A New "Link" for Technology and Teaching

Library, OIT collaborate to open new center with classroom space

By S.D. Williams

Monday, April 28, 2008

Durham, NC -- What’s in a name? At last week’s Center for Instructional Technology Showcase university officials announced that a new Teaching and Learning Center in Perkins Library’s lower level will be known by an even newer, and shorter, handle: the Link.

Speaking to a large audience in the Bryan Center, Ed Gomes, associate dean for arts and sciences information technology, said the new center – to open before fall semester – connects innovative teaching spaces, technology services and learning tools that will help students and faculty. Hence, it's called “The Link.”

“We think this will be a place where faculty can experiment and learn how to integrate new technologies into teaching,” Gomes said. “It’s also a place where the university will learn how to introduce new technologies into classrooms and create models to use elsewhere on campus. Students will have access to these rooms for meetings and events, and we expect they will learn new technologies for their activities and push the school to develop new tools.”

Rooms are already being assigned through the university registrar. All faculty members teaching during the 2007–2008 academic year were sent an email describing the features of the TLC and the process by which they could request classroom space via the normal course submission process using the Departmental Schedule Validator.

The Link will feature a walk-up information and help desk, coordinated jointly by OIT and arts and sciences staff (see accompanying article below). Since the Link is in Perkins, reference librarians are nearby. Specialists at the Center for Instructional Technology (CIT) are also close by.

Tech Support Moves to the Link

Got a technology question and can’t find the answer on the Internet? Can’t get on the Internet? Starting fall semester, answers will be easier to find—at the new walk-up help and information desk in the Link in the lower level of Perkins Library.

The new technology-support desk will be open seven days a week. Hours will run from 8 a.m. until midnight Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays, noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and 3 p.m. to midnight on Sundays.

The walk-up tech support service is moving from the Help Desk at the Bryan Center to the Link, and OIT is adding both full-time staff and part-time student employees to operate the expanded service.

Kevin Davis, OIT’s assistant director of technology support, said he hopes the new service desk will become “the one-place to do everything.” The service will handle an array of requests, from helping a staff member seeking a software license to a student setting up a multimedia presentation in one of the Link’s classrooms.

The Link offers six classrooms, four seminar rooms, 11 group study rooms and informal space for collaboration, discussion or individual work. Several of the classrooms offer special design and equipment features, including:

· Audio-video recording and playback

· The ability to project from multiple sources at once

· Built-in videoconferencing

· Attached space for breakout groups

More information about the Link can be found on CIT’s website.