Instructional Technology Services has some important announcements for faculty and staff as the spring semester begins.

Smart classroom updates

ITS improved a number of classrooms in Storm Hall during winter break:

• Video projector upgrades: SH 244A, SH 258, and SH 342.
• Touchpad to control panel system upgrades: SH 248 and SH 351. These rooms now have a closed-caption decoder switch and USB ports accessible on the Control Panel.
• Full podium upgrades to control panel systems: SH 247 and SH 337. These rooms now have a closed-caption decoder switch near the DVD/VCR.

Turnitin returns to SDSU

Given concerns about the efficacy of SafeAssign, the plagiarism prevention tool used at SDSU since 2009, Academic Affairs has agreed to a three-year license Turnitin, starting this month. Turnitin is now fully integrated within Blackboard and includes additional tools for peer review and online instructor review and grading of student writing. For more information on this change see the SDSUniverse article, or visit the ITS website for links to tutorials and other resources.

Blackboard and Wimba workshops

ITS will again offer a full slate of Blackboard and Wimba workshops. See this SDSUniverse story for more details or go directly to http://its.doattend.com to view the schedule and register to attend.

SDSU clicker standardization re-evaluation

Over the five years that SDSU has used eInstruction CPS as its standard classroom response system, the technologies have evolved and improved. This spring, ITS will convene a working group of faculty, staff and students to thoroughly investigate the current state-of-the-art in-classroom response systems and recommend a campus standard for the next several years. Please contact ITS Associate Director Jim Julius at jjulius@mail.sdsu.edu if you would like to participate.

ITS faculty survey coming

ITS last conducted a survey of faculty interests and needs related to instructional technology in fall 2007. As ITS plans for the future, the department will solicit new input from SDSU instructors. Please look for a new survey in early February.