Center for Instruction & Technology

CIT January-March Training

The January-March training schedule is out now. New classes include: 21st Century Teaching & Learning, two Blackboard Jumpstart Lunchtime Series, Designing Interactive Learning Units, Instructional Design for eLearning, Online Student Assessment, Social Media in Education, iPad in Education, Design Essentials, and Interactivity in InDesign. Visit the CIT Training calendar to refer to training dates, and then register online.

What's New?

Blackboard Exemplary Course Program

The Center for Instruction and Technology (CIT) is sponsoring the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program to create greater awareness of achievements by faculty who are finding new ways to design instruction using Blackboard. The program recognizes two faculty who have demonstrated the practice of exemplary course design for online instruction.

The Novice ($1500)
The Novice award will recognize a first-time or basic user of Blackboard who designs an exemplary course based upon the guidelines specified in the program rubric.

The Exemplar ($1500)
The Exemplar award will be granted to the Blackboard user who designs an exemplary course based upon the guidelines specified in the program rubric, excelling on all areas of the rubric. [Read more]

Technology Certificate Program

In the coming year, we are offering the Technology Certificate Program again for a second time to assist faculty and staff in meeting technology goals.

Just select five (5) classes from one of four technology tracks to successfully complete your certificate, in addition to completing a work-related project within a calendar year. Certificates will be awarded to all participants who complete the program requirements at three periods throughout the year: May, August and December. Also, the CIT will conclude the program with a lunchtime celebration which will showcase all completed projects. [Read more]

Faculty Learning Technologies Fair on January 19, 2012

The Faculty Learning Technologies Fair was a success with 70 faculty attending. Four Kindle Fires were raffled off. Recipients are: Sylvia Andrade, Nursing, Heinz Weihrich, SOM, Helen Huynh, SOE and Rosalind Simpson, SOE. Many of the faculty expressed that this kind of event is very beneficial to them since they can come down and talk directly with the vendors about the technologies they are adopting in the classroom. There were also many informative faculty/staff presentations during the day's events. Feedback from one attendee: " I caught quite a few of the faculty presentations--very informative sessions... ", and another one " I was glued to my chair all morning and left with so many new ideas about teaching approaches as well as new uses of technology that we have available to us. There was a wonderful collegial atmosphere with instructors sharing their strategies."

The CIT will continue its support for teaching excellence at USF by providing ongoing training and events in the future.

Resources on iPad ipad2

If you are interested in learning more about the iPad, we have a new resource page for you filled with all kinds of tips on plug-ins, innovative use inside or outside the classroom, accessories and many more.

An Article: Major Higher Education Textbook Publisher Going Digital

Since the release of the Amazon Kindle in 2007, e-readers have proliferated in the literary market. Among dozens of new products, the top five, according to CNET, are the Kindle Touch, Kindle 2011, and the Kindle Fire by Amazon; and the Nook Simple Touch Reader and Nook Tablet by Barnes & Noble. In 2011, Amazon announced that e-books have exceeded printed books in sales. Despite the surge in e-books and e-reader technology, we would like to focus on the advantages of these technologies for the consumer, and whether we can foresee higher education taking advantage of them for educational purposes.

Some of the advantages for e-books and e-readers can include the following: an e-reader may contain thousands of titles limited only by memory capacity, takes up little room or weight, may be readable in low light, can take advantage of screen-reader software for the visually impaired, can be searchable by key terms, access to definitions, highlighting, bookmarking and annotations, and last but not least, e-books are often cheaper. This is all very fine and well, but what is the utility for college students? [Read more]

-Xavier Gomez

Tips on PLUG-INS
ScreenChomp - iPad

Price: Free 
By TechSmith Corporation
Record It. Sketch It. Share It. Create a sharable, replay-able video that tells your story clearly.
Share a great idea... Explain a tricky concept... ScreenChomp for iPad helps you do it all.

neu.Annotate PDF - iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad
Price: Free
By neu.Pen LLC

Hokusai Audio Editor - iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad
Price: Free
By Wooji Juice Ltd
Hokusai is a multitrack audio editor for iPhone or iPad. Record or import a track, and make it sound the way you want it to: not just trimming the ends, but full cut, copy, paste and delete, and a suite of filters and special effects available.

LAB RESERVATION POLICYThe CIT's classrooms are designed to provide instructors and their students with access to technology that is an integral part of the course. If your course format does not require students to use computer technology during class time, we recommend that you reserve a standard USF Smart Classroom. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. For lab information and reservation, please click here.