Page 7 - OIT Progress Report 2014

IT Training: More Excel! More Webinars!
More Departmental Training!
You spoke. We listened. This year has been exciting for IT Training. In response to focus group findings, we provided more department spe- cific training as the IT Training team’s schedule allowed. In addition, we expanded webinar offerings and created an online recording archive.
This fall, we launched a pilot Microsoft Excel certification preparation pro- gram with the goal of building power users across campus. Participants committed to attend seven weekly 90-minute training sessions. Additionally, attendees were provided Microsoft study materials for the Office Specialist exam in Excel. For those not involved in the pilot, we offered additional work- shops throughout the year and promoted SMU faculty and staff access to qual- ity online training resources, including Lynda.com. In spring 2015, IT Training will partner with the Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center by offering workshops to strengthen students’ core Microsoft Office skills.
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Objective 4: Recruitment
and retention of staff who
are com- petent and
professional.
Tech Day on October 22nd represented a momentous leap forward in cross-depart- mental training and sparked interest among the campus. Speakers from CAPE, the Career Center, Fondren Library, Meadows School of the Arts, the Office of Research and Graduate Studies, Public Affairs, and OIT shared their expertise. Ten workshops were offered on topics including Adobe, Apple, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Sitecore, Social Media for the Workplace, and more. We look forward to continuing and expanding this interdepartmental collaboration in the future.
New Blackboard Training 2
Courses.SMU (Blackboard) is a critical tool for faculty and students. With the new pro- cesses for reporting student learning outcomes, more faculty incorporate Courses.SMU in their instruction. This fall, we published a comprehensive Courses.SMU tutorial built completely by the IT Help Desk. Creating the training familiarized the IT Help Desk with the nuances of the application they are now supporting. This training resource also enables faculty to fully utilize the learning management suite.
Objective 1: Enhancement
of teaching and learn-
ing through curricula,
pedagogies, programs, and
methodologies informed by
research, along with utilization of advanced
The tutorial can be watched in totality or in part for just-in-time training. The sections cov- ered include: Blackboard Basics, Managing Content, Communicating with Students, Grade Center, Content Collection, and University Curriculum Assessment Process. A more in-depth Grade Center tutorial was developed and published this fall. To view the tutorials, visit the new Courses.SMU Instructor Tutorial at smu.edu/OIT/InstructorTutorial.
technologies.
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