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Program Evaluation: Emory Center for Interactive TeachingSean Mann, GSU

Executive Summary

Established in 1997, the Emory Center for Interactive Teaching is focused on providing support to Emory

teachers interested in incorporating instructional technology in their curriculum. The center offers

training onsite and offsite as well as online. Multiple courses and activities are offered each month. The

center struggles generate awareness for the courses and activities. The center needs to expand its

offerings to include more demand based trainings. Overall the center is very accessible, well-staffed, and

adequately funded, allowing it attain the bulk of its goals.

Methods

I used a combination of methods to compile the data used in this evaluation. I started by visiting the

center on multiple occasions to observe the everyday functionality. During these visits I began to

approach and casually interview people while they were working at computers. I also had extensive talks

with ECIT program coordinator. Because I have a prior relationship with the Economics and Film

departments, I was able to send a survey to each departments faculty and grad students. And finally I

used the good old fashion internet, which is both effective and efficient in collecting the basic

information about the center.

Center Context and Goals

An interesting thing happened while I was working on my site evaluation of the Emory Center for

Instructional Technology, it disappeared. Well, consumed anyhow. Quietly announced back in July, a

new Center/Office/Initiative was formed to merge similar centers with overlapping missionsexisting

separately under the IT and Library divisions. The Digital Scholarship Commons, Lewis H. Beck Center for

Digital Collections and ECIT would gradually merge to become the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship.

This gradual transition became evident in October as some functions of the ECIT, while the center

remains in the same location, began to take place in other locations. Because the new ECDS

concentrates on a much wider range of goals and missions, I will concentrate my evaluation and report

on the functions adopted from the original mission of ECIT and primarily executed by the existing ECIT

staff.

ECIT Mission and Goals

Provide expertise and consultation for courseware development where teachers have access to

technological and pedagogical resources to guide student inquiry, enhance reflective practice, and

enable greater understanding of knowledge.

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ECIT strives to:

Increase Emory faculty, researcher, and student awareness of the possibilities afforded byadvanced technology in teaching, learning, and research.

Assist Emory faculty and researchers in the development and testing of technologically enhancedteaching methodologies and materials

Support the planning, creation and completion of digital academic assignments as part oflearning.

Job Titles

DirectorThe director oversees the core initiatives of the center, while managing the center staff. The

director also addresses budget issues and material needs for the center. Previous to the centers merger

with ECDS, the director also taught many staff development courses.

Instructional TechnologistPrimary course instructor; Creates and conducts ECIT workshops; provides

onsite and offsite trainings by request.

CoordinatorWorks with the Director and Instructional Technologist to schedule trainings and

activities. Also serves in a budgeting and purchasing role.

Center Activities

TrainingTrainings are offered by request and can be delivered at the center or within the necessary

department. Trainings are usually conducted by the Instructional technologist but have been hosted bythe director.

WorkshopsWorkshops cover preconceived instructional technology topics are offered only at the ECIT

location. The workshops are instructed by the Director or Instructional Technologists and sometimes

hosted by a guest lecturer.

Web TalksWeb Talks are offered online and conducted by guest lecturers or ECIT staff and cover a

given topic of expertise. These talks allow for remote interaction by participants and a broader pool of

lecturers.

Evaluation

Overall the Emory Center for Interactive Teaching does a pretty good job of following its mission and

meeting its goals. The amount of training courses and activities that it holds in a year is impressive. The

expertise of the staff is apparent and readily accessible. The center itself contains all of the equipment,

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software, and hardware that is needed to support technology enhanced teaching and learning. In these

areas I think that the center is very successful.

The center fails to measure up in a two areas, beginning with evangelism. A focus of the centers goals is

to Increase Emory faculty, researcher, and student awareness of the possibilities afforded by advanced

technology in teaching, learning, and research., But based on the information that I received frominterviews and surveys, many students and faculty are not aware of the opportunities offered by ECIT.

Of those aware very few have attended the group training courses or signed up for one-on-one training,

believing that courses will not help or are not of their interest. Which leads to the second area of

critique: if the courses that the center offers are not courses that the target participants are interested

in than the mission of the center is undermined. The center offers many courses, and I believe that the

scope of these courses have increased and improved since the ECDS merger, but there needs to be a

better effort in offering courses with participant demand. Currently, the courses seem to be driven by

trainer expertise and interest.

All in all I think that ECIT does well in most areas. It has ample support and budget to expand the

centers mission and reach set goals. But I think that the center needs to improve in have it advertises

and plans its course offerings, activities and initiatives.

Appendix

Survey Questions

Sent to faculty and grad students with the departments of Economics and Film Studies

1. Are you aware that the Emory Center for Interactive Teaching is located in the WoodruffLibrary?

2. Do you know that the center offers courses and trainings covering instructional technology?3. Have you ever attended a workshop or requested training with ECIT staff?4. If so what area(s) did the training/workshop cover?5. If not, why?6. Are there course topics that you would like to see offered by ECIT?