2004 Highlights

November 2004

The most recent issue of Educause Quarterly (Vol. 27, no. 4) has an article by Claudia A. Perry of Queens College, CUNY, "Information Technology and the Curriculum: A Status Report" where she recommends that "evaluating the trends and existing models of integrating technology across the curriculum can inform planning on your campus." She cites George Mason University's TAC program as "a model worthy of exploration" in addressing the "gap between the promise and the reality of innovative instructional and learning practices in much of higher education..."

October 2004

Dee Holisky and Anne Agee, along with administrators from Claremont McKenna College, North Carolina State University and DePauw, present a full-day seminar (opens in new window) "The Whole Is Greater Than the Parts: Models for Systemic Transformation of Teaching and Learning" on October 19 in Denver, CO as part of the Educause 2004 conference. The seminar explores how diverse institutions can combine faculty support, student support, curriculum development, and facilities development to achieve transformative technology and learning programs suited to unique needs. "The four schools that participate in this workshop plan to hold a symposium on integrated technology programs at George Mason next May,” said Holisky. She hopes the continued collaboration will result in a book.

TAC and the IRC sponsor a third Image Workshop series to begin October 8 as part of the faculty development workshop program to teach faculty image manipulation skills. Faculty then develop assignments that promote these skills among their students.

Two TAC faculty members who have TAC-sponsored projects present some of their resulting assignments on October 4 at a Faculty Showcase Using Technology in Teaching sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Instructional Resource Center. For more information on the particular projects profiled, see Mills Kelly's Webography project, and Mike O'Malley's U.S. History course. (project links open in new window).

September 2004

CAS appoints Beth Secrist as TAC Coordinator. Beth comes to George Mason University from the University of Tennessee where she directed the Language Resource Center. As director of the LRC Beth managed a 78 station computer lab, a faculty development lab and a large collection of audiovisual resources. She provided training to faculty and graduate students in Modern Foreign Languages emphasizing information technologies as applied to foreign language instruction. She also taught Italian for 8 years.

Beth is very excited about the opportunities the TAC program provides both faculty and students at George Mason University. "The more I learn about the TAC program, meet faculty and see how they have integrated IT in their course assignments and curricula, the more enthusiastic I am about the program."

July 2004

CAS hosted a visit from two faculty members from the Kapiolani Community College, University of Hawaii on July 15 and 16. Steven Singer, Instructor in Information Technology, and Calvin Tan, Instructor in Accounting, traveled a great distance to learn more about the George Mason University Technology Across the Curriculum program. The collaborative efforts of Dee Ann Holisky and Anne Agee, Deputy CIO and Executive Director of Division of Instructional and Technology Support Services, resulted in a full agenda for the visitors. They met with members of the ITU videoconferencing team, classroom technologies and CAS faculty who have developed TAC projects. Singer and Tan were overwhelmed with the generosity of George Mason University faculty, and extremely grateful to have had this opportunity to share information.

April 2004

TAC enters a Partnership Agreement with the Doctor of Arts in Community College Education (DACCE) Program. DACCE students will be able to receive internship credit for working in the TAC program or to participate in directed reading related to the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning.

Leslie Harris serves as Guest Co-Editor of and a contributor to the Spring 2004 Issue of the Writing @ Center Newsletter (opens in new window). The issue focuses on the connection between Technology Across the Curriculum and Writing Across the Curriculum and features supporting articles by Rebecca Goldin and Amelia Rutledge.

March 2004

Three TAC faculty members who attended TAC Image Manipulation Workshops present their resulting assignments at a Faculty Showcase on the Power of Images sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Instructional Resource Center. For more information on the particular projects profiled, see Randy Lytton's Classical Fairfax, Julie Christensen's Understanding Eisenstein’s Theory of Classical Film Shots and Montage, and Libby Hall's BIS Senior Project Presentation (project links open in new window).

Also in March, Anne Agee and Dee Holisky publish an article about Technology Across the Curriculum in Volume Two of Education and Technology: An Encyclopedia, eds. Ann Kovalchick and Kara Dawson, Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2004, 539-546. The article provides an overview of the TAC program, discussing its underlying principles, curricular and program goals, program operation, support structure, etc.

On March 24 and 25, Anne Agee visits SUNY Oneonta to meet with their Education Technology Committee and the Council of Deans to discuss their implementation of a Technology Across the Curriculum program. Faculty there had read Dee Holisky's and Anne Agee's article about TAC in Educause Quarterly (opens in new window) and wanted to follow up with a more detailed discussion of what issues they would need to address at their institution. Both the faculty and the deans were particularly interested in the role of the STAR Center (opens in new window) in providing support for students learning technology skills.

February 2004

Leslie Harris presents a summary of the recent highlights of the TAC program (opens in new window) at a College of Arts and Sciences faculty meeting. In addition, the TAC EndNote initiative is featured in the February issue of the DoIT newsletter Contexts (opens in new window). For more information about the EndNote initiative, see the Guidelines for Proposals: EndNote Initiative for 2004-05.