an emerging technology, augmented reality. Augmented reality is a process that digitally captures an image and directs a person to an interactive website with further information related to the picture or drawing.

I would like to remind you again that the CATS staff is here to serve the campus and address its technological needs. For assistance, please call 217-581-8396 to talk with someone, or make an appointment for a future discussion at the CATS office located at 1336 McAfee.