Faculty Instructional Technologists at SUNY Empire State College are now in the process of creating a Faculty Development Program to be rolled out to ESC’s seven regional centers in the Spring of 2013. The program will consist of four module-based blended training units which will be designed to introduce ESC faculty and staff to several types of Web 2.0 technology tools (social media, document sharing, etc…) that have been shown to increase student learning and engagement in blended studies. Participants will engage in pre-assessment and post-assessment dialogue to allow researchers to determine the value of engagement.

The goal of this project is to pilot the Tools of Engagement Project’s (TOEP) on-demand professional development model among faculty across SUNY campuses, investigating its effectiveness in expanding their pedagogy as they integrate free online Web 2.0 tools into their courses and research. Evolving instructional technologies are changing the ways we collaborate and communicate. Faculty must learn to adapt to this rapidly changing landscape. TOEP’s self-directed professional development gives faculty a platform to experiment with cutting-edge technologies, integrating them into their curricula to engage students and improve learning. Self-directed activities encourage faculty to be lifelong learners, as they become familiar with blogging, wikis, podcasting, online collaborative, and the latest web-based instructional technology tools. After acquiring deeper knowledge about how to use these tools, faculty will become more adept at embedding 21st century skills into their teaching and meeting the expectations of their students. They will also be able to use these tools to diversify assessment of student learning, going beyond traditional strategies.

A one-day conference, Friday, October 26, 2012, at The College at Brockport will help faculty and researchers understand and safeguard intellectual property rights in producing and consuming information. The May 2012 federal court decision in the closely-watched Georgia State case makes the conversation especially timely. The program will include discussion of the copyright and licensing environments in general, and alternatives to current models including the open access movement.

We propose to introduce a Laboratory Instruction Management System by implementation of electronic notebooks and computerizing data acquisition. Students will plan and document all aspects of an experiment; laboratory instructions will be incorporated into a notebook template and adjusted at the time of preparation for a new experiment. ELN is accessible to the instructor at any step; the report creation will be automatic. Instructor will be able to make the corrections directly in the ELN. Successful completion of this project should serve as a pattern for implementation of LIMS in the educational laboratory environment.