6
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 2ND AUGUST, 2015
OUR CAMPUS
In late July, Pro Vice-Chancellor
and Campus Principal
of The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine,
Professor Clement Sankat commissioned a newTechnology
Laboratory at the campus’ Centre for Excellence in Teaching
and Learning’s (CETL). Valued at TTD .5M, the lab marks
an important step in the expansion of the campus’ Blended
Learning Programme, which has been in pilot phase from
2012 to 2014.
The CETL Technology Laboratory is a dynamic
space that uses SMART technology and online tools as an
avenue for lecturers to become familiar with cutting-edge
technologies to enhance their teaching skills. Among the
planned uses of the space are the introduction to new
teaching and learning technologies, for example, the use of
evaluation and feedback technologies such as
Padlet
and
Poll
Everywhere
, podcasting software such as
Screencast-o-matic
,
collaborative tools such as
Twiddla
and social media outlets
like
Pinterest
.
Lecturers will also be exposed to SMART and
Digital
Vision Touch Technology
(DViT), a contemporary suite of
interactive tools (hardware and software) that facilitate
collaboration, learning and innovation. In so doing,
lecturers will learn to use the SMART board that is not only
a feature of the CETL Technology Laboratory, but is a feature
of all tutorial rooms in the Teaching and Learning Complex
(TLC). Training continues to be provided by CETL staff to
assist lecturers in infusing technology into their teaching.
Blended Learning involves leveraging the internet to
afford each student amore personalized learning experience,
meaning increased student control over the time, place,
path, and/or pace of his or her learning. To accomplish the
goal of blended course delivery as part of its curriculum, the
Campus has employed the Replacement Model of Blended
Learning. In this conception of blending, the goal is that
a certain minimum percentage (45%) of a course will be
mediated through technology, substituting for regular face-
to-face course implementation.
The implication of using the Replacement Model is that
learning activities incorporated into the course must engage
learners and facilitate their learning both within and beyond
the four walls of the physical classroom. This therefore
necessitates the re-conceptualisation and re-organisation
of traditional face-to-face courses. With the new lab, UWI
lecturers and instructors will therefore have the requisite
resources to meet the challenges of teaching digital natives
using elements of their language.
Campus teaching staff are expected to use the lab
to effectively utilise the Campus’s learning management
system,
myeLearning
, a derivative of the Moodle system,
and also to use a variety of “cool tools” that will allow them
to manipulate and diversify the learning landscape to
entice and engage learners who need more visual and non-
traditional methods to facilitate their learning.
The Technology Lab will also facilitate training in
the use of the upgraded campus’s learning management
system to
myeLearning 2.X
which will be piloted in the
2015/2016 academic year. This is one of three components
of the 2015/16 Blended Learning project. The others are a
campus-wide survey to assess the current status of Blended
Learning as engaged on the campus and a marked increase
the number of Blended Learning courses and programmes
on the campus.
Academic departments are an integral part of the
Blended Learning Programme thrust, and will be required
to play specific supporting roles in terms of identifying
those persons who are interested in and committed to
blending their courses/programmes, and in identifying
those programmes and courses that they wish to target for
blended delivery. Department Heads will also have a role in
allocating reduced teaching loads for those directly involved
in the process of blended course conversion and delivery.
The commissioningof theCETLTechnologyLaboratory
and the launch of the 2015/16 Blended Learning Project
signal in no uncertain terms that the future is here andThe
UWI St. Augustine Campus has taken the lead amongst
Caribbean tertiary education institutions in facilitating
teaching and learning with technology that mark a
paradigmatic shift in 21st century tertiary education.
UWI launches state-of-the-artTechnologyTeachingLab
PVC and Campus
Principal Professor
Clement Sankat cuts the
ribbon to commission the
CETL’s new technology
laboratory. Looking on are
Director Dr Anna-May
Edwards-Henry and Justin
Zephyrine, eLearning
Support Specialist
A new Campus Librarian
has been appointed at The
University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine ahead of
the academic year 2015/2016. Effective 1 September 2015,
Frank Soodeen assumes the role of Campus Librarian from
his predecessor University Librarian and Campus Librarian
Jennifer Joseph. His appointment is for a period of 5 years.
Soodeen has been a librarian for the past 25 years. He
joined the staff at the then Main Library (now The Alma
Jordan Library) in 1999 and has servedThe UWI from then
to the present time. Speaking on his appointment, he said,
“It is an honour to have the opportunity to lead the Campus
Libraries over the next five years. I want to build on the gains
that the Libraries have achieved over the past decade, but I
am also keen on exploring and implementing strategies for
further and deeper engagement with our research, teaching
and learning community on the Campus.”
Soodeen currently heads the information Technology
Services Division of the Alma Jordan Library, and has been
instrumental in the implementation of the digitization
programme and the deployment of the UWISpace
institutional repository which has as its primary goal the
capture and preservation of the intellectual output of The
UWI across all the campuses. He has also been working
towards shifting the UWI libraries’ focus to include the
notion of library as publisher, deploying a platform that
currently facilitates the publishing of online journals by
Campus academic departments.
Soodeen’s work is underscored by his desire to see
libraries in the Caribbean develop a culture of innovation
and cutting edge approaches to ensure impact and
relevance to the mission of the constituencies they serve.
His work at The UWI has been primarily in systems
librarianship, web development, the deployment of digital
library services, and the development of the infrastructure
for making available to the campus community both on
and off campus, the vast array of electronic resources
that the Campus Libraries have acquired over the past
15 years.
As certified Lead Auditor for ISO 9000 quality
management systems, he has always advocated for the
establishment of a quality management framework as
a means towards achieving institutional effectiveness
in libraries. Among his other involvements, he is co-
managing editor of the Caribbean Library Journal,
an online peer reviewed journal launched in 2013 to
encourage and support research and publication efforts
by librarians and other information professionals
throughout the Caribbean and the Diaspora.
UWI
appoints
new
Campus
Librarian
