e-Learning
Mary Washington continues to garner national visibility in its use of information technologies. At the annual meeting of the national EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, which UMW joined this year, the University’s delegation quickly established itself as a model for institutions around the country. The delegation demonstrated the faculty’s leadership, enthusiasm and obvious sense of partnership with their information technology (IT) colleagues.
On campus, technology continues to transform classroom teaching and to expand the academic vernacular. Blogs, wikis, podcasts and webcasts are commonplace. Expanding the range of resources available to faculty and students, the University joined ARTstor, an online database of nearly 500,000 images.
Throughout the year, IT technicians worked steadily on the ever-evolving campus network, changing the Internet domain name from mwc.edu to umw.edu, and implementing a major project to replace the institution’s central administrative software with a program called Banner. With herculean efforts by staff throughout campus, data was converted from the old system to the new, enabling – among other feats – the first online course registration during new students’ summer preview. The University also implemented an interface between Banner and the new statewide electronic procurement system known as eVA. The idea is that e-procurement can create time- and cost-savings by increasing the Commonwealth of Virginia’s volume purchasing power.
After successful implementation of a wireless environment in Simpson Library, detailed planning began for a more widespread wireless network throughout academic and administrative areas. Also, in its ongoing battle against electronic security threats and nuisance e-mail, the University implemented a new anti-spam firewall. Finally, a second high-speed network connection was established between the Stafford and Fredericksburg campuses.
Throughout the year, Mary Washington IT specialists offered a dizzying array of classes to help train faculty and staff on use of Banner, eVA and other programs, such as Contribute, a user-friendly web-authoring tool. Specially designed orientation sessions were developed for incoming students and parents. In addition, in August, roving teams of technicians supported students during move-in days.
After Commencement, faculty participated in the 10th annual Faculty Academy on Instructional Technology. Distinguished speakers and workshops presented emerging teaching and learning technologies and means to integrate them into the classroom. This popular program was replicated during the academic year with the second annual Student Academy on Information Technologies.