TLTR Mission, Goals and Plan

Draft III, September 1998

Our mission is to encourage and facilitate innovative use of technology to enhance teaching and learning at Lehigh.

Vision Statement

We view instructional technology as a set of resources that can be used to enhance teaching and learning at Lehigh. Some resources are easy to use some are not so easy. We see the TLTR as a dual resource, enabling newcomers to technology to find help identifying, selecting, and using appropriate resources and tools, while at the same time providing a forum for all users of technology to share their experiences.

We recognize the importance of a forum for the discussion of the impact of technology on pedagogy and effective teaching, on the learning experience, and on expectations of and by students in the teaching and learning environment.

Goals for the TLTR

• Foster innovation across the university; distribute information about the use of technology; create an environment that encourages the sharing of ideas and experiences.
• Identify innovation in teaching and learning across disciplines and colleges and provide a forum for the sharing of experiences.
• Encourage early initiators, motivate faculty to innovate, and provide them with the resources they need to do so-make it easy.
• Identify support service and resource needs for faculty interested in applying technology to teaching. Develop support teams (staff and student teams).
• Develop or identify guidelines, procedures, support teams, and infrastructure for users of technology. Bring together the people who work with technology and the people who use technology with the tools they need.
• Encourage student and faculty assessment of innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
• Provide a forum for recognition of excellence in innovative uses of technology.
• Show tangible examples of progress towards these goals through demonstration projects and showcases.
• Work with LUIR and other divisions to develop a budget strategy for implementation and maintenance of infrastructure and resources.
• Identify any methods Lehigh can use to evaluate and reward faculty who incorporate technology into teaching and learning.

• Continue to identify interested faculty and staff
• Facilitate exchange of ideas through the TLTR-L list-serve.
• Develop a directory of Lehigh resources, support services and contacts.
• Develop a bibliographic list of teaching and technology print resources and web sites.
• Become more visible as an organization and resource. Improve meeting attendance and increase faculty involvement. Continue to hold monthly meetings with content divided among theoretical discussions, demonstration of products, and demonstrations of processes.
• Identify other committees and groups with related interests.
• Encourage participation of graduate teaching assistants.

• Inertia and resistance to change-nothing really changes
• Lack of motivation, low morale
• Lack of recognition for work already done, or for work done in new w ays
• Support staff needed
• Time to learn
• Only traditional routes lead to tenure and promotion
• Lack of communication, fragmented groups don't know what others are doing
• Centralized authority-no entrepreneurship allowed
• Not using internal resources-a reverence for consultants
• Unrealistic expectations from board of trustees and some administrators; unrealistic expectations of support technology people

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