Ron Fitch, University of Minnesota

About Me: On the books, my title is Senior IT Professional with UNITE Distributed Learning and the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. That means I am an instructional technologist, supporting UNITE and assisting College of Science and Engineering faculty teach with technology for face-to-face, hybrid and online courses.

Read more (if you are so inclined)

Useful Links for College of Science and Engineering faculty:

CSE Teaching Tool Matrix :

- March '11 (94k .pdf)

Resources at the U:

- UNITE Distributed Learning

- University of Minnesota Digital Campus

- OIT Consultation (teaching with technology)

- OIT Faculty Development Programs

- Center for Teaching
and Learning Servcies

- International TA Progam

- U of M University
Technology Training Center

- Smart Learning Commons

Teaching with Technology at the U:

- U of M Camtasia Relay

- UMConnect

- U of M iTunesU

- Media Mill & Media Magnet

- U of M ResearchChannel Partnership

- U of M Moodle support site

- U of M WebVista support site

- U of M Active Learning Classrooms

- NetFiles (online digital storage)

My position at the University of Minnesota is divided between UNITE Distributed Learning (distance education for engineering and science professionals) and consulting with the College of Science and Engineering faculty on Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) projects.

I consult with College of Science and Engineering faculty for various phases of integrating teaching with technology, such as:

Identifying and matching instructional goals to available technologies
Designing/re-designing course projects to integrate appropriate technology where that inclusion enhances a course
Identifying available University resources for faculty and their teaching assistants such as software training, assessment design and available University and departmental technologies for teaching (such as WebVista and Moodle, podcasting, videoconferencing, etc.)

It’s the teaching, not the technology.

Teaching and learning begins with communication and making connections. Moore and Kearsley's Three Types of Learner Interaction (1989) identifies a good foundation on which to build. These interactions are Learner-to-Content, Learner-to-Instructor and Learner-to-Learner.

A fourth interaction - Learner-to-Interface (Hillman, Willis, & Gunawardena, 1994) - was introduced to address the rise of digital technologies as viable teaching tools. Too often, we in education ride the wave of innovation and start with the technology rather than the teaching. For all the benefits technology offers to teaching and learning, if this fourth interaction proves cumbersome, unreliable or unusable for any students, learning is impacted. The better approach is to determine learning objectives, design curriculum, then select appropriate technologies (if at all needed).

"Technology for the sake of using technology" - well, life's just too short for that.

My professional interests include online and distance education, web-based communication and collaboration tools for teaching and digital video/audio/photography.

Contact information:

Phone: 612-624-2332

Email: ronfitch<at>umn<dot>edu (those pesky spambots)

Office: 514 Vincent Hall, 206 Church Street, S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455

It’s the teaching, not the technology.

Contact information:

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.