The instructional technology division of eTech supports those faculty and instructors who wish to incorporate technology into their teaching and research. eTech provides faculty and staff one-on-one meetings, department presentations, and workshops. The Teaching Hub, a website created and maintained by eTech and the A&S Faculty Technology Liaison, provides a great collection of teaching resources, tips, and advice from various faculty and entities at UA. Ongoing professional development for staff is also encouraged and incentivized through the A&S STAR system. A comprehensive explanation of the STAR program can be found at https://star.as.ua.edu/.
The A&S faculty technology liaison is a special appointment with a faculty member who dedicates their service time to eTech and their research and teaching time to the academic department. The faculty technology liaison meets with faculty to discuss implementing instructional technology and pedagogy for on-site and online courses. The liaison also works with eTech to research and implement new technologies related to teaching and with eTech, faculty, and the Dean’s Office to add new content to the Teaching Hub.
eTech works cooperatively with the Center for Instructional Technology, which assists faculty with enterprise tools, like Blackboard, Panopto, Respondus, Turnitin, and UA Box. Please see the CIT website for more information on their workshops and other support: https://cit.ua.edu. For a list of eTech and CIT contacts, see Section 6.0.
Faculty can attend workshops and sessions that provide overviews of the most used technology and software in the College, iPad setup, and active learning. Faculty are welcome to attend these sessions over the years as a refresher, and they can schedule appointments with eTech for one-on-one sessions. Faculty can find lists of current workshops on the Teaching Hub (https://teachinghub.as.ua.edu/), on the CIT website (https://cit.ua.edu/), and on the Libraries website (https://www.lib.ua.edu/ –
The Active Learning mentors are a group of faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences who work with the Dean’s Office and eTech to conduct a multi-session workshop in the spring semester in which they teach other faculty how to document learning outcomes and achievements using technology tools. Information regarding learning initiatives and other resources may be found at https://www.as.ua.edu/facultystaff-resources/.
Each year the College recognizes one Distinguished Teaching with Technology Fellow during the first faculty meeting of the fall semester. As members of the Arts and Sciences Teaching Fellows Committee, the fellows form a teaching advisory board, serve as mentors for other faculty members, provide advice on the assessment of teaching, participate in new faculty orientation, and work with the College in other ways to improve its overall teaching mission. View a list of current Distinguished Teaching Fellows on the A&S website at https://as.ua.edu/faculty-resources/awards-for-faculty/distinguished-teaching-fellowship/.