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Welcome to the ITS quarterly newsletter

At Instructional Technology Services, we strive to engage, challenge, and nurture faculty in appropriate uses of educational technologies so they can prepare students for leadership in an information society.  To that end, we invite you to learn about some of the latest technologies and ways our services and resources may be used effectively engage students in learning.
Please feel free to contact us with project requests at its@spu.edu or at (206) 281-2170
To learn more about ITS services click here

Screencasting course content

Assistant Professor of Political Science Caleb Henry, who partnered with ITS Director David Wicks, describes how screencasting helped him create enhanced content for students.



 link to Caleb Henry video on YouTube
Click image above to watch video in YouTube

Are eBooks the next big thing in Educational technology?

A question often asked by faculty is "What is the next big thing in educational technology?" A great resource for finding answers to this question is the annual Horizon Report (PDF) jointly published by the New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE. Each year this report provides a section entitled Technologies to Watch where educators can learn about emerging technologies projected to impact teaching and learning over the next five years...(to read more click here to read David Wicks' blog article)

Four tips for preparing videos to be digitized for instruction

Would you like to compile several short clips from various sources onto a single disc or other more convenient formats for easier use in the classroom? ITS can help.
photo of DVD's
  1. Write down the times of the beginning and end points as well as a brief description of what's happening at those points for each clip.
  2. If the clips are from VHS tapes, be sure that the counter is set to 0:00 at the beginning of the tape.
  3. Bring the tapes and the list to ITS. Allow about two weeks to complete.
  4. If you don't own the copyright for the material, make sure your clips are less than 10% of the video's total length.

Workshops

Missed a workshop?  Need a quick refresher?  Feel free to peruse our helpful online videos, tutorials, and handouts.

Blackboard: The Basics
Blackboard: Wikis and Blogs
Lecture Capture: Turning the Lecture on Its Head
Prezi or PowerPoint?