Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost

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Distributed Education & Instructional Technology

Billie Wahlstrom
Vice Provost

The University of Minnesota is a leader in the higher education community in using technology to improve efficiency and effectiveness in all aspects of its mission. The office of the Senior Vice president and Provost partners with units across the University on instructional technology initiatives for faculty, staff, and students as well as a variety of Web-based applications for the University community and citizens across the state (and around the world). This work is coordinated by Billie Wahlstrom, Vice Provost for Distributed Education and Instructional Technology.

• Digital Campus
  
  The Digital Campus initiative is a strategic effort to make e-learning efficient, user-friendly, high quality, and financially viable for the University of Minnesota system. The initiative’s website serves as the U of M gateway for online degrees, courses and professional development offerings. The site includes comprehensive listings of all U of M hybrid and online degree programs in a common format; searchable catalogs of credit and non-credit offerings; and access to the Digital Campus student support center via phone, email, or live chat.
  

• The Faculty Toolkit

The Faculty Toolkit provides University of Minnesota instructors a collection of free and reduced-price multimedia software for course development and instruction. The project is co-sponsored by the Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost and the Office of Information Technology. Learn more. (http://dmc.umn.edu/toolkit/index.shtml) Get One. (http://dmc.umn.edu/toolkit/index.shtml#3)

• iTunes U
  
  The University of Minnesota has recently partnered with Apple to launch the University of Minnesota on iTunes U. The partnership provides the University an opportunity to use Apple’s iTunes software to privately share content with the University community, as well as a dedicated presence for public content on iTunes U in the Apple Store.
  

• Minnesota Learning Commons (MnLC)
  
  The University is partnering with MnSCU and the Minnesota Department of Education to implement the Minnesota Learning Commons, a K-12 college preparatory initiative to “help students, educators, and advisors find their way in public education.” The online services include information on courses, financial aid, career planning, library resources, advising, tutoring, credit transfer, and more.
  

• Morrill Hall Studio
  
  The Morrill Hall recording studio is available to any faculty member or instructor to record academic content, research results or discussion, or course-related content. The studio is equipped with a high definition video camera, teleprompter, and green screen. Technical staff will help record videos.
  
  To schedule a time, email oitvideo@umn.edu.
  

• myU Portal/Learning Platform
  

The U of M has taken a unique approach to support education by leveraging the large number of academic technologies to present in a user friendly format. All faculty, students, and staff, at the U of M are provided with a personalized, user-customizable website called “myU.” The myU application is a starting point to access the major course management systems (Blackboard Vista and Moodle), specific information for courses, specialized library information by their discipline, web conferencing (UMConnect), UThink blogs, UMWikis, UMCal, UM Reports, iTunes, email, and much more. myU Portal is a personal entry into the University of Minnesota. Each Portal page can be customized by its user to include tools and important Web links and can be accessed from any computer with an Internet connection. The Portal provides a secure, online workspace ideal for sharing materials and encouraging online discussions. Together these applications form the U of M Learning Platform. myU Portal is a great place to access the tools that are available. For more information, please contact Sandra Ecklein at Sandra@umn.edu or 612-626-8976

• Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL)
  
  TEL maintains a Web site devoted to issues of technology in learning at the University of Minnesota.
  

• TEL Grants Program
  
  The office of the Senior Vice President and Provost and the Office of Information Technology co-sponsor a grant program to assist faculty members in developing, implementing, and evaluating projects that incorporate technology enhanced learning.

• TEL Seminar Series
  
  Sponsored by the Office of Information Technology, the TEL Seminar Series features presentations by faculty members about using instructional technology.