IT Announces New Instructional Technology & Digital Media Center
Opening Planned for Fall 2000

By Donna Justice

 
In its ongoing effort to meet the needs of faculty, the Office of the Vice Provost-Information and Educational Technology has announced the creation of a new Instructional Technology & Digital Media Center. The Center, planned to be operational by Fall 2000, will provide a cohesive, service-oriented entry point for faculty to a broad range of technology and digital media services.

"A major focus for the new Center will be to provide integrated support for faculty in the area of instructional technologies and to develop a scalable infrastructure for supporting these technologies," according to the recent campus directive from Vice Provost-Information and Educational Technology John Bruno.

The Center will be under the leadership of a UC Davis faculty director, who will devote 50 percent time to the position. (The combined directive/position description #00-018 for this position is available at: http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/resource/direct/2000/00-018.cfm.) The director will act as a liaison to the faculty and the Teaching Resources Center to ensure faculty have access to services they identify as important to their teaching and research goals. Also under recruitment is a new full-time Associate Director position that will be charged with the day-to-day operations of the Center. The Associate Director will work under the direction of the Faculty Director to develop an organizational structure for the new Center and then take on the operational and technical management responsibilities for the Center. Applications for this position will be screened in April. Recruitment for a Management Services Officer (MSO) was recently initiated. The MSO will provide management support to the Director and Associate Director. (The vacancy listings for the Associate Director and MSO are available at http://it.ucdavis.edu/jobs/).

"This is a highly talented and dedicated group of people. The Center will provide them with an opportunity to regroup and use their abilities more effectively in serving the Campus," says Harry Matthews, Chair of the Academic Computing Coordinating Council (AC4) and Associate Professor, Biochemistry.

Until the Center is up and running, those services, provided primarily by Instructional Media, Illustration Services, and the Arbor, will continue to be offered without interruption.

"We have no intention of disrupting the services currently offered to faculty," says Bruno. "We will transition staff and services as smoothly as possible as the Center is established, and we will have a communication plan in place to make sure all faculty are aware of the available services and how to access them."

Defining the details of the services offered through the Center will be the job of the new director. "We have purposely defined the Center in general terms for now to provide the new director with the flexibility to tailor services to the needs of the faculty," says Bruno.

This approach is a direct response to recommendations made in the Division's recent five-year Administrative Unit Review (AUR) (see http://iet.ucdavis.edu/adminrev/report/).

"I believe all of us involved in the AUR find the creation of an Instructional Technology and Digital Media Center an exciting and encouraging development, for several reasons," says Dave Shelby, Chair of IT's Administrative Unit Review Committee and Assistant Dean, Biological Sciences.

"First, it demonstrates the determination of IT to address a major concern that surfaced during the review--the need to better help faculty fully explore ways to incorporate both 'traditional' and emerging technologies in their teaching," says Shelby. "Second, bringing these services together should help IT better coordinate its approach. Third, creation of this center and the appointment of a faculty director for it sends a message about the priority the division places in supporting the academic mission of the campus.

 
Anticipated Next Steps

• Recruitment of Faculty Director: Ongoing. Expected to start July 1.
• Recruitment of Associate Director: Ongoing. Expected to be filled by July 1.
• Consultation with faculty: Ongoing, with Faculty Director leading the effort.
• Choosing a Location: Surge II (where some of the services are already located) is being considered as a potential location for the Center. Several modifications will need to be made to accommodate staff and services. This process will take several months.
• Transition of staff and services to the new Center: incremental. Look for further announcements.