e-Teaching Symposium
Blended Learning at UIC

Event Details | Symposium Overview | About the Presenters |

Event Title: Blended Learning at UIC

Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Time: 9 a.m. – noon (continental breakfast will be served)

Location:
Student Center East, Room 302
750 S. Halsted Street, Chicago, IL 60607

Symposium Overview

You've heard the term blended and may have heard that some faculty are blending their courses at UIC. So what is it? Come to the final eTeaching Symposium of the academic year and find out. The session is dedicated completely to providing information on blended learning and UIC's Blended Learning Initiative. This effort which began two years ago with four pilot courses has expanded to include 14 courses and 5 programs.

Following opening remarks by Provost Tanner, the Symposium will provide an overview of the Blended Learning Initiative and the plan for implementation of the grant-funded effort including the support systems in place to advance this effort. During the 2 ½ hour session you will also hear from a panel of UIC faculty sharing their experiences in blended teaching and, most valuable, students who have taken blended courses at UIC expanding on their experiences, observations and recommendations.

About the Presenters

R. Michael Tanner, a distinguished administrator and information theory and computer science researcher, joined UIC on July 1, 2002, as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, the campus's chief academic and budget officer.

Tanner, who holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from Stanford University, began administrative service early in his career. Only three years after earning tenure and promotion to associate professor, he was appointed chair of the department of computer and information sciences at the University of California at Santa Cruz, a post he held from 1981 to 1988.

In 1988, he was named acting dean of natural sciences, administering an academic division with eight departments. A year later, Tanner was appointed academic vice chancellor, overseeing the academic components of the campus, including academic planning and new program review.

In 1992, Tanner was promoted to executive vice chancellor, serving as chief operating officer for a campus with 9,500 undergraduates, 1,000 graduate students and more than 400 permanent faculty. His additional responsibilities included fiscal planning, managing a $225 million budget, new construction planning and computer and resource planning and policy.

After five years in this capacity, followed by a one-year research sabbatical and a year as a faculty member, Tanner in August 2000 was named interim director for the UC Silicon Valley Center, responsible for developing a satellite campus for 2,000 students envisioned for the NASA Research Park at the NASA Ames Research Center in the heart of Silicon Valley.

His professional interests include coding and information theory, computer simulation models, educational uses of information technology, and intellectual property. He holds four patents and is a fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Mary P. Niemiec is Executive Director for External Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Responsible for online, blended and professional continuing education, Ms. Niemiec directs UIC Online and the efforts of several instructional outreach units that support the 15 colleges in their outreach goals. Ms. Niemiec is also leading UIC's campus-wide initiative in blended learning.

Niemiec's most recent professional focus and academic interest has been in public administration, adult education and online learning. She has been the recipient of numerous grants to support initiatives in these areas. Ms. Niemiec has also presented at conferences, seminars and workshops on the topics of non-traditional, online and blended instruction. She is UIC's representative to the Sloan Consortium, University Continuing Education Association, Illinois Virtual Campus, Illinois Council for Continuing Education.

Additionally, Ms. Niemiec is Vice Chair of the Governing Board of the University Center of Lake County and is the Council of Member Institutions representative for UIC. She also serves on several UIC campus committees including the Blended Learning Steering Committee and UIC Online Oversight Committee.

Mary Lou Bareither received both her bachelor's degree in Biology and her doctoral degree in Human Anatomy and Cell Biology from UIC. She then completed a 2-year Research Assistantship in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UIC. She has been a faculty member in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at the National College of Chiropractic and the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at the Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine.

Deepa Godambe is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at William Rainey Harper College, in Palatine, Illinois . Deepa teaches Organic and General chemistry at Harper College . Deepa has taught “Chemistry for the Health Sciences” in the blended format for the past eight years. In addition Deepa teaches a graduate course “Engaged Learning with Technology” that introduces faculty to “best practices” in online teaching and learning.

Deepa was an initiator of the STOMP program at Harper College . STOMP (Successful Teaching Online Mentoring Program) mentors faculty who want to develop and teach online and hybrid courses at Harper College . Deepa has served as a faculty mentor for the past four years. Deepa was presented with the Glenn Reich award for the effective use of technology in Teaching and Learning in 2005.

Deepa is very interested in developing interactive materials for use in her courses. At present she has a faculty fellowship to develop new labs for her blended course.

Deepa received her BSc and MS degrees from Bombay University, in Bombay, India.

Yachana Kataria is an Undergraduate student of at University of Illinois at Chicago majoring in Chemistry. She is a member of the Honors College, a committee chair of Academic Affairs Committee for the Undergraduate Student Government and a member of Senate Educational Policy Committee and Student Research Forum Steering Committee. Currently Yachana is working on a project that offers every UIC student an opportunity to do research.

Register Now!

2. Phone: Call (312) 355-0423 to register by phone.

Contact
For further details regarding this event, please contact Emilie Wagner at External Education at (312) 355-0423 or by e-mail at ebwagner@uic.edu.