Who did faculty members turn to for support when Zoom suddenly became the de facto medium for teaching? At the 23 universities within the Cal State system, it was the members of the Academic Technology Services department. They worked overtime to train faculty members in how to bring their labs, lectures, and assessments online. So how did these academic technologists do it? And what will happen to their digital learning initiatives when in-person classes safely resume? In this episode, you’ll hear from two guests who have the answers: Dr. Leslie Kennedy, senior director of Academic Technology Services at The California State University in the Office of the Chancellor, and Shaidy Ruiz, Communications Analyst in the Department of Academic Technology Services.
Memorable Moments:
Leslie: [11:52] And that was quite challenging to understand what kind of tools would potentially help them, especially in the science courses, because they were used to writing on whiteboards. And how am I going to do that now in the virtual environment?
Leslie: [13:25] So many of our faculty rose to the occasion, it was just amazing and inspiring, actually, to be involved with. That’s been an amazing learning takeaway from this pandemic experience.
Leslie: [18:11] We don't quite know how this is all going to turn out, whether we go back and suddenly within six months, everybody is back to their traditional ways they were teaching before. But we don't think that's actually going to happen. We see that we've crossed that chasm.
Leslie: [19:01] We’re going to see more of a hybrid with academic technologies in the face-to-face classroom.
Shaidy: [20:17] Educational technology was really an integral part of that transition, and it continues to be used to sustain student success. I’m excited for the future of higher education and just seeing how the technology use from this time influences the future and the potential benefits that can come out of this time.
Leslie: [20:44] Tools, virtual environments, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, all those different perspectives are the future of supporting innovative and dynamic, engaging instruction in the future and diverse instruction in the future.
Episode 11 Transcripthttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1JGaLg_sADf5j5fhcgvxKsz9-ZbbrcK82EmKBR2aXEek/edit?usp=sharing