The start of a new academic year is a time of high energy and excitement. The ITS Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology (OTLT) staff welcomes all new and returning instructors, including faculty, lecturers, visiting instructors, and teaching assistants.

Change is a theme for any new academic year, and the ITS OTLT staff members have worked diligently during the summer to provide innovations that support our commitment to continuous improvement for the faculty, staff and students we serve.

Here are just a few new or improved efforts:

NEW! Early Career Faculty Program: The OTLT Center for Teaching is launching a new professional development initiative to support early-career faculty members. The program will offer strategies for participants to efficiently and effectively design, deliver, and assess their UI courses and capture those efforts in teaching portfolios prior to their third-year reviews.

New Assistant Professors in three colleges (CLAS, Tippie, and Engineering) will have opportunities to connect with their incoming peers and the Center for Teaching staff to discuss and practice teaching strategies. More information and contact information available on the Early Career Faculty Program webpage.

Faculty Learning Communities: During the academic year 2014-15 we introduced support for faculty learning communities. Several are up-and-running and have already produced exciting resources for UI faculty and administrators. Contact the Center for Teaching (teaching@uiowa.edu) if you are interested in participating or forming a community with your faculty peers.
Teaching Assistant Support: We continue to increase our offerings to support TAs, including the fifth annual New TA Orientation.

Canvas Pilot: The first of three pilots of the Unizin learning management system, Canvas, was completed. Outcomes of the pilot are being evaluated, and the fall pilots are preparing to kick off.

ACE Online: Several colleges completed pilot testing of the new ACE Online system and are preparing for full implementation in the 2016 academic year.
TILE-Lite Classrooms: This summer two TILE classrooms with minimal technology were completed in Van Allen Hall (VAN 474 & 469). These classrooms provide for active learning where instructors need limited technology. The classrooms were developed in collaboration with faculty on campus.

Coming Soon! OTLT Center for Teaching Location: This fall, the Center for Teaching staff will be moving to a new, more convenient location for faculty members, TAs and other on the second floor of UCC. An open house will be held mid-semester. Stay tuned for more information.

With many leadership changes across the University, the launch of several new Center for Teaching programs, improvements in our technology spaces and systems, and the upcoming new location for the Center for Teaching, this will be a pivotal teaching year at Iowa.  We look forward to meeting new instructors and reinvigorating our ties with current and past partners, faculty, staff, and administrators alike. Please stop in soon to visit with one of our staff or to attend one of our many workshops and events.

by Maggie Jesse, Senior IT Director of the ITS Office of Teaching, Learning & Technology