Ball State University adding staff members to help professors move courses online
The Star-Press
October 31, 2011
Ball State University has launched its education-of-the-future initiative in a group of offices in room 214 of the Ball Communication Building.
The room houses the New Learning Technologies Resource Center as well as iLearn: Integrated Learning Institute.
"Faculty always are the content experts in the areas in which they teach, but they may not be technological experts and may not understand exactly how to put their courses online," said Jennifer Bott, a former associate professor of management who has been elevated to the newly created position of interim assistant provost for learning initiatives. "So what we have done is built that capacity to provide the support they need to do that without having to becoming experts in the various technologies we may use."
Bott's new position was recommended by a university task force on "the future of education" at BSU, though the task force's suggested title for her role -- "Chief eLearning Officer" -- was not used.
She calls room 214 "a unique collaboration between academic affairs and information technology. This is an entrepreneurial startup in the middle of an established university."
