Facilities & Resources
Teaching with Technology...
The Humanities Department at Michigan Tech offers a wide range of technological support for graduate students and faculty, including equipment for checkout, educational opportunities and support, and a cutting-edge computer lab. The department is committed to providing the resources which encourage graduate students and faculty to make significant use of computers and other available technologies where they enrich a particular curriculum. The department Web Coordinator is available (and happy) to assist you in developing and maintaining your course website. You can also obtain assistance from the consultants and staff in the CCLI, and through participation in TWIT, the weekly forum which explores teaching with technology.
Instructors may also gain experience with technology-rich teaching strategies through teaching Computer-assisted and Computer-intensive courses. Regardless of skill level, the Director and Assistant Director of the CCLI, and the department Web Coordinator are always available to assist instructors working with any and all the information technologies they hope to use in the classroom.
For specific information on the technology resources for faculty and graduate students, see the Technology Resource Handbook (pdf).
Computer-assisted Classes
All Michigan Tech students are guaranteed access to basic computing needs, including access to email, word processing, printing, spreadsheets, and databases, and access to the Web—though not necessarily to web-authoring. Instructors of CA classes should be able to build assignments which assume students have access to these basic technologies. However, note that non-Humanities majors, will not have access to the CCLI (unless, as in the case of CI classes, they have paid our lab fee) and may have to rely on the computer lab provided by their own major. Computer labs across campus vary widely in number and type of computers and applications they offer. Thus, students may have access to roughly equivalent technologies and resources but possibly not to particular applications you've chosen. Nor will non-Humanities majors be able to log onto the computers in the CCLI. Therefore, instructors who intend to make far more than occasional use of the CCLI should consider requesting their course be registered as a Computer-intensive course.
Note: Any instructional use of the CCLI, regardless of whether it's a Computer-intensive or Computer-assisted class, requires instructors reserve the CCLI using the CCLI Reservation Calendar.
Computer-intensive Classes
CI classes are specially designated sections of general education and communication courses in which students and instructors have access to the CCLI and make extensive use of its technology resources. There are two reasons for justifying the cost of a computer-intensive HU course:
- Instructors will require students to use specialized software/hardware considered above and beyond the needs of a "basic" or CA class.
- Instructors will require their class to meet in the lab for collaborative work, thus taking up lab time that might otherwise be used by our majors to complete their work.
CI Classes should be undertaken by instructors who have a significant (though not necessarily expert) understanding of technology and its uses in the classroom. Note that since eighty percent of CCLI lab hours is reserved for walk-in access for HU majors, CI classes are typically in high demand, with only 11-15 possible CI classes each term. To secure your course is a CI class: a) make sure your curriculum meets the two criteria just above, and b) make a formal request (as early as possible) to the CCLI Director Rebecca Helminen Middlebrook to so designate your class. The lab director is also a great resource for helping instructors to structure their technology-intensive course.