1. 1 NITLE Progress Report: Building Collaborative Programs for Liberal Arts Colleges Clara Yu Bryan Alexander Suzanne Bonefas Nancy Millichap Copyright Nancy Millichap 2003. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

2. 2 NITLE: Background Members: 81 Liberal Arts Colleges Funding: The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Goal: sustainable, effective, innovative inter-institutional collaboration Areas of effort: instructional technology and information management Beginning date: January 2002

3. 3 NITLE: Status Programming sites: at three regional centers –Center for Educational Technology (Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT) –Associated Colleges of the South Technology Center (Southwestern University, Georgetown, TX) –Midwest Instructional Technology Center (Ann Arbor) –and on member campuses Programs delivered through June 2003: 135 Participants served: 2,395 (36% faculty members, 30% technologists, 14% administrators, 10% librarians, 10% students)

4. 4 Keys to Building Collaborative Programs Just in time for “successful practices” Three practices presented by the regional centers’ directors Each illustrated with an example from a NITLE Regional Center

5. 5 Successful Practice: Start Small and Evolve Workable ideas for collaborations emerge from small- scale interactions Particular people with shared interests/responsibilities: camaraderie ”Grassroots" generation of collaborative projects: a sense of ownership As their ideas shape projects, participants develop a stake in their success

6. 6 Start Small and Evolve 55-65 instructional technologists on 26 Midwestern liberal arts college campuses: Individuals in unique roles Peer support network MITC-IT: the Midwest Instructional Technology Center’s programs for instructional technologists

7. 7 Start Small and Evolve Starting small … Meeting of five at “Creating and Supporting Digital Learning through Collaboration” symposium Survey of “who’s out there” working in instructional technology at 26 MITC member colleges Creation of discussion list, MITC-IT

8. 8 Start Small and Evolve listserv planning meeting conference proposal camaraderie conference Evolving…

9. 9 Instructional Technologists’ Conference – March 2003 “Instructional Technologists at Liberal Arts Colleges: Exploring Our Unique Roles” Held at the University of Michigan Media Union Attended by 70 instructional technologists from 25 colleges

10. 10 Instructional Technologists’ Conference – March 2003 35 posters “Five Minute Showcases” - with a gong Choice of four workshops - presented by peers Interest group discussions and “reporting out” U of Michigan Media Union tours/sessions: where are research universities heading?

11. 11 Start Small and Evolve Evolving… collaborative technologies conference professional development peer support network other collaborations

12. 12 Successful Practice: Pitch a Big Tent Inclusion of multiple institutions: new communities created by consortial connections Involvement of multiple constituencies (technologists, librarians, faculty members, administrators, and students) provides unique perspectives Strengthens both consortial and campus programs Associated Colleges of the South Technology Center Software Engineering Program

13. 13 Pitching a Big Tent : ACS Software Engineering Program GOALS 1) to provide supplementary applied experience for our students 2) to create software that will support consortial programming and meet member colleges’ needs

14. 14 Pitching a Big Tent : ACS Software Engineering Program THE PROGRAM 9 week summer internship Software for consortium –Course Delivery System: inter-campus teaching –DAMSEL: digital assets management

15. 15 Pitching a Big Tent : ACS Software Engineering Program 2002: piloted with local students 2003: 10 Students from 7 Institutions –Austin College, Hendrix College, Millsaps College, Southwestern University, Spelman College, Trinity University, University of Richmond Faculty from Austin College, Furman University, Millsaps College, and Southwestern

16. 16 2003 Interns

17. 17 2003 Interns

18. 18 2002 Interns

19. 19 Lecture Notes Chat Room

20. 20 Successful Practice: Synthesize, Don’t Duplicate Questions for interregional collaboration: How to develop advanced technical training in the liberal arts milieu, while preserving regional identity and autonomy? How best to share and scale common interests, avoiding duplication of resources? How to collaboratively integrate campus practice and interest?

21. 21 Crossing regions: the case of GIS Initial regional interest: the northeast Multiple disciplines: geology, environmental science, archaeology, history Crossing sectors: faculty, librarians, technologists and students Pilot: CET, Middlebury (summer 2001)

22. 22 Synthesis: towards regional scaling Pilot feedback Reiteration: introductory, liberal arts focus (summer 2002) Cross-regional interest: Program Committee  NITLE structure  Information sharing  Campus practice research (fall 2002)

23. 23 Crossing regions: liberal arts GIS goes national Regional meetings (spring, 2003)  South (ACSTC)  Midwest (MITC) National workshops  (ACSTC, CET) (spring-summer 2003)  Cross-regional participation

24. 24 Synthesis: next NITLE GIS steps Continued institutes (next: MITC) Continued PC information sharing and faciliation NITLE GIS Director (Diana Sinton)  Networking  NITLE GIS Website Further institute iterations

25. 25 Successful Practices: What’s Next? Coordinated efforts to solve problems common among selective liberal arts colleges through NITLE will continue Innovative project ideas from individual campuses will catch fire elsewhere Connections developing between professional locations will grow stronger “Lessons Learned” will emerge Stay tuned!

26. 26 For Further Information www.nitle.org Clara Yu, Director, NITLE - yu@nitle.orgyu@nitle.org Nancy Millichap, Director, MITC - millichap@midwest-itc.org Suzanne Bonefas, Director, ACSTC - bonefas@colleges.org bonefas@colleges.org Bryan Alexander, Co-director, CET - balexan@middlebury.edu balexan@middlebury.edu Educause Quarterly, 2003, Volume 3

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