This academic year, 108 UW faculty on all three campuses have been involved in piloting Canvas, a feature-rich learning management system. They’ve been teaching nearly 6000 students in 88 courses—from chemistry to sociology—using the new tool. Canvas simplifies course management activities like calendaring and grading, while providing ways to collaborate and deliver materials to students. UW-IT and the Office of Educational Assessment are evaluating Canvas as part of a broader effort to improve the student experience. Learn more.

If you missed the January Ignite! event on innovative uses of technology for teaching and learning at the UW, watch the videos online. Get key findings from UW-IT's Surveys on Teaching, Learning, and Research Technologies. See presentations about using Canvas learning management system to hold virtual office hours; SQLShare to analyze extremely large data sets with students; back-channel chat to keep students in large courses focused; and Tegrity lecture capture to simplify review of course material.

Learn about innovative uses of technology at the UW for teaching and learning at the upcoming Ignite! event. Hear 5-minute talks from UW faculty about using the Canvas eLearning system to hold virtual office hours, SQLShare to analyze extremely large data sets, back-channel chat to keep students engaged and more, with a brief Q&A after each presentation. Key findings from UW-IT’s 2011 Triennial Surveys on Teaching, Learning, and Research Technologies will be presented, and Canvas, MyPlan, Tegrity, and Yarn will be available for hands-on demos. It’s January 25, 3:00 p.m. in UW Seattle’s Odegaard Undergraduate Library, Room 220. Get details.

Starting Spring Quarter, UW professors and lecturers can participate in a UW-IT electronic text (eText) pilot in one or more of their classes to experiment with this new technology, help improve student learning, and contribute to this research effort. Two eText platforms (CourseSmart and CourseLoad) are provided, allowing flexibility and side-by-side comparison. Attend an informational meeting on January 26 at 9:30 a.m. in Odegaard Undergraduate Library 220 or February 1 at 3:30 p.m. in Mary Gates Hall 241, both at UW Seattle, or send email to help@uw.edu. During the pilot, students will receive eTexts at no cost. Get details.

This quarter, UW instructors who teach with laptops can try out a new technology that supports teaching and learning. Tegrity, a cloud-based lecture capture service, lets instructors easily record lectures and other class activities from a laptop (or any device with a Web connection). Then students can review the materials online using a Web browser or mobile device. Learn more.

WebQ now provides greater participant management features so you can track who has started, viewed, or submitted your online survey, and when. You can use WebQ to quickly build and administer online surveys and quizzes, and either view results online or download them for further analysis. WebQ is one of the Catalyst Web Tools, designed to aid communication and collaboration in teaching, learning, research, and everyday work for anyone in the UW community. Learn more about tracking survey participation.

Enhance your skills using Microsoft Access, Excel, .NET, Outlook, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Visio, and many more Microsoft products through UW-provided (so no cost to you) access to the Microsoft IT Academy Online Learning Program, through October 2012. In addition to hundreds of video-based Microsoft E-Learning courses, you can access the Microsoft Digital Literacy program to learn basic computer skills. For more information, go to Microsoft IT Academy at the UW.

Light a spark this winter with an "Ignite!" session on new technologies that improve the student learning experience at the UW. Come hear five-minute presentations from UW faculty and students sharing stories, ideas, lessons, and strategies for using these tools. Look to the January issue of IT Connect News for the exact date and time; you can also subscribe to the RSS news feed to find out first.

UW-IT is engaging faculty and students in the rollout of Tegrity, a cloud-based lecture capture service. Using a computer, camera and microphone, faculty can easily record and publish lectures online. Students can view the recorded content using a Web browser or mobile device. With Tegrity, it’s easy to search keywords within a recording, make and share notes, and add bookmarks. Currently, this service is only available to instructors and students in credit-based UW courses. Future releases will expand usage and access. Learn more.

Students in the UW’s DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology) program are featured in a series of 12 UWTV videos. They speak about the adapted environments and technologies that help them have equal access to learning and employment opportunities. Some of these individuals are in the DO-IT Scholars program, where high school students attend Summer Study sessions at the UW to prepare for college and careers.

Beginning Summer Quarter 2011, all UW faculty and instructors are required to submit final grades online and can do so quickly and easily with a new Catalyst Web Tool, GradePage. For those not already using Catalyst GradeBook, available since 2009 for optional online grade submission, GradePage provides a simple alternative. It was developed by UW-IT with the Office of the Registrar, and instructors can access GradePage from MyUW.

Faced with reduced support staff last fall, the School of Social Work faculty took control of their own course Web site content. By leveraging UW-hosted Catalyst CommonView, and with a little help from UW-IT for customized training sessions, faculty created their own online course materials for 61 classes. Learn how the School and its two-person IT team created this successful model of sustainable course support in this Profile of Technology Use.

College faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and students considering careers in STEM disciplines are encouraged to apply for the Education Program at the SC11 conference, held November 12-15 in Seattle. The program aims to help integrate high performance computing and computational science and engineering techniques into the classroom and research. You can request the $380 registration fee be covered when you apply by July 31. See the sample application.

"Catalyst has fundamentally expanded the opportunities and strategies I have to teach our students," says Dr. John Wataha, chair of the Department of Restorative Dentistry. He chose to use Catalyst because he knew the UW was moving toward a campus-wide online grade submission system, he’d found the tools intuitive and easy to use, and that as a University-wide system Catalyst would be well supported. Read how he leverages CommonView, GoPost, and WebQ to develop his students’ potential in his Profile of Technology Use.

Throughout Spring Quarter, UW-IT will offer a wide variety of free computing workshops. Topics include Web publishing and computing fundamentals, as well as multimedia and productivity software from Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, and others. Full schedule and detailed workshop descriptions are online. All workshops are taught by student-instructors. Most are walk-in; just bring your UW NetID and Husky card, or sign up to ensure a seat.

UW Information School Professor Mike Eisenberg combines Catalyst Tools and other smart technologies to engage students and encourage classroom participation. Students work in groups to create multimedia presentations that inspire them to interact with information and ideas in new ways. Read about Eisenberg’s strategies and lessons learned in integrating technology into course design and other Profiles of Technology Use at the UW.

A sample of UW Seattle faculty, students, and TAs soon will be invited to share their technology needs and priorities in the 2011 Surveys on Teaching, Learning, and Research Technologies. If you receive the email from UW Information Technology, please take the 15-minute survey. Your input will help inform future decisions about technology tools and services.

UW students are invited to submit ideas on a new Catalyst mobile Web application aimed at making group studying easier, such as locating group study spaces. This tool will be optimized for mobile devices, but will also be accessible through standard Web browsers. Please provide feedback to UW Information Technology on this topic by taking a two-minute survey today.

Online training on Microsoft software is free to Washington residents through a state WorkSource career development program with Microsoft. More than 1,000 courses are provided, including technical training for IT professionals (with certifications available) and digital literacy for computer beginners.

UW psychology professor Jaime Diaz uses Catalyst Web Tools and other Web technologies to enhance lectures, engage students, expand the classroom, and collect feedback. The use of technology "breaks that time boundary...you can make the class smaller, you can make the class richer," says Diaz. Read his Profile of Technology Use, provided by UW-IT.

Learn about Web publishing, digital audio/video, document creation, computing fundamentals, spreadsheets, graphics, presentations, and more. UW-IT is offering seventy free workshops Autumn Quarter. Most are walk-in; just bring your UW NetID and Husky card. See details and schedule.

UW research findings on technology are the topic of two recently published journal articles. The role of technological expertise, gender, and age and how they relate to the use of educational technologies are discussed in a Journal of Computing in Higher Education article, and a new EDUCAUSE Quarterly article recommends that universities consider the whole campus as a single learning environment. In addition, three new research reports provide recommendations for a campus-wide student technology strategy as well as detailed findings on UW Seattle students' technology needs and mobile device use.

Paccar Hall, a new state-of-the-art building at the UW Foster School of Business, features U-shaped tiered classrooms, student breakout rooms, offices, meeting spaces, an auditorium, and an atrium with café. Technology enhancements include Web-linked digital monitors and distance conferencing capabilities. As part of the project team, UW Information Technology set up more than 750 new Ethernet connections and worked to bring voice and wireless to the building. Take a virtual tour or read a news story.

Check out the new campus-wide electronic portfolio solution -- the "Google Sites Hub" -- in CommonView. This solution enables instructors and students to build and share rich electronic portfolios using the Google Sites page creation tools, and helps instructors to manage the process through the Catalyst Web Tools. Also new to CommonView is public views and announcements in a workspace. And new to Your Groups, you can now include lists of people when creating or editing a group to control access to your Catalyst tools.

It's easier to manage your courses online using the Catalyst Web Tools features added this year, and more enhancements are planned. Learn how these and cloud computing resources will contribute to a UW eLearning platform, and discuss how the university portal and mobile applications fit in. Sign up for a one-hour open house in July or August.

Curious about Adobe Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop, or Dreamweaver? Learn about them at UW Information Technology's workshops for UW students and staff. Workshops on Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, and digital audio tools are also offered, all at UW Seattle. See the summer schedule.

The Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) recently published a case study authored by LST and the UW eScience Institute. Titled Scientific Advances and Information Technology: Meeting Researchers’ Needs in a New Era of Discovery, the report discusses key findings of two University of Washington research projects: Conversations with UW Research Leaders, and the UW 2008 Faculty Survey on Learning and Scholarly Technologies. Get details.

As of June 30, UW Information Technology (UW-IT) will no longer offer its UW Computer Training program. Walk-in workshops geared toward students will still be offered on digital audio and video, Web publishing, graphics and presentations, the Catalyst Web Tools, and other computing fundamentals. Custom workshops can be arranged.

LST's high-end videoconference studios offer significantly more functionality than either online technologies or desktop equipment. Featuring professional technical support through the entirety of your event, these flexible studios can connect you with up to 20 standards-based videoconference sites at one time. Let LST staff focus on the technology so you can focus on the topic.

UW Professional & Continuing Education administers certificate programs, graduate and undergraduate degrees, and courses on weekends, evenings, and online. Computing & IT has 7 certificates (such as application development, information management), 9 master's degrees (such as computing & software systems, digital media), plus courses/short programs. See the new Web site and update your links.

Learn about Web publishing, digital audio/video, document creation, computing fundamentals, spreadsheets, graphics, and presentations. Learning & Scholarly Technologies is offering over forty free workshops this quarter. Most are walk-in; just bring your UW NetID and Husky card. See details and schedule.

RSVP for the Computing & IT Programs Open House, and learn about the certificate and master's degree programs in this field offered by UW Professional & Continuing Education. Hear from instructors and advisors, meet students in the programs, and see coursework samples on Thursday, April 22, 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at UW Tower Auditorium and Cafeteria.

Did you know that UW staff, faculty, alumni, affiliates, and students are eligible to register for a UW Computer Training Online Learning Subscription? It's convenient and available to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from any computer with Internet access. Microsoft Office 2007 and other instructor-led courses are also available. Check out their spring schedule and register today.

How are UW students using UW computing centers, libraries, and study areas? How well do those spaces meet student needs? Join the April 7th Spark Session (in person or via Webcast) to learn what Learning & Scholarly Technologies (LST) and UW Libraries discovered from their recent research. You'll also find out what the Department of Communication and the School of Medicine have done to enhance two of their learning spaces.

Volunteer a few hours a year to be on a Client/User Engagement (CUE) team and have a voice in Catalyst Web Tools development. Sign up for the Technology Spaces CUE team to weigh in on the evolution of Learning & Scholarly Technologies' computer labs, collaboration studios, and videoconferencing and audio/video editing facilities.

Caroline Strömberg, UW Assistant Professor of Biology and Curator of Paleobotany in the Burke Museum, is involved in developing GrassPortal. Grasses have a major influence on climate and form the cornerstone of food production. GrassPortal will integrate grass species names, descriptions, distribution, and ecological data with evolutionary information in a Web interface, providing researchers and students with tools for interacting, discovering, and extracting information.

When you have 1100 students in your class, you quickly learn that technology is your friend. In addition to presenting lectures on his course Web site, Rob Harrison, School of Forest Resources professor, uses Catalyst Tools to facilitate student discussion and submit grades. Read more on ESRM 100 as a model of how to use technology to deliver a high quality learning experience to a large number of students.

Want unlimited access to over 1,700 online information technology (IT) and business courses for just $79 from now through December 31, 2010? UW Computer Training offers this online learning subscription from Element K so you can learn programming and Web development, design and media, and much more, anytime, anywhere with Internet access. Check out the course catalog and subscribe now for a full year of learning.

This fall, the School of Medicine began supporting first- and second-year courses online with two Catalyst Web Tools, CommonView and GradeBook. Faculty have found the tools flexible and easy to use, and students have benefited from a consistent experience across courses. Read the full story.

Volunteer a few hours a year to be on a Client/User Engagement (CUE) team and have a voice in Catalyst Web Tools development. Sign up for the Technology Spaces CUE team to weigh in on the evolution of Learning & Scholarly Technologies' computer labs, collaboration studios, and videoconferencing and audio/video editing facilities.

UW students: How and where do you use technology to do your work? How will you use it in the future? Answer a brief, confidential survey by UW Learning & Scholarly Technologies to help shape the future of technology spaces at the UW. Take the survey and enter to win a $25 University Bookstore certificate. [This survey closed Nov. 11.]

Choose from over 30 free workshops offered by Learning & Scholarly Technologies for UW students, faculty, and staff. Topics include using software from Microsoft and Adobe, publishing a Web site, working with digital audio and video, and more. Check out the schedule.