For many years I have been aware that Microsoft Word has special tools built into it. Most of these are not necessary for the day-to-day activities of faculty and staff. Every once in a while, however, someone presents me with a challenge.

My usual response is a blank stare and I mumble something about visual programming paradigms or network topologies. Then I consult the help files.

Did you know that you could annotate a Word document for collaborating with a colleague or grading a student's paper? Did you know that you could place a custom button on a toolbar? I didn't, until BCC faculty asked me how to do these things. Then I learned, as quickly as possible. Often, this learning takes place right along side the faculty or staff member who posed the challenge. Sometimes they even beat me to the answer, then teach me how to do it! Then, I can share the solution with everyone else!

This type of as-needed, collaborative learning is both challenging and fun. And sometimes, it's amazingly useful. Did you know that you could transpose a row of values into a column of values in Microsoft Excel? Well, I do (now), thanks to working with the faculty and staff of Burlington County College!

Web Site Design:

As you can tell from the above article, I don't know everything. I don't want to be a "whiner" but there are thousands of programs out there, and I can't know every feature of every version of every program.

But sometimes I don't know things that I should. One example of a common tool that was missing from my technological toolbox was the ability to create client-side image maps for web pages. Thanks to Patricia Piech of Mathematics, who wanted a calculator on her web page with "working" buttons I learned hands-on how to create an image map in Adobe Page Mill. Professor Piech learned the same skill at the same time.

One of my last, and strangest, teaching experiences was being asked to take over for a faculty member who succumbed to a sudden illness. I was asked to teach a 4-credit class which I had never taught before, and I was asked to do so on a Friday. The class began the following Monday. Looking back, I think I did a great job, considering…

My biggest challenge in this situation was organization, planning and assessment. Since I had never taught the class before, and had no time to prepare, I didn't have readily available benchmarks and I made up my lesson plans as I went along. Although I think I did a good job, I know it could have been better.

One tool which is available at BCC, but which was not available where I was teaching, is the IPSI software suite. It is design to enhance planning, delivering, evaluating and analyzing instruction. This software is a powerful tool, which would have been useful to me in the situation described above. In fact, now that I have seen it, I want to go back and put all of my classes into the IPSI software. I also want to help faculty at BCC take advantage of this tool.

If you have never used IPSI, stop by the lab during the month of April for a quick demo. Classes will be offered starting in May so that you can build or re-build you classes in IPSI between now and Fall 1999. And if you already use IPSI, please contact me to become a peer-mentor for other faculty just getting started.

The March 1999 edition of Syllabus magazine has an article on page 22 entitled "Supporting Instructional Technology." A copy is available in the ETC. Please read this article and drop me a note telling me, in your opinion, how BCC is doing in the areas of access, convenience and reward, as described in the article. Your input will be valuable and is appreciated. All homework must be handed in to me by the end of March. All homework must be in writing or e-mailed, and remember, spelling and neatness count! J J J J

Martin Hoffman, Educational Technology Specialist

Lewis Parker Center, Room 311A
Burlington County College, Pemberton, NJ

You can reach the Center at phone extension 7782