NEW FACULTY FELLOWS FOR THE 2004-2005 ACADEMIC YEAR
The Office of Faculty Enhancement (OFE) and the Office of Academic Affairs have chosen the new OFE Faculty Fellows for the 2004-2005 academic year. Faculty Fellows will conduct at least one seminar, assist the OFE in identifying faculty members needs and will be available for consultation in the Faculty Commons two hours per week to share their expertise with other faculty members. Additional information on Fellows office hours and seminars will be posted on the OFE website.

Dan Dreibelbis
Mathematics and Statistics, COAS
Using Computer Algebra Systems in Teaching and Research Across Disciplines

Chip Klostermeyer
Computer and Information Sciences, CCEC
Using Latex For Equation Writing, Figure Drawing, Numbering and Citation & Bibliographic Processing

Gordon Rakita
Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, COAS
Mechanics, Methods, And Theory Of Item Analysis Of Scantron Graded Assessments

Chris Rasche
Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice, COAS
Review of Excellent Teaching Practices

Julia Watkins
Public Heath, COH
Cultivating & Reinforcing the Use of Technology in Innovative Distance Learning Method

2004-2005 International Faculty Fellow
This new fellowship is a collaboration between the Office of Faculty Enhancement and the International Center.

Candice Carter
Curriculum and Instruction, COEHS
Opportunities and Current Initiatives for International Education and Research

NEW BLACKBOARD FEATURES
Several new features have recently become available in Blackboard, as described below. Stop by the OFE/CIRT lab (10/1150) if you'd like a demonstration or have questions. We will also be hosting a Blackboard 101 for faculty on September 20th and a series of Focused Workshops on these and other features. To view more information or reserve a spot at a workshop, please visit the Blackboard Workshops page.

• Advanced Group Management
  Now available in the Course Tools section of the control panel, this utility allows an Instructor to streamline the process for organizing students into groups and enabling group tools.
• Online Journal
  Allows students to submit journal entries which can only be seen by the Instructor and also allows Instructors to view and comment on the entries by student or by date. Students access Online Journal through Tools and Instructors access through the control panel.
• Glossary Manager
  With this feature, each course can have its own Glossary of terms. Each entry consists of the term and an accompanying definition. Multiple terms can be added in one step by uploading a file with the list of terms.
• Spell Check
  This feature supports a full English dictionary and a supplemental word list configured by the Bb System Administrator. The spell check feature is available in most places where users can enter blocks of text. Course Instructors who want to add to the list may forward to bbadmin their word list in the format of one word per line and those words can be added to the cumulative word list for re-upload into Bb.
• QuickEdit
  This link appears only to Instructors in the navigation bar in each Course Area and any subfolders and allows Instructors to make changes to content from within the course view instead of navigating through the Control Panel.

UPCOMING EVENTS
View a complete calendar of our upcoming events.

Doug Eder will return to UNF on Monday, November 15th and present two sessions for faculty:

"Avoiding the Crushing Impact of Assessment in Higher Education"
9 am to 12 pm
Assessment works best when it is embedded in teaching and learning and when it provides feedback that is timely, relevant, and used. This interactive presentation aims to use good thinking and humor to harness the effective power of honest assessment, a faculty may revive, survive, and thrive. Featured are Primary Trait Analysis, one of the most powerfull assessment devices and a functional reporting system.

"Using Assessment to Help Teach Smarter, Not Harder"
1 pm to 4 pm
Assessment gains power when it corresponds to scholarly principles, eases the workload of teaching, and produces improved student learning. How do we monitor development of the baccalaureate characteristics within the major disciplines and how can we more effectively transfer responsibility for learning these characteristics to our students? Assessment helps to make these goals visible...for them and for us. Participants in this seminar/workshop will construct methods of assessment that are suitable for immediate classroom and program use.

If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to ofe@unf.edu.

MINI-CONFERENCE
OFE/CIRT will be offering the first of what we hope will be an annual mini-conference for UNF faculty members on Wednesday, November 3rd. A preliminary schedule includes concurrent sessions on Teaching, Scholarship, Technology and International Programs. In addition, vendors have been invited to informally share their products and provide snacks and lunch. We will also provide a "showcase" of our equipment for faculty to experience one-on-one demonstrations with OFE/CIRT staff or a faculty member who has used the tool in their teaching or research.

The event will be held in adjoining rooms in Building 14, beginning at 9:30 am and ending with lunch at 12:00. Complete information is available on the OFE website.

FACULTY SPOTLIGHT
from Jace Hargis, Curriculum & Instruction
This summer, Dr. Rakita and I were fortunate to be accepted to present at an International Teaching and Technology conference in Havana, Cuba. We were excited about the opportunity to travel to a place that we realized many would hope to go, but few are able. With respect to technology, we used this trip to pilot some useful technology, such as presenting a PowerPoint from a Palm Tungsten handheld computer using OFE/CIRT's new Presenter to Go. Although the conference could not offer air conditioning, it did provide an older LCD projector and electricity which is all we needed to provide a full graphics version of our presentation. After returning, I was able to take about 150 of the 500 digital photographs which we took and create an audio-visual presentation using Photoshop Album with text and my audio voice over background music. You can see this ten-minute presentation here. (21MB file)

Overall, I was delightfully surprised with our Cuba adventure. Not exactly knowing what to expect, we continually encountered very happy, pleasant, welcoming Cubans, spectacular regional dishes, incredible architecture and exciting music. The week we spent in Havana was nothing short of amazing and above all other Caribbean islands, I would quickly return to this city as well as hope to explore the remainder of this beautiful island.