As we start a new academic year, you might want to keep in mind the many resources here at Duke to help with different aspects of your course – from training to Library resources to loaner equipment, there are many services provided by different units on campus to help with your course activities. If you are new to Duke, you can check out a more comprehensive list of campus services and resources at the CIT’s website.
CIT Consulting, Training and Office Visits
If you are planning your courses and are interested in adding a technology component to your class, or if you would like consulting on improving pedagogy and student learning in your course, the CIT offers office visits and training for faculty at Duke. Check the CIT’s website for information on our custom consulting sessions and office visits and training sessions. We also offer CIT Instructional Technology Fellowships for groups of faculty working on programmatic pedagogical or technology changes in courses at Duke.
Sakai
During the 2011-12 academic year, Duke transitioned from Blackboard to Sakai. The CIT offers office visits to faculty who wish to learn about particular features of Sakai or would like a general introduction or consultation on how the systems might be used in teaching. Students, faculty and staff can get help with using Sakai by contacting the OIT Service Desk. You can also find step by step guides and help documents at Duke’s Sakai site.
Course Blogs
Duke offers WordPress blogs to courses and they can be configured for class-use only or for viewing by the general public. Duke’s WordPress site has help, links to sample course sites and other information to help you get started. The CIT offers office visits to faculty on how blogs can be used effectively in your courses.
Qualtrics Survey Tool
Qualtrics is an online tool that can be used for polls and surveys. Help materials on using the tool is at the online Qualtrics University. Faculty can arrange a CIT office visit to learn more about using Qualtrics for online polls, class surveys to gauge student learning, quick feedback from students during a course, or more comprehensive programmatic assessment.
Library Instruction for Students
Subject specialists can provide library instruction for your students as they begin their research and writing for the class. Basic library instruction will introduce students to library resources and provide them with strategies for using the library efficiently and effectively. Advanced group instruction or research consultations are also available and encouraged. These sessions reinforce basic skills, and will be designed to accommodate the needs of your class. A list of subject librarians can be found here. The library also offers Data & GIS support, as well as support for International and Area Studies (IAS).
E-Reserves
Duke University Libraries can scan book chapters or articles and automatically place them on e-reserves in your Sakai course site. Just fill out the e-reserves form and drop the material at one of the Library service points in Perkins or Lilly.
Student video and sound projects
Duke has a wide range of resources to help students with audio and video projects – video cameras, iPods and other equipment can be checked out from the Link and the OIT Multimedia Project Studios offer help to students working on projects and software and computers configured for video and sound editing and other multimedia work. A previous blog post from the CIT outlines many of the campus resources you can use when planning a student video or sound project.
Student technology training
The OIT Training group provides a regular schedule of technology training seminars for students, faculty and staff on many popular technologies. But, if you need to have your students trained on a particular software package for your course, they can set up a special session just for your students. See the OnDemand training site for information on available topics.
In addition, Duke has recently obtained a site license for Lynda.com, a service that provides thousands of tutorials on a wide range of software tools, from Excel to PowerPoint to multimedia tools such as iMovie and the service offers completion certificates that students can use to show faculty they have completed tutorials at the site. Lynda.com training is available to any faculty, staff or student with a Duke NetID – just check out Duke’s page on Lynda.com and use the link there to get started.
Classroom multimedia
If you need help with using the projection and sound systems in the classroom you are using or have a need during some of your class sessions for special equipment, such as a multi-region dvd player or recording of a class session, contact the Trinity IT staff or your departmental support staff.
