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[Graphic: Directions]
Catalyst: A New Strategy to Support Faculty in Teaching With Technology

Kay Pilcher, editor, Windows on Computing

When faculty focus groups met last summer to discuss the challenges they face in teaching, they helped UWired rethink its role.

UWired, a five-year-old collaboration supporting technology in education, began in early 1998 what it now calls the "Great Web Tool Debate." Conversations were held with faculty, support staff, and department heads. Testing was done on all-in-one courseware products and off-the-shelf Web editing programs.

"Most of the tools we examined offer email or discussion lists," says Scott Macklin, associate director of UWired. "But because C&C has created such a robust central infrastructure at this university, those are already in place here."

In looking for a way to provide faculty with flexibility in using technology to fit their particular needs, UWired staff concluded that one size doesn't fit all. Ultimately, they came up with a strategy--rather than a single tool--to support faculty in using technology in teaching. That strategy focuses on the World Wide Web.

"We came to view the Web itself, rather than any one piece of software, as the 'killer app'," recalls Macklin. And so the Catalyst project was born.

Catalyst Web Site and Workshops Are Linked

[Graphic: The Catalyst Web site at depts.washington.edu/catalyst/]

The Catalyst Web site provides a way for faculty to help themselves and each other in using technology in teaching.

"We hoped to find a way to link the various steps that are required to use technology in teaching," explains Mark Donovan, acting director of UWired who, with Macklin, has been a major player in the Catalyst project.

To do that, UWired developed the Catalyst Web site, a task-based collection of guides and information that supports effective use of technology in teaching. It is intended to be an ever-evolving resource that explains and supports new technologies as they emerge.

"The Web site is just part of the Catalyst initiative, not the whole picture," says Macklin. "Content for workshops is driven by needs identified by Catalyst Web site visitors. Web site content, in turn, is driven by needs that come up in the faculty workshops."

UWired hopes to hold drop-in clinics in the spring where faculty can come to get help with particular problems. Workshops have already been held at the Bothell and Tacoma campuses, and with some departments. Consulting with individuals, colleges, and schools to discuss their technology issues and concerns and to help them formulate plans is also part of the Catalyst project.

The Catalyst Web site at depts.washington.edu/catalyst/ offers resources for teaching with technology. The site is organized into five elements:

What follows is an overview of each section, but you can easily explore the site on your own.

Method Guides Provide Examples and Ideas

"We've talked to faculty who have been using the Web in their classes for years," says Donovan, "and yet they are excited about these Method Guides, which give some conceptual order to how the technology can be used to meet instructional goals."

Method Guides focus on instruction. They suggest different ways educators use technology to support their teaching goals, including:

"It came out in our focus groups that people want guidance on good practice with educational technology as well as 'how-to' technical support," says Donovan. "But they want them to be separate." UWired developed both Method Guides and Quick Guides in response.

Quick Guides Provide "How To" Information

"The Quick Guide is sort of the AAA Trip-Tik, if you will, of the Catalyst site," explains Macklin. You can go directly to what you want to do, or you can wander the scenic side roads and perhaps discover something interesting.

If you want to create a class Web site, work with digital images, set up an email feedback form, or do other tasks using educational technology, then you will want to look at Quick Guides. Each covers a four-step process for carrying out your task:

"We ask people to reflect on how well their plan for the use of this technology matched their results," says Macklin about the plan-create-connect-reflect formula. "Instructors can think about that, and then revise what they do the next time they plan the course. It is this iterative process that is driving us."

UWired Tools: Collaboration and Communication

Four Web-based UWired tools have been developed so far:

Nursing course instructors who have worked with UWired for several years were relying on custom scripts that "had to be rewritten and reinstalled each quarter the class was taught," says Donovan. "During this last iteration of the course, the instructors used the UWired Tools instead because they met their needs and were easier to maintain."

Catalyst uses your UW NetID to establish your ownership of the UWired tools--surveys, forms, and templates--you create, and to allow you to edit or delete them. You can also use UW NetIDs to password-protect your surveys so that just UW people fill them out.

Profiles Let You Know What Your Peers Are Doing

[Photo: Instructor Satadru Sen.]

In "Profiles" read how Satadru Sen uses the Peer Review tool in his course on Modern Indian Civilization to post selected draft papers on the Web for students to critique and then share their comments via the Web.

The Catalyst project team frequently hears faculty say, "I'm sure there are things I can do with technology, but I don't have any idea what they are," and "I know that somebody down the hall is doing something neat, but I don't know what that is."

In response to this common refrain, Catalyst provides "Profiles." You can read how a forestry professor uses a digital camera to create an image archive for her class Web site, or how a School of Business lecturer uses PowerPoint and multimedia tools to build his online math tutorials for the Executive MBA program.

"Increasingly we will profile people who are out there on the edge," says Donovan, "because that edge is probably going to be mainstream in six to twelve months."

Information Provides Answers to Common Questions

Your first visit to the Catalyst Web site won't be complete without at least glancing at the wealth of resources under "Information." You can browse by topic or go straight to the hyperlinked site index to see all there is to see.

Catalyst TechDocs, for example, is an A-to-Z list of software-specific Web pages on the site. A list of networked classrooms and links to plug-ins for multimedia are other avenues to explore. You can also look here for information on accessibility, copyright and intellectual property, and training and workshops.

Initiatives by UW Libraries and C&C Relate to Catalyst

The Catalyst project's strategy of using the Web is supported by several related initiatives. The UW Libraries, for example, began an electronic course reserve program that digitized course materials and posted them to the Web. C&C introduced a set of five UW Web servers to serve distinct populations and users. The Kerberos network authentication protocol used with UW NetID--the key to accessing Catalyst's Web-based instructional tools--was also implemented by C&C.

Is Catalyst for You?

Over 30 percent of faculty responding to a survey by the UW Libraries in spring 1998 reported using the Web in their teaching. Another 23 percent said that they currently did not, but were interested.

"I think the initial push for Catalyst is to target that 23 percent, but we don't want to lose sight of those early adopters who are pushing the envelope," says Macklin.

Now that Catalyst is in place, UWired staff are asking themselves, and faculty, what the next set of Method Guides or Quick Guides will be. Ideas include multimedia, streaming video, and streaming servers.

"If there is one thing we are trying to do with Catalyst, it's to concentrate the conversation." says Donovan. "We want Catalyst to be a place that educators will think of as having the latest information, where faculty can find out what their peers are doing, and where information gets exchanged."

Catalyst Team Seeks Your Comments and Ideas

[Photo: Eleven members of the Catalyst project team.]

The Catalyst project team includes (clockwise from top left): Scott Macklin, Dana Bostrom, Kurt Kors, Mark Donovan, Mark Farrelly, Randy Hertzler, Holly Jamesen, Molly Vogt, Justin Williams, Mark Alway, Alex Shepard, and (not pictured) Kathryn Donald, Diane Fruchter, Jasson Lewellen, Daphne Minkoff, Christine Murakami, Paul Parazzoli, and Chris Person.

The Catalyst project team (see photo) developed the Catalyst Web site as a resource for UW faculty. When you explore the site or use one of the tools, let the team know what you think. What worked for you? Did you find what you wanted? What is missing? Your comments will help develop this tool for the UW community.

Sending your comments is easy. Just click on "give us your suggestions" at the bottom of a Catalyst Web page and fill out the short form that pops up.

An Evolving Future

"Catalyst is going to evolve in different ways by bringing more people into this conversation," says Donovan. "We've met with the campus writing labs, for example, and they are very excited about writing a Method Guide that will focus on how technology can be used to improve writing. That's a perfect model of what we want to see. We don't think we are the experts, but we think we are in a unique position to establish the clearinghouse for other experts.

"What we hope will happen is that in six to twelve months there will be a strong, vibrant conversation being led by educators about technology in teaching, and that Catalyst will be seen as a key part of that," continues Donovan. "All these bright people who are teaching classes--if the technology can be made accessible to them--are going to be doing things that we never thought of."

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University of Washington Computing & Communications
Windows on Computing, No. 23, Spring 1999
newsltr@cac.washington.edu