The Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program

Andy Jones, Program Manager

 

The Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program provides UC Davis faculty an opportunity to mentor and to learn from other faculty interested in instructional technology. Participants will learn about such tools as Macromedia Breeze and MyUCDavis 2.0, the new suite of web-based course management tools that will improve upon and eventually replace the current tools faculty use to instruct and communicate with their students. The mentoring program’s success will depend upon participants sharing their discoveries and expertise with fellow faculty and with the program manager, and building formal and informal networks of faculty who seek effective and innovative ways to meet their teaching goals.

Managed by Andy Jones, a longtime user of instructional technology at UC Davis, the Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program will guide faculty through the technical and pedagogical opportunities offered by the many tools within MyUCDavis 2.0, including the new lesson builder, the digital drop box, the integrated calendar and the improved assessment tools, among many others. The Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program will also serve as a conduit of information and ideas about teaching and instructional technology between UC Davis faculty, The Teaching Resources Center, and Mediaworks, the Instructional Technology and Digital Media Center at UC Davis.

Beginning in 2006, the new course management tools will be tested by a growing number of faculty who will work with the Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program manager and student ET partners to discover the early challenges and continuing opportunities offered by these new tools. As part of the mentoring Program, the ET Partners program will provide trained student assistant support to faculty wishing to pilot the new tools found within MyUCDavis 2.0 (powered by “Sakai”).

Incentives to Participating Faculty

• One-on-one tutorials and consultations with Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program manager Andy Jones
• Instructional and technological support from a student ET Partner from the ET Partners program
• MyUCDavis 2.0 Technical support from Mediaworks managers and programmers

Responsibilities of Participating Faculty  

• Attending relevant demonstrations (preferably with a colleague!)
• Meeting with new program participants to “mentor” them on teaching with technology
• Meeting with Mediaworks representatives to ask and answer questions about new applications and procedures
• Helping to arrange departmental demonstrations and identify other potential users.

Faculty interested in becoming mentors should contact Andy Jones, Faculty Mentoring Faculty Program Manager, at aojones@ucdavis.edu , 752-4080, or 752-3408.