Extended Education & Outreach
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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Lincoln, Neb., September 2, 2004 -- Developing and teaching online courses will be the focus of a semester-long institute for UNL graduate, teaching and research assistants. The Teaching Assistant/Graduate Assistant Distance Learning and Technology Institute will begin in September and run through much of the fall semester. institute

The certificate of completion program, in its second year, will help faculty develop and teach their online distance courses by training graduate assistants to design online course components that are outcome based, collaborative and pedagogically sound.

"The institute brings together faculty and assistants from various parts of the campus into a common learning environment," said Nancy Aden, director of Distance Education Services, a part of the Office of Extended Education & Outreach (EE&O). "It is successful because it unifies the technological and pedagogical aspects of developing and implementing an online course."

Funded by EE&O, the institute provides online training materials, resources and online learning experiences, technology training workshops, and face-to-face meetings with distance education specialists to graduate assistants of distance faculty. Faculty must nominate participants and will mentor them throughout the semester. Mentors and students must agree that assistants will devote at least one hour per week of their graduate assistantship time to the institute requirements.

The program curriculum will include three required face-to-face sessions, two online modules and 12 hours of technical workshops to support instruction in an online environment. Students who complete 75 percent or more of the program requirements will receive a certificate of completion and a $100 professional development stipend.

"The institute provided information and tools that were very beneficial for developing new courses and improving existing courses," said Leah Sandall. "I'll be able to use the knowledge I gained from the online modules and the workshops when I develop future educational materials. It was definitely worth my time." Sandall participated in the institute last fall for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources' Department of Agronomy and Horticulture.

Greta Glenn from Distance Education Services and Beverly Russell from Instructional Design and Development in Extended Education & Outreach will be working with Wade Weichel, online learning development specialist from the UNL Instructional Technology Group. The institute's technology workshops will be held in the New Media Center with hands-on activities that take advantage of Blackboard's capabilities, including how to post course materials, convert documents, manage online discussions, prepare graphics and set up video or audio conferences.

UNL faculty may nominate a student participant online at http://extended.unl.edu/tagainstitute . Enrollment is limited. For more information, contact Greta Glenn, Distance Education Services, at 472-5515 or gglenn2@unl.edu.

TA/GA Institute topics will include:

•  Campus resources for distance delivery and technology

•  Online tutorials

•  Creation of an online syllabus

•  Organization of a visually appealing and instructionally sound design for online learning

•  Communication, implementation and management of the online class

•  Visual design

•  Library services

•  Document conversion

•  Online teaching tools

•  Multi-media online tools