Services

Instructional Technology works with faculty, graduate assistants and staff to create digital projects that focus on teaching creatively and effectively with instructional technologies.

Throughout the academic year, we offer individual consultations and group sessions that cover a variety of technology tools and techniques. Our events include panel discussions on creative uses of technology and teaching at Emerson. We also host the annual New Technologies : New Connections series, which highlights emerging technologies and their implications for teaching and learning.

If you are planning a digital project for teaching and would like assistance with the instructional design or development, please contact us. To register for a consultation or group session, please contact the listed instructor at least one working day in advance.

Please note that these workshops are ONLY available for faculty members and  teaching assistants

WebCT Basics: Upload files; customize layout; gradebook and other tools
This 30-minute session provides an overview of the WebCT interface and guides you through uploading your syllabus and other files.

Post Grades Throughout the Semester
Learn how to create a gradebook that allows students to privately access their grades online. We also go through the steps to upload your course syllabus.

 In-Class Polling: Clickers and  Poll Everywhere
Explore new ways to gather and assess student responses, engage learners, and increase class participation. In this session, we will review the basic clicker set up, discuss benefits of integrating Clickers (handheld personal response system) in a classroom environment, and share teaching experiences of Emerson faculty. Also we will compare it with Poll Everywhere — web-based technologies similar to the TV show ‘American Idol'.

Blogging Basics for Teaching
Learn how blogs can enhance your students' writing, editing and research skills as well as encourage in-class and out-of-class discussion. Drawing upon Emerson class blogs and faculty practices, this workshop introduces the fundamental skills and best practices of blogging.

Podcasting and RSS
RSS feeds collect news headlines on a particular topic and send updated headlines with summaries and a URL to your course. Discover how RSS feeds can bring dynamic content into course sites and encourage classroom discussion.  In this session, we’will look at the basics of RSS feeds through an education lens and examine easy techniques for integrating RSS into classes. Podcasting enables audio content to be created, distributed and downloaded from the web.

E-Portfolio, Teaching and Student Development
Come see how you can use Digication for showcasing and assessing student coursework and for coaching students with setting up a portfolio for their professional development.

Administer Online Surveys or Quizzes
After reviewing the differences between WebCT's survey and quiz tools, we work with you to develop a survey or quiz for your class. We also go through the steps to post your syllabus.

Online Discussion for Teaching & Learning
Have you found that the quality or quantity of participation in online discussion falls below your expectations? This workshop focuses on tips and strategies for using WebCT's online discussion tool. We show you techniques faculty have used to structure online discussion assignments, set expectations for students, and define the role of the instructor or TA within the discussion environment.

Digitizing Film Clips
Copy clips from DVDs and make them available for student access online. Using freely available Handbrake software, we will guide you through the few steps needed to digitize your clips.

Integrate Multimedia in your Course Website
Explore simple uses of Flash, video, and audio to enrich your class and engage your students.

Online Video Stream for Your Class
Learn how to compress a file for streaming and place it on our Stream server. Discussion involves the benefits of streaming and demonstrates current practices by Emerson faculty.

Presenting Copyright Protected Visuals Online
Using PowerPoint and Flash software, we will show you how to present copyright-protected images to students online through a simple process.

Visual Arts and Image Management
Create simple databases to organize and present visual imagery to your students. We’ll cover the latest online tools and help you to choose the one that best fits your teaching style.

Visual Design and Presentation
Learn basic visual design principles, and use professional tools to edit and display images for teaching and learning. We'll be showing you the basics of Photoshop, and introduce presentation tools such as PowerPoint and Flash. This session demonstrates strategies for designing presentations that promote student understanding, critical thinking, and listening. Strategies include matching multimedia features with selected information and course concepts.

Cataloguing Course Media
See how faculty have used a simple course-based database to catalogue teaching resources and student work such as scripts, audio (music) files and video. The basic, course-specific database tool has search features, keywords, descriptions, and is private to students in the class

 Pen-Based Technologies
Discover how Pen-based technologies can enhance your instructional feedback to student work and respond to visual learners. Find out how to annotate papers and create images using a simple, affordable graphics tablet.

Google Apps (Google Docs, Google Map, Google Earth)
Come to get a brief overview of Google Apps and see how faculty at Emerson and elsewhere are using Google Docs and other Google web based applications (Google Earth, Google Maps) in and out of class. Best practices and new ideas will be shared and explored.

Social Networking and Web 2.0
Learn how Social Networking tools (WIKIS, blogs, Facebook, twitter, second life, Wikipedia, del.icious.,Flickr, Podcasting, YouTube) can be used for active learning, research, fostering communication, collaboration and information sharing in an academic setting. Understand benefits and limitations of these tools, and select tool(s) best suited to your needs.