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Executive Summary

The Educational Technology Center is the hub for integrating technology and teaching at Northeastern University. The centers mission is to improve teaching and learning with technology through research, development and training. The EdTech Center's 6-member staff, along with two co-op students, helps NU faculty assimilate everything from digital imaging devices to software for developing web sites. EdTech Center also collaborates with faculty teams to design, develop, assess and evaluate technology-related projects that receive instructional or external grant support.

The EdTech Center brings together the university resources needed to secure funding; plan, design and implement projects; and measure their effectiveness. EdTech partners include The Center for Effective University Teaching, The Center for Work and Learning, Corporations and Foundations, Division of Research Development, Distance Learning Center, Division of Technology Transfer, Disability Resource Center, Information Services, Physical Plant and University Libraries.

The scope of the centers' work encompasses a wide range of activities, such as developing custom, web-based tools; creating innovative, instructional web sites; customizing generic software for NU professors; and holding workshops that encourage faculty to examine and, in some cases, reconstruct their teaching methods to take advantage of exciting ways technology can help faculty engage students. The Centers' common, overarching goal is to contribute to a university environment that attracts and retains students, while preparing them for careers in the next century.

Faculty, staff and students attend EdTech Center demonstrations and workshops, use our resources to develop Web-based interactive teaching tools or consult with our staff on special projects. Corporations and foundations have endorsed our efforts by awarding the EdTech Center grants totaling more than a half-million dollars. Colleges and departments, including Arts and Sciences, Bouve, College of Business, and Engineering, have enlisted the centers as a partner on NU grant-funded projects. The Center's staff has served as a key advisor to groups such as the Classroom Technology Task Force, the Arts and Sciences EdTech Task Force, the Web Accessibility Task force and the eportfolio Task Force as they have shaped university policy.

The Center also plays a key role in broadcasting Northeastern's technology offerings to those outside the university. The Center spearheads the annual Teaching with Technology mini-conference, a day-long event demonstrating the integration of teaching, technology and library resources. The Center initiated the first Effective or Innovative Use of Technology Awards for faculty who successfully integrate technology into their teaching, which attracted nominations from more than 300 students. EdTech Center staff regularly speak at national forums, including the Educause, Syllabus, and New Media Centers conferences, and publicize how Northeastern faculty are using new technology to broaden and deepen students' learning experiences. EdTech Center staff also consult with local community groups on digital technology, helping to bolster Northeastern's reputation as a good citizen.

The Center's activities support NU's commitment to foster close collaborations among faculty and students, as well as the core principle of practice-oriented education- learn by doing. Most of the EdTech Center's software offerings are Web-based, enabling a wide array of novel interactions between faculty and students outside the classroom. Professors work with our staff to develop interactive web sites for courses and programs, online "dynamic" syllabuses, multimedia lecture aids, and interactive CD-ROMs. Our workshops provide the opportunity for hands-on learning, giving faculty a chance to construct Web pages and manipulate computerized images in a user-friendly setting. EdTech Center training includes Open Lab Hours in which faculty can work on their Blackboard course sites or web-based projects and receive help from EdTech Center co-op students, and EdTechies, a call-in service for faculty who request a co-op student to come to their office for Blackboard assistance. Additionally, NU faculty also frequently work with the Center's co-op students to develop Web-based interactive teaching tools. The Center gives faculty access to a variety of Web services, including resources to support Blackboard, the university's CMS and a Web-developer's Control Panel, which allows faculty to use custom Web-based tools that add functionality to their Web sites.

The EdTech Center is a unique organization that is crucial to maintaining Northeastern's competitive edge and shaping its vision of the future. Since its opening in January, 1998, the EdTech Center has grown into the principal university resource for educational technology related resources, workshops and consultation. The EdTech Center's staff's skills and experience combined with the cutting-edge facility is an extremely valuable resource for Northeastern. In short, the EdTech Center plays a vital role in helping NU continue to offer captivating learning experiences during an era of dizzying technological change.