New group to focus on helping faculty use technology in teaching students; first meeting is Feb. 10

A new Learning Technology Group at Western Washington University will hold its first meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10, in Viking Union Room 567.

The group, put together by Academic Technology and User Services at Western, is working with the Center for Instructional Innovation and Assessment to engage faculty in implementing and evaluating new technologies for teaching.

The group will gather faculty members who are enthused about the use of technology in education, both online and in person, to discuss best practices and will act as a "user group" for faculty who use Blackboard and other technologies for learning, including classroom clickers, social media, free- and open-source Web-based tools and more.

The group will have an online presence that includes community features such as discussions, blog posts about technology in teaching at Western, Blackboard issues to be aware of and new tools that may be of interest.

Participation by the campus community is the key to making this a vital and useful resource for Western faculty.

Coffee and tea will be available at the first meeting. The agenda will include reviewing the results of ATUS' Technologies for Teaching survey, discussing attendees' innovations and ideas and finding out more about the technologies faculty members are interested in using with their students.