Who We Are
A team of instructional technologists who support the LMS and integrated platforms used in teaching and learning for courses of all modalities*, physical classrooms/learning spaces**, and testing centers*** across NU and its campuses.
*UNK, UNL, UNO, UNMC, NUOP
**classrooms/learning spaces are supported by NU ITS Academic Technology teams for UNL, UNO, UNK, and NUOP
***NU ITS currently operates the Digital Learning Commons at UNL’s main and east campuses. There is currently strong interest by various faculty senates in expanding testing center operations onto other NU campuses
What We Do
Our teams primarily support faculty in utilizing technology in their teaching, whether through holistic platforms for a wide variety of course activities such as learning management systems and video content management systems or the technology in NU’s physical classrooms and learning spaces on each campus. Our teams support the technology itself, ensuring reliability, maintenance, interoperability, and usability. Our team also directly support faculty in developing skills and becoming adept in using common learning technologies in their teaching practices. Our teams regularly lead pilots of new tools when gaps are identified in our ecosystem or when new technologies emerge on the market, engaging with a committee of faculty and instructional designers for input and guidance before purchasing and scaling up for broad use across NU. Our teams regularly assess our suite of tools to understand what is needed, what could be phased out, and what should be added, and overall user satisfaction.
How We Align
Through regularly interacting directly with faculty and critical partner staff such as instructional designers and librarians, our teams gain an understanding of what is needed and what goals exist. We see our role as one of a service provider of learning technologies. We must have frequent opportunities to meet with, listen to and observe both faculty and instructional designers in order to understand needs and align technologies to support teaching goals; ideally our teams are co-located with instructional designers in a faculty-serving physical space with remote access options for convenience. We also partner and work directly with key campus and system leaders (such as the Provost, Chief Academic Officers, Online Learning leads) in order to align our academic technology services, tools, and supports to broader NU goals, opportunities, and needs.
Defining Key Roles
- Instructional Technologist – supports the technology stack in virtual courses and physical classrooms and supports faculty in understanding how to use the tools; troubleshoots and trains on how to best use/leverage the technology; a service provider. These individuals work in NU ITS.
- Instructional Designer – support faculty in designing high-quality, accessible, engaging course content that routinely utilizes technology; trains pedagogical strategies and assessment practices that help faculty understand how to take advantage of available technology; builds or alters course content. These individuals do not work in NU ITS.
- Faculty – plans, delivers and facilitates a course; assesses student learning. These individuals do not work in NU ITS.
How We Partner
