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PUBLISHING FOR PROMOTION AND TENURE
Jace Hargis, Director OFE, jhargis@unf.edu

It seems universal that one of the major concerns of newly-hired faculty members is securing tenure and promotion. Although this event is typically six years from the date of hire, many faculty members new to academia begin to worry immediately about acquiring sufficient publications to be successful in the tenure review process. Probably the single most asked question from a junior faculty member is "how many publications will I need to receive tenure?" The Office of Faculty Enhancement sponsors annual panels which have included UNF administration as well as P&T committee members. When this question is asked of the panel, what one would expect to be a relatively simple response is often instead vague, with moveable targets and unreliable rules of thumb. These responses are not unusual, nor do they seem to be of any fault of well-intended, dedicated committee members. I have performed a limited number of informal inquiries of my peers at other universities and all indicate very similar outcomes. It seems that most university reward systems based on P&T are dynamic and transitional, just as are most institutions and UNF is definitely experiencing their share of transformation.

So, what is the best plan for a tenure-seeking faculty member towards building a dossier which will merit promotion? There is a large literature base which addresses how to publish. One book, which provides a step-by-step process, (Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar by Tara Gray, available for $15 from http://www.teaching.nmsu.edu/acadbookstore.html) offers a different voice that suggests that tenure-seeking faculty members focus on their passion of teaching, learning and scholarship in their given discipline instead of an imaginary, moveable baseline of an acceptable number of publications. 

To assist faculty members at UNF, the OFE would like to invite you to their annual Publishing for P&T panel with Dr. Kerry Clark/COH, Dr. William Klostermeyer/CCEC, Dr. Greg Ahearn/COAS, and Dr. Gene Baker/CCB. Each of these tenured faculty members will describe their experiences in the publishing arena and discuss the "do's and don'ts" of manuscript and journal submissions. They will discuss their personal strategies for success, how to publish in both book and article format, how to deal successfully with publishers and how to improve book proposals and query letters. Please join us on Tuesday, November 8th from 10 - 12 pm, in Building 14/Room 1601-02.
RSVP to ofe@unf.edu.

FREE STUFF
David Wilson, Coordinator of Educational Media, dwwilson@unf.edu
It’s easy to find free audio tools to manage music collections or to convert audio files from one format to another, but finding free audio creation software is more difficult. That is exactly what this edition of the column will focus on – free audio creation applications.

The first application, Audacity, is a robust audio recorder and editor. Audacity’s interface is simple and easy to use. The control buttons use the standard icons found on CD and DVD players and changing the sample rate, or quality, of a project is a matter of clicking a drop-down menu. Several tools for trimming audio are also available, including the ability to trim everything except the selected segment. In addition to the basic editing features Audacity includes several filters including noise removal and fades.

Audacity can be downloaded at:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net


Another application, ACID XPress, is designed to create sound loops. Sound loops are pieces of music that can be played over and over with no recognizable break. ACID XPress is a tool for creating sound loops that is easy for beginners to use. The interface is easy to learn and it comes with a “Show me how” area which has walkthroughs for using the software. ACID XPress is made by Sony, who also makes several looping applications for the consumer market. The drawback is that there are several advertisements in the software for Sony’s other products.

ACID XPress can be downloaded at:
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/download/freestuff.asp


UPCOMING EVENTS
Please RSVP to ofe@unf.edu and specify event

  • Publishing for P & T Panel
    Tuesday, November 8; 10 am - 12 pm , Building 14, Room 1601-2
  • Brown Bag Lunch: Florida Lambda Rail
    jointly sponsored by DSRT, ITS, and OFE/CIRT
    Wednesday, November 9; 12 - 1:30 pm; Building 10, Room 1106
  • Creating and Publishing Faculty Webpages with the UNF Template
    Wednesday, December 14; 1 - 4 pm; Building 15, Room 1105

For more information, including session decriptions, view a complete calendar of our upcoming events here.

Also, check out our past events and handouts, sortable by topic:
http://www.unf.edu/dept/cirt/workshops/past_events.html
ADA COMPLIANCE IN ONLINE COURSE MATERIALS
Erin Soles , Instructional Designer, esoles@unf.edu

What is it?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), expands the mandates for reasonable accommodations set forth in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The ADA prohibits discrimination based on disability in places of public accommodation (including colleges and universities) in telecommunications. http://www.unf.edu/dept/disabled-services/legalrights.htm

What is "reasonable accommodation?"
 Reasonable accommodation is any modification that will enable a student with a disability to participate in a course. Courses that utilize Blackboard will require some modifications in the presentation of course materials in order to comply with the ADA. Source: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/q%26aeng02.htm

Guidelines for ADA Compliance in Online Course Materials:

  1. Provide text equivalents for non-text content (images, graphs, animations, etc.).
  2. Ensure that text and graphics are understandable when viewed without color or special formatting.
  3. Provide links to any required applets, plug-ins, or other required applications.
  4. Make HTML versions of PDF documents and PowerPoint presentations available.
  5. Confirm accessibility with available tools and/or human review.

Source: http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist

Test your Web pages for ADA compliance. There are several useful testing websites available:


FLORIDA LAMBDARAIL


The University of North Florida is a an equity member of Florida LambdaRail, the state-wide high-bandwidth research and education network for Florida, which is connected to National LambdaRail and Internet2.

Come learn about accessing this high-speed connection, funding opportunities, and possible uses at a brown-bag lunch, jointly sponsored by DSRT, ITS, and OFE/CIRT, on Wednesday, November 9th, from 12 - 1:30 pm, in Building 10, Room 1106.

Please RSVP to Sonja Avery at x2456 or savery@unf.edu

BLACKBOARD/WEBCT MERGER
Deb Miller, Assistant Director OFE/CIRT, dfmiller@unf.edu
Many instructors saw the October 12 announcement and related articles about a planned merger between Blackboard and WebCT:

Announcement: http://www.blackboard.com/webct/merger
Chronicle http://chronicle.com/free/2005/10/2005101301t.htm
Inside HigherEd: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2005/10/13/merger

During a Town Hall meeting on the merger at the recent Educause conference, CEO's Michael Chasen (Blackboard) and Carol Vallone (WebCT) shared the answers to frequently asked questions about the merger and took questions from the audience. Not surprisingly, about 75% of those attending were current WebCT customers; the new company will operate under the name Blackboard, and Chasen will remain CEO. Some points from that meeting:

  • Closing of the merger is expected in late 2005 or early 2006
  • Both Blackboard and WebCT product lines will remain intact and supported for the next 3 to 5 years
  • They can’t be specific about many things, such as pricing structures, until the merger is approved
  • Plan to keep all developers and support staff from both companies
  • CTO of WebCT will become CTO of Bb
  • WebCT CEO will stay on in consulting role for at least a year
  • First goal of new company will be to develop common API’s so as enhancements and updates are made for each product, they will begin speaking a “common language” that will naturally evolve into one product
  • They plan to capitalize on strengths of each organization; Bb’s ease of use and WebCT’s reputation for customer service


USING NEW TECHNOLOGIES

CIRT would like to work with faculty interested in exploring the use and efficacy of new technologies for the delivery of course materials in their classes for the Spring 2006 semester. Those technologies would include podcasting, streaming video, and narrated lectures.  Faculty who participate would receive additional support from CIRT in setting up their courses and in the preparation of these materials, and would be asked to survey their students during the term. If you are interested, please contact Deb Miller at x. 1416 or dfmiller@unf.edu by November 30, 2005.


FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
Preparation of Instructional Materials
Buzz Thunen, Sociology & Anthropology

Each summer, Dr. Buzz Thunen teaches ANT4990, Archaeological Fieldwork. Students can register for three credits for the fieldwork and another three for the archaeological lab work. In the first part of the course, students work in the field to learn how to conduct an archaeological excavation. Fieldwork is from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, five days a week.   In the second part of the course, students work in the lab to identify and analyze artifacts discovered in the field.

This past summer, students conducted a survey dig in an area on Black Hammock Island, looking for the presence or absence of artifacts from the Mission period. Pottery shards were found from this and other periods. During the dig, Dr. Thunen used a variety of digital cameras to photograph the ongoing work, as well as artifacts found. A gallery is available here. He later created a DVD for students with a catalog of images as well as short movie clips.

During their lab work, students wash and clean the artifacts, analyze, and enter pertinent information into a database. Dr. Thunen used printing services available in CIRT to create ″11 x ″17 prints from his photographs that help students identify the artifacts recovered in the field during that process.


 

This newsletter is a publication of the Office of Faculty Enhancement and the
Center for Instruction & Research Technology at the University of North Florida.
Please direct any comments or questions to ofe@unf.edu.

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