An Instructional Computing Program for Faculty

David R. Colburn, Interim Provost

I am pleased to announce that the Office of Academic Affairs will launch a program for the instructional use of laptop computers in the classroom. This program will be administered through the Office of Instructional Resources. OIR will provide a new laptop computer for the faculty selected for this program and provide sixteen hours of web-based training for classroom instruction. Upon completion of the training program, faculty will receive the laptops for their instructional and other professional activities. One hundred will be selected for the Fall, 2000 and another one hundred for the Spring, 2001.

Colleges are invited to nominate a total of ten percent of their tenure and tenure track faculty for consideration for this program. Faculty are asked to provide a one-page statement indicating the type of instructional activity for which the computer and the training will be used.

I ask that you bring this program to the attention of your faculty and that the college conduct the initial screening of proposals. Those recommended by the Dean should total no more than ten percent of their tenure track faculty for this program. Please submit the names of faculty who you recommend for this program to the Office of the Provost by September 15, 2000.

A web page describing the workshops for this program is available at the following url: http://www.oir.ufl.edu/laptop.