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IEI Infrastructure and
Support Services
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The Structure of IEI
The Instructional Enhancement Initiative is financed by a fee charged to
students on a per-unit basis. Currently the fee is $2.50 per unit
in Humanities and Social Sciences courses, and $3.50 per unit in Life and
Physical Sciences courses. Thus, each student pays $10 for
the typical 4 unit course. A typical full-time student taking only
social sciences courses will pay between $90-$120 per year in IEI mandated
fees, and more if some mathematics or sciences course are taken.
The proceeds from this fee are used to finance technological enhancements
on several levels. In the first year, these fees have been used to
help finance projects such as a web page for every course, expanded and
upgraded student computer labs, extended lab hours, and instructional technology
support staff.
MyUCLA Home Page, Library, and Other Services
The MyUCLA home pages give students immediate access to enrollment and
other administrative information, alnong with other pertinent links in
a centralized password-protected location. The pages may be customized
along the same lines as MyYahoo, and other internet home page services.
Students may access an individual course schedule, academic progress report,
and access links to other university sites that allow them to update their
personal data, for example.
UCLA's library has started a system that catalogs past exams for regular
instructors and delivers them on demand via the web. This system
is a marked improvement over the system it replaces, which required students
to thumb through and tediously write down the catalog numbers on individual
cards, each requiring identification information. Students would
then stand in line and could check out a limited number of them for a period
of a few hours. The new system is able to deliver these materials
to any student with access to the web at any time, concurrently.
Social Sciences Computing: Courseware for UCLA
Social Sciences Departments
Many divisions of the college use licensed software developed by the University
of British Columbia, called WebCT. Going its own way, the Social
Sciences Computing division (SSC) has chosen to provide and support its
own collection of administrative classroom support tools. This has
allowed SSC to be more responsive to instructor needs. In some cases,
WebCT users have not received bug fixes or modifications to the software
in a timely fashion. Having a group of web experts available with
a willingness to try new ideas and work closely with faculty has proved
invaluable to our endeavors. Mike Franks, the SSC staff member
in charge of Web development, has a nice presentation
on the services provided by SSCnet and also some examples
of what various social sciences classes are doing with IEI.
The Standard IEI Tools
Every undergraduate course in the College of Letters and Science at
UCLA is provided with a web site with a set of standard tools, using either
WebCT or the custom software provided by SSC. These tools include
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Discussion bulletin board
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Syllabus
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Lecture notes
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Exams/Exam keys
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Assignments/Problems
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Announcements
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List of Links
Professors and their departments decide which tools are utilized for particular
classes, but each course will at least have a syllabus. The use of other
tools will depend on the availability of materials, and whether the professor
wishes to provide the materials electronically, or to allow a discussion
board. The course instructor controls the course web site through
his or her administrative pages.
The discussion bulletin board provides an additional means for student
interaction with the professor, teaching assistants, and fellow students,
in a forum accessible by the entire class. This facilitates communication
by avoiding coordination problems: if a student cannot make the office
hours of a professor or teaching assistant, he or she can post a message,
and receive a reply electronically. The bulletin board has the added
benefit of making the interaction available to all members of the class.
Chances are that if one student has a question, other students may have
the same question, and can also learn from the professors answer, and from
each other. Professors and teaching assistants can also read the
bulletin board interactions between students to get a sense of what points
need more emphasis or clarification in lecture.
Most of the other items on the list, such as the syllabus, lecture notes,
assignments, etc. are not unique to web-enhanced courses, and merely provide
a convenient way for students to obtain material normally photocopied and
handed out in class at any time. The list of links provides a way
to direct students to resources the instructors deem useful. Some
of these links can be to pedagogical resources developed by the instructor
or by others.
Enhancements to the Standard Tools
Following the example of the authors, SSC has seen the advantage of
online practice quizzes, and has made them easier for instructors to create
by providing a web-based form that creates them on-the-fly, through the
instructor's administration pages. SSC has assisted other instructors
to develop custom web applications that facilitate interaction in unique
and useful ways. For example, for a course the Department of Geography
offers in the writing of grant proposals, SSC designed a custom Web application
that allows multiple participants at diverse locations to edit and annotate
a document.
Pedagogical Support
UCLA's Office of Instructional Development (OID) offers financial support
to faculty projects for the purchase of CAI-related materials and for CAI-related
graduate student projects. In addition, it provides expert personnel
for training and technological assistance for CAI projects. The latest
innovation is the development of the Technology Teaching Assistant Consultant
position (TechTAC), funded through an OID project called Integrating
Technology into Undergraduate Teaching. The training of the Consultant
begins with a seminar that "will advocate that the use of technology in
teaching always be driven by pedagogical objectives, [but] is also designed
to encourage teaching assistants (and the faculty and students with whom
[they] work) to see technology as an exciting source of inspiration for
curriculum innovation." The TechTAC is expected to be technologically
proficient and is responsible for training teaching assitants, not only
in the traditional skills required for a teaching assistant, but also in
the use of available CAI technologies available to them. This position
is part of a university plan to make extensive use of graduate student
assistants in the provision of instruction using new media.