Challenges in Supporting Faculty Who Use Technologies in Composing Communities.

This paper discusses the role of a Distributed Technology Coordinator at the University of Colorado at Boulder in helping faculty (particularly composition faculty) utilize technology as part of their teaching. It begins by discussing how the Distributed Technology Coordinator establishes relationships with and acts as liaison between university faculty, Information Technologies Services staff, and deans and directors. It then discusses the process of working with these groups, which includes: (1) assessing the technology landscape on and off campus; (2) helping faculty evaluate and use technologies; (3) dealing with faculty learning preferences and perspectives; and (4) helping faculty through the retirement of obsolete technologies. It continues by presenting recommendations for supporting faculty in technology use. It concludes by listing factors contributing to the success of the program. (EF) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Challenges in Supporting Faculty Who Use Technologies in Composing Communities Mark Werner University of Colorado at Boulder Mark.J.Werner@Colorado.Edu © Copyright 2001, All Rights Reserved. Presented at the Conference on College Composition and Communication, March 17, 2001 in Denver, Colorado.' Part of Session N.15, "The Impact of Technology on Faculty Collaboration, Institutional Spending Patterns, and the Environment." Faculty members who want to use information technologies when they teach often face a variety of pressures. For example, The pressure to work within a very limited budget, The pressure to devote very little time and energy using those technologies (at the risk of jeopardizing their tenure or post-tenure reviews) The pressure to keep up-to-date with the rapidly changing technologies. In the spring of 1998, administrators at the University of Colorado at Boulder realized that they needed to do more than they had in the past to help faculty face these pressures. However, they also realized that simply making technologies available to the faculty was not enough to ensure that the faculty would use the technologies. So to address this problem, University administrators created a number of support systems to help faculty. One of these support systems was the Distributed Technology Coordinator program, which placed nine technology coordinators in schools and colleges across the University (see Fig. 1) to help faculty use technologies in their teaching, research, and creative works. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. BEST COPY AVAILABLE 1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY