CSI: Texas—DIIA’s Fingerprints Turning Up in Varied Places
When the UT Learning Center envisioned launching a new Web site, they knew someone to turn to for help. When Survey Monkey envisioned offering a best-practices primer for its customers, they knew where to look for help. When Leslie Jarmon envisioned empowering graduate students with digital media skills, she knew how to find help. And when CIE’s University Extension Office (UEX) envisioned transitioning online courses to the Blackboard system, they knew they didn’t have to look very far for help.
For these diverse clients with diverse needs seeking diverse answers, help was as close as a phone call, an e-mail, or a mouse click for DIIA.
The UT Learning Center, a component of the Division of Student Affairs, helped more than 13,000 students last year with tutoring and academic counseling, testament to the success of its outreach program that is supported in a substantial way by its Web site. In summer 2007, the center engaged DIIA’s Cindy Chang to redesign its Web presence to refurbish its appearance, provide user-friendly navigation, devise maintainable coding, and facilitate tracking and content analysis. Meeting the full challenge to her technical and managerial skills, Chang designed and scripted the site in time for its March launching.
Since its startup in 1999, SurveyMonkey has become a leading online tool for users of all experience levels to design, administer, and process surveys. Recognizing that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, SurveyMonkey provides an online help center addressing best practices for survey design, which cites and provides links to DIIA’s ground-breaking Instructional Assessment Resources (IAR) Web site. Conceived and developed by Research Associate Joel Heikes and Associate Director Dawn Zimmaro, the IAR site provides expert and comprehensive online guidance in program evaluation and in assessing students, teaching, and instructional technology.
At the 2008 IITAP Awards, Leslie Jarmon, senior lecturer in the Professional Development and Community Engagement Program of the Office of Graduate Studies, received a singular award for Special Recognition for Community Engagement in a Virtual World. Her pioneering approach to her graduate communications class included final student projects incorporating digital media, so that her students could develop the skills of 21st century communicators. Jarmon and her students relied on DIIA’s Digital Media Services staff and facilities to produce iMovies and to craft multimedia presentations delivered before 50 real clients in a corporate setting at the offices of Oracle.
University Extension offers an array of educational opportunities for Texans, educators, and UT Austin students, including semester-based evening courses on campus, AP summer institutes, and online distance learning. In October, UEX looked to DIIA’s Mario Guerra to shepherd a transition of online credit and non-credit courses from Speedway 2 to Blackboard, in order to enhance CIE’s market visibility and provide a bridge for other campus divisions. University Extension Director Jo Anne Shea cited Guerra’s technical support, management style, collaborative spirit, and abundant patience as critical in completing the project on schedule, by working smoothly with contractors and Continuing Education staff.
As these representative clients would attest—clients seeking innovation (CSI)—little clever investigation is required to uncover clues of DIIA’s presence around important projects in Texas.