Now that course websites, PowerPoint lectures, virtual office hours, and other uses of technology are commonplace -- even expected -- on university campuses, faculty need to know how to take maximum advantage of them. To keep faculty up to date on the latest educational technologies, most UC campuses hold workshops throughout the year, with special in-depth training sessions in the summer (see companion article: Summer School: Faculty Hone Technology Skills in Campus Teaching Programs ). Campus computer professionals, as well as teaching excellence centers, also provide vital technological expertise and support on an as-needed basis.

For years, students have also provided computer support, and on some campuses (such as UCLA and UCSC), every faculty member has access to several free hours of student time to build course websites and digitize materials. Recently, this model has been expanded in an attempt to transfer some of the student expertise to the faculty. Several UC campuses are experimenting with offering one-on-one student assistance in which the students not only produce digital content for instructors, but also teach them how to do it themselves.

Acknowledging that some students have greater mastery of Internet technologies than their instructors, and often more free time, campuses such as UCD, UCSF and UCLA are hiring them to teach faculty how to do things like build websites and interactive learning modules, and prepare digital lecture presentations. By helping faculty integrate technology into their courses, these students are not only impacting their university's curriculum, but also gaining useful career skills.

UC Davis: Educational Technology Partners
Last year, UC Davis launched a two-year pilot project, called the Educational Technology (ET) Partners program, to help faculty who were interested in using technology for teaching and learning but lacked know-how and time. In the ET Partners program, undergraduate students are trained by Mediaworks staff (in the Office of Information & Educational Technology) and then assigned to instructors for ten hours per week over one quarter to work on a specific course-related project.

The program builds on the concept of the University as a community of learners in its attempt to bring students and faculty together in a collaborative environment. According to Christine Sarason, the director of the program, it is a natural fit to use students to train faculty because they are familiar with technology and expect that their education will be enriched by it.

To participate, faculty must teach at least one large class and want to use educational technology to improve their teaching. One of the faculty who benefited from the program is Simone Monnier Clay, who teaches in the Department of French and Italian and supervises the Second-year French Language Program. With her student partner she developed a website that includes a writing workshop, where her second-year French students write about the novel Carmen and its adaptation into opera and film. She developed a cross-disciplinary multimedia website that includes exercises that reinforce the material while introducing students to French literature. She learned how to incorporate online quizzes as homework assignments, and put audio clips onto her website. "I've learned how to be self-sufficient," she says.

What do the students get out of the ET Partners program? They receive broad training that goes beyond learning how to use technology and includes training in interpersonal communication - skills that make them more attractive to potential employers, says Sarason. Beyond the specialized training and the opportunity to experience this reversal of roles, they also receive a salary for their position, which has the potential to last as long as their studies at UC Davis.

In its first year, 11 students served 22 faculty members and competition for participation grows steeper each quarter, according to Sarason. Considered a success in its first year, the potential five-year program is currently being evaluated for expansion and long-term implementation.

UCSF Curriculum Ambassadors and UCLA TTACs

UCSF Curriculum Ambassadors
The UCSF School of Medicine's student technology assistants program spawned from the planning of its new curriculum, which was implemented in Fall 2001and mandated that every course have an online supplement. Realizing that this new requirement would increase the workload of the faculty, not all of whom were interested in, nor capable of, integrating technology into their courses, the School launched the Curriculum Ambassadors program, in which medical students work with faculty during the summer to develop curriculur or technological components for their courses.

The faculty recognized the value of the ambassador program after its first summer, says Souza, in which first-year medical students provided input about how technology could be integrated into the new curriculum. Students brought a fresh perspective to the curriculum planning process, says Souza.

After completing the first year of the new curriculum in Spring 2002, students had even more ideas about how the courses could be further enhanced by technology. In fact, the students had so many ideas that 32 Curriculum Ambassadors applied to work this past summer, 17 of whom developed digital components, such as virtual simulations, or worked with faculty on other ways to integrate technology into their courses.

"This summer three students created an interactive module that teaches renal movement and function because they decided the material really needed to be visual for students to understand how the anatomy works," says Souza. "Because these students were the first to go through the new curriculum, they saw opportunities to improve and enhance it by using technology."

To become ambassadors, students must have a specific project in mind, write a proposal and have a faculty sponsor. If approved, they receive a stipend and, although they do not receive academic credit, the work they perform gets noted in their record.

UCLA: Technology Teaching Assistant Consultants
UCLA's approach to training instructors on how to effectively integrate technology into their courses is quite different. Their Technology TA Consultants (TTAC) program trains not the current faculty but rather the future faculty, i.e., teaching assistants. Each TTAC participant enrolls in a quarter-long seminar that offers and evaluates solutions to teaching problems through the use of technology. Upon completion the TAs go back to their departments and hold seminars in which they train other TAs (who receive academic credit) and faculty within the context of their academic disciplines.

"We started the program in 1997 with a three-year grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)," explains Maureen McHale of the Office of Instructional Development (OID). "We really wanted to integrate technology into undergraduate teaching in a subtle, indirect way by training TAs. We figured that they would be receptive and we wanted to do some advanced pedagogical training with them."

In the program's first three years, UCLA saw involvement grow from six departments to over 20, and funded 12-15 TTAC positions per year. Because the program was a success, the OID fully incorporated the TTAC program into the existing Teaching Assistant Training Program after the three-year grant closed out.

Says McHale: "The graduate students who went through the TTAC program found it really helpful in job searches because they had an electronic teaching portfolio. The training makes them better job candidates."