The Arbor

ar-bor n. A shady resting place in a garden or park, often made of rustic work or latticework on which plants, such as climbing shrubs or vines, are grown. [The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]

The Arbor is not your typical computing facility. With six computers, arm chairs, artwork, and a conference table that dominates the room, the place seems to bear little resemblance to the sites usually associated with the teaching and learning of technologies. At its official opening on the evening of September 30, the room was decorated with pots of flowers, and conversations were accompanied by a musician playing the lute.

Conceived as an extension of the Teaching Resource Center's Summer Institute for Technology in Teaching, the Arbor's purpose is to foster student learning by working with faculty to promote excellence in the uses of technology in teaching. Created by faculty for faculty, it will serve as a consulting rather than a production facility, offering guidance and training free of charge to any campus instructor, whether teaching assistant, lecturer, tenure-track professor, or dean.

What is served up at the Arbor also is not your usual technical fare. Drop-in visitors will receive guidance tailored to their specific needs, from an introduction to e-mail to instruction on incorporating animation into a Web page. For projects requiring ongoing guidance, a project team will be formed and a plan of action determined. Workshops and informational sessions, special-interest group meetings on specific issues or applications, seminars, and guest speakers are some of the events being planned. But perhaps most important, the Arbor will be a place for collaboration, where faculty can gather to exchange ideas, work out technical, philosophical and pedagogical issues, and learn from each other about the most appropriate and effective uses of technology.

Information Resources' Faculty Support Program, which manages and staffs the Arbor, has been putting many of these principles into practice for some time. Computer consultants Maureen Coulson and Joseph Coulombe have already assisted faculty members with various projects relating to research and teaching. Some of the highly technical projects, such as Dick Walters' RTA (Remote Teaching Assistant) project, have been demonstrated at Odyssey and elsewhere. But like the Summer Institute, the Faculty Support Program also helps instructors incorporate technology into their classes for the first time.

Emily Albu, assistant professor in Classics, obtained help from the Faculty Support staff last year, when putting together resources for her course on film and the classical world. It was her first time teaching a film course, and Albu, whose technical background was fairly limited, received instruction on film acquisition and editing, as well as Web page creation and design.

"As the course started and throughout the quarter I was incessantly over there. They were lending me equipment and giving me technical advice," Albu said. She accomplished much of the production work herself.

"Where I taught before they had very few resources for helping faculty prepare courses and few technical resources. This is an incredible thing," Albu said at the opening of the Arbor.

Just as an arbor provides structure and support for things to grow, the Arbor at UC Davis will provide faculty with training and guidance for their own innovations. Visit the Arbor at 174 AOB IV between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Phone: 754-2115

E-mail: arbor@ucdavis.edu

Web: http://arbor.ucdavis.edu