Provost Warwick Arden Visits DELTA
On April 19, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Warwick Arden visited DELTA to give staff members an opportunity to discuss relevant projects and provide an overview of DELTA’s many services.
Starting the tour, the Distance Education Administrative Services staff showed Arden around the DELTA Testing Center on Centennial Campus. The Venture IV location opened in Fall 2015 to accommodate the 20 percent annual increase in student enrollments. DELTA Testing Services proctored around 60,000 exams this year as well as assisting with on-campus Disability Services Office students and extended services to a limited number of on-campus classes. DELTA staff shared with Arden the many services DELTA provides for Online and Distance Education students and faculty including testing and advising services.
DELTA Vice Provost Thomas Miller gave Arden a tour of DELTA’s Center for Technology and Innovation (CTI) suite 220 which houses all DELTA senior administration and support. Miller emphasized having the management teams in one location makes working together more efficient and effective.
The next stop for Arden was visiting the Instructional Technology Support and Development (ITSD) unit in CTI. Each unit shared some of their goals and current projects.
In Instructional Support Services, the staff noted the importance of timely instructional support for faculty to innovate their teaching with technology. DELTA’s LearnTech Help Desk has extended hours Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to assist faculty with any issues they have with instructional technologies such as Moodle and WolfWare. The Instructional Support Services teams foster a connection with faculty through development, training and support.
The Educational Technology Services management shared with Arden the academic enterprise technology being used which requires robust, reliable technology infrastructure and refresh/maintenance. A variety of topics were discussed including the new CTI electronic signage, the server room, learning analytics projects and the use of VMWare in managing servers. The team noted innovation in this area includes working on leveraging the data we have to ultimately help students succeed.
Arden received a pair of Virtual Reality (VR) cardboard glasses while discussing some of the VR work and course redesign projects the Instructional Innovation Services team has completed. The team shared with him some of the highlights from courses DELTA has worked with and the outcomes of the projects.
A tour of the Mini Studio included the Media Production Services unit emphasizing how they leverage technology in video production to maintain and increase capability while lowering cost. They gave an overview of the Mini Studio functions, Mediasite, Mediasite classroom and lecture capture and the support and growth of each service provided.
Project management highlighted the Kanban board and discussed how DELTA keeps projects organized. It was noted the ability to innovate across diverse teams requires organizational efficiency and project management at a level not often seen in academia. Also at the Kanban board, Arden received a brief overview of Marketing and Communications projects that represent the marketing and student recruitment aspect of DELTA.
The day ended with Arden joining 15 staff members for lunch in DELTA’s break room.
