Teaching and Learning technology/Instructional Materials on the Web
Best Practices

The sites referred to below are mostly within U.S. academic institutions and originate from on-campus groups and organizations with a mission or mandate apparently similar to that of UWired CTLT. They have been chosen for inclusion here on the basis of their quality of information and the applicability of that information beyond the bounds of the originating institution. For the moment they have been divided into three main groups: sites displaying excellence in interactive resources, sites displaying excellence in informational resources, and sites that provide useful links to Web sites of further interest.

 

I. Sites displaying excellence in interactive resources
Here are examples of Web instruction practices undertaken by other universities, particularly where promulgated by groups with similiar mandates to UWiredCTLT:

• Auckland Institute of Technology - http://hobbes.unitecnology.ac.nz/competency/
  A very useful self-assessment program in IT instruction for faculty and staff

• Brown University - http://sheridan-center.stg.brown.edu/ [OK]
  The Harriet W. Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning at Brown provides a Master Syllabus Form as part of its On-Line Syllabus Workshop for use by instructors.
  
  
• California State University at Chico - http://www.csuchico.edu/tlp/ GOOD
  The extensive site for the Technology and Learning Program (TLP) at Chico includes a vast array of tutorials and tools. Information is also included on creating a Web page using Microsoft's free Internet Assistant Web editor attachment - useful for people still using Word 6.0 for Windows. The site package also involves some judicious use of screen shots. There is plenty of general information relevant to building Web sites, although the Javascript-enhanced TLP Syllabi Builder seems a bit clunky at first sight.
  
  
• Cornell University - http://ltc.cit.cornell.edu/ OK
  The Academic Technology Center at Cornell works with a system called CourseInfo which includes a demonstration Web site, to show how it works, and a listing of all the courses at the University that utilize the system.
  
  
• Duke University - http://www.aas.duke.edu/teach/ EXCELLENT
  Duke's Arts & Sciences Teaching Pages include some really excellent-looking interactive teaching pages and tools. This latter tools section is extensive, nicely laid out, and very useful, as it incorporates a Web Page Generator (with full instructions appearing in a separate box), a cross-listing/evaluation/comparison table of Web editors, a sampling of ready-made templates and examples of course web pages, and some discipline-specific tools and links. There is also a demo version of something called Post & Share, "a web-based method of sharing student written work for a class," and a not-dissimilar tool to UWired's own Peer Review Tool.
  
  
• Northwestern University - http://www.at.nwu.edu/ltg/training/tilt/home.html
  The TiLT group (Technology in Learning and Teaching, part of Northwestern's Academic Technologies and University Library) conducts, as part of its "Hands-On Curriculum", intensive 3.5-day Web immersion programs every month. (These are in addition to their regular workshops.) The programs cost money to attend, however -- even for faculty and staff ($200 is the listed price). Also, the workshops are open to participants from outside academia, i.e., profit and non-profit institutions.
  
  
• Princeton University - http://www.princeton.edu/~place/index.shtml GOOD
  The Place presents itself as a working studio for new media design and publishing, whose "mission is to encourage and support the adoption of digital instructional technology by Princeton faculty for use in their courses." It includes the WebFactory Courseware facility, an automated Web page construction system, and some sample course Web sites.
  
  
• Seton Hall University - http://www.shu.edu/faculty/cat/
  The Center for Academic Technology at Seton Hall University in New Jersey takes the approach of giving instructors the choice of working with either interactive Web syllabus templates (completing the form online) or a non-interactive version (by downloading the HTML code and completing it on your own computer).
  
  
• University of Arizona - http://www.u.arizona.edu/ic/polis/POLIS-PROF.cgi
  The POLIS (Project for On-Line Instructional Support) site includes a Web course construction kit, created by the University of Arizona's Communication Collaboratory, which allows faculty to publish instructional materials on the web. It includes construction tools, full demos, and worked examples.
  
  
• Indiana University - http://www.indiana.edu/~tltl/
  The TLTL (Teaching and Learning Technologies Lab) site at UI includes some interesting course Website templates.
  
  
• UNC-Chapel Hill - http://www.unc.edu/cit/services/
  The CIT (Center for Instructional Technology) at UNC-Chapel Hill includes some incorporation of hands-on faculty services, such as interactive tools for faculty to build Web pages. The CIT also presents information and tools from the perspective of "Simple Start" whose focus is "on supporting first-time use and tailoring support resources to the pedagogical and technical needs of individual faculty." Lots more interactive Web development resources/tools, eg., creating and mainatining listservs and discussion forums.
  
  

   

II. Sites displaying excellence in informational resources
These are other useful sites worth looking at; most include useful background information but fewer interactive, "how-to" resources:

• Bristol University (UK) - http://www.ilrt.bris.ac.uk/ltss/about/about.html
  The Institute for Learning and Research Technology.
  
  
• Clyde Virtual University (UK) - http://cvu.strath.ac.uk/
  A virtual center pooling the Internet resources by Strathclyde University, Glasgow University, and the University of Paisley.
  
  
• Columbia University - http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/academic/index.html
  The Study Place: An online Web development effort put out by the Institute for Learning Technologies at Columbia. This is a central repository of Web instructional resources and course information, broken down by courses, by subject guides, and by so-called Study Spaces, "envisioned as virtual library carrels and more. Here the scholar -- whether teacher, student or other intellectually curious individual -- will have the materials at hand for serious reflection on educational questions."
  
  
• Open University (UK) - http://met.open.ac.uk/
  The OU's MET (Multimedia Enabling Technologies) Group has some good background information.
  
  
• Penn State University - http://cac.psu.edu/ets/
  Penn State's Educational Technology Services.
  
  
• San Francisco State University - http://www.cet.sfsu.edu/
  The Center for the Enhancement of Teaching site at SFSU has pertinent information, including online Web workshops and Technology Enhanced Learning. It also contains examples pf the use of online video technology.
  
  
• University of Colorado at Boulder - http://www.colorado.edu/itrc/
  The Instructional Technology Center has lots of pedagogical information. The center incoprates WebCT as its main Web-building tool. Also included is a "Quick Start Links" guide, which incorporates FAQs to help jump-start faculty members new to the Web.
  
  
• UC Berkeley
  The Instructional Technology Program at Berkeley is designed to "support and encourage campus faculty to use technology to improve instruction."
  
  
• University of Illinois - http://www.oir.uiuc.edu/etag/
  The Educational Technologies Assistance Group (ETAG) at the University of Illinois's Urbana-Champaign campus provides some useful ideas, including some software demo examples.
  
  
• University of Michigan - http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/
  The main source of IT information is the Office of Instructional Technology.
  
  
• University of Texas at Austin - http://search.utexas.edu/lecture
  The Lecture Hall is part of the UT Austin's ACITS service. The Lecture Hall provides a centralized body of Web-based lecture materials from various departments at UT Austin. Also available at the same site is the World Lecture Hall, which does the same thing for courses outside UT.
  
  
  
  

III. Other Useful Links Sites

• Cedar Crest College - http://www.cedarcrest.edu/infotech/itlinks.html
  The PA college's Information Technology Web Links page provides a broad range of how-to information and links.

• University of Kansas - http://www.cc.ukans.edu/~sypherh/bc/onctr.html
  Online University Teaching Centers, a links site to hundreds of online instructional programs in the U.S. and around the world. This is the site of sites for linking to instructional Web resources in academia.
  
  
• Maricopa Community Colleges - http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tl/
  Teaching and Learning on the WWW is a site that provides links to hundreds of examples of academic applications of the Web in instructional practices.
  
  
• Michigan Tech - http://www.admin.mtu.edu/ctlfd/newtltr.html
  Teaching and Learning with Technology Resources is a useful links page from Michigan Tech's Center for Teaching, Learning, and faculty Development. The site also links to a number of "Sample Instructional Web Sites". This institution relies on "Web-Course-In-A-Box" software as their preferred Web-building tool.
  
  
• Pacific Lutheran University - http://www.plu.edu/~ctl/
  The Center for Teaching and Learning at PLU provides a wide range of useful instructional and intellectual links.
  
• Rhodes College - http://www.rhodes.edu/Default1htmls/trt.html
  Join the Super Highway!: a Teaching, Learning & Technology Work Group links page from Rhodes College in Tennessee.
  
  
• University of Maryland - http://www.wam.umd.edu/~mlhall/teaching.html
  Teaching with Electronic Technology.
  
  
• University of North Carolina - http://www.ga.unc.edu/UNCGA/assessment/resources.html
  Plenty of internal and external links to Web- and technology-related issues.