Sessions of Tracks B, C, D, E and G will be offered in February through March as an alternative to summer attendance. Enrollment is limited in these spring offerings. All tracks will be offered in the summer.

(Tracks B, C, D, E, and G are also offered as Spring Tracks All Tracks will be available in the summer)

* An "Academic Team" approach is envisioned for several tracks to allow graduate students and/or support staff to attend, along with the faculty leader as desired.

Brief descriptions of each track are provided below to help clarify the scope of each workshop's objectives and prerequisites.

Track A - New Faculty Technology Orientation (2 days)

This track is intended for faculty who have been recently hired at Virginia Tech (within the last 12 months). This workshop will provide an overview of computing resources and support services available to all faculty at our university. In addition, this track will include optional, hands-on sessions covering the most commonly needed computing skills. These will include word processing, web authoring (with both Macromedia’s Dreamweaver and Adobe Acrobat), and an overview of Virginia Tech’s course management system, Blackboard.

Track B - Independent Project Development
(one 2-hour session with other sessions as needed)

This track provides a studio approach for advanced FDI participants who are developing a large course enhancement or transformation project or are considering such a project. Participants interested in this track will meet individually with the track facilitator during February 2004 to develop a plan of action. This initial meeting will determine project feasibility, support needs, and appropriate instructional sessions needed. Enrollment will be limited to ensure a quality experience and adequate coverage of determined needs. This workshop can be used as a companion to Tracks C and/or K, and academic support staff and graduate teaching assistants may participate with faculty as a 2-person project team.

Please Note: Track B requires that participants attend one 2-hour short course, provide a project plan and submit a written project follow-up with demonstrated completion of plan to receive a computer. Participants will work one-on-one with the track facilitator to assess their needs and develop an individual plan to meet the track requirements.

See more information about the Spring version of Track B.

Track C – Using the Web for Instruction (3 days)

This track will provide a broad overview of how the web can be utilized to enhance traditional course activities. Faculty will be provided opportunities to develop their own course materials with one-on-one assistance. Additionally, participants will be allowed to customization portions of the track to more accurately meet their technology needs. Participants will learn how to use Blackboard, Virginia Tech's course management system, to manage course documents, create quizzes, manage discussions, and use the online gradebook. Several interactive teaching methods and tools will be discussed, and participants will learn how to use Macromedia's Dreamweaver and Adobe Acrobat to create high quality web documents.

See more information about the Spring version of Track C.

Track D – Developing Web Course Interaction (3 days)

This track is intended for faculty who are already using technology in their courses and would like to learn about other available tools, strategies, and methodologies. Participants will be provided with an overview of interactive, web-based educational technologies. Time will be focused on demonstrations and discussions concerning the functionality and application of these technologies. Among the tools that will be reviewed are discussion boards, chat tools, online quizzing and surveys, collaboration tools, and related software for creating these interactions. In addition to a number of “stand-alone” tools, there will be hands-on sessions teaching advanced features of Blackboard and Macromedia’s Dreamweaver.

See more information about the Spring version of Track D.

Track E – Creating Media Content for Instruction (2 days)

This is a production-oriented track for faculty who have conceived of an instructional project that requires the creation of multimedia content. We will focus on the following topics: project planning, web page element management, web object creation (audio, video, and animation), web media integration, and web interaction concepts. This track is designed to provide flexibility to faculty with busy summer schedules; therefore, participants can choose from instructor-led or asynchronous sessions. This workshop can be used as a companion to Tracks C and/or K, and academic support staff and graduate teaching assistants may participate with faculty as a 2-person project team.

See more information about the Spring version of Track E.

Track F – Developing and Delivering Online Instruction at a Distance (3 days)

This track will focus on Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning (IDDL) course development, delivery considerations, and strategies for teaching distance learning courses by synchronous and asynchronous methods. Participants will use various instructional tools and course development software to create student/faculty interaction, student/student interaction, and student/content interaction. Small group support and consulting will be provided for course design methods and delivery options.

Track G – Creating Learner-Centered Instruction
(one 1/2 day session with extensive online modules)

This asynchronous, online track is designed to provide participants with the necessary resources to begin investigating the process of designing instruction to enhance student learning. Each participant will have the opportunity to design or redesign a lesson, unit, lab, or course, utilizing a process known as instructional design.

Please Note: This track is a self-paced and self-study; however, there will be a face-to-face meeting in early February during which an overview of the modules will be provided. Participants are expected to study the online materials, complete a series of worksheets applying this content to their own courses, and submit a completed set of course transformation documents as evidence of their participation in the track. Assistance from the track facilitator will be available throughout. The expected workload varies widely by project; however, participants working straight through the course material should be able to finish the assignments in 2-3 days' time.

See more information about the Spring version of Track G.

Track H – Using MatLab (3 days)

This track will provide participants with a general overview of MatLab functions. Discipline specific presentations will provide guidance on how MatLab can be used in research and instructional practice. This track can be used as a companion to Tracks C and/or K, and academic support staff and graduate teaching assistants may participate with faculty as a 2-person project team.

Track J – Using LabVIEW (3 days)

This hands-on track will explore the fundamentals of building a robust test, measurement, and/or control system with LabVIEW and data acquisition and instrument control hardware. Participants will gain hands-on experience with LabVIEW and learn how its graphical development can help reduce development time and create flexible applications that easily integrate with thousands of I/O devices from hundreds of vendors, getting you to a solution faster. This track is designed for engineers, scientists, and technicians who build test, measurement, process monitoring and control, and/or research and analysis applications. This track can be used as a companion to Tracks C and/or K, and academic support staff and graduate teaching assistants may participate with faculty as a 2-person project team.

Track L – Dynamic Web Sites (3 days)

This track will present the issues involved in creating "dynamic" database-driven web sites through a series of hands-on activities. These activities will enable participants to create dynamic web sites from materials provided during the workshop. Central concepts involved in creating dynamic web sites will be taught, and a discussion of web-based databases will be integral to this track. Applications and technologies that will be taught during this workshop will include Dreamweaver, PHP and MySQL. This track can be used as a companion to Tracks C and/or K, and academic support staff and graduate teaching assistants may participate with faculty as a 2-person project team.

Track M – Parallel Programming (3 days)

This track is designed to assist faculty in understanding how Virginia Tech’s new supercomputer can be utilized for research. Parallel programming concepts will be central to this discussion. Participants will also learn the basics of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) for distributed memory systems as well as code optimization for Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) shared memory systems. Emphasis will be placed on numerical research applications in the computational science and engineering disciplines. This track can be used as a companion to Tracks C and/or K, and faculty are encouraged to bring one graduate student with them from their research team.

Track N – Using the Web for Instruction (3 days)

This track will provide a broad overview of how the web can be utilized to enhance traditional course activities. Participants will learn how to use Blackboard, Virginia Tech’s course management system, to manage course documents, create quizzes, manage discussions, and use the online gradebook. Several interactive teaching methods and tools will be discussed, and participants will learn how to use Macromedia’s Dreamweaver and Adobe Acrobat to create high quality web documents. Discussions will also focus on the challenges of teaching with technology, often at a distance.