OLT researches and vets new teaching and learning technologies — staying abreast of new tools and practices in higher ed, while remaining grounded in the unique needs of the SVA community. The Office liaises among faculty, department chairs, and senior academic administration to gather and share feedback from end users and offer recommendations on procuring new technologies that support quality teaching and learning practices. This process often includes conducting pilot studies to gather input from SVA community members to improve the success of implementing new teaching and learning tools at SVA.

OLT creates professional development resources for faculty and staff members, including complete training programs and standalone video tutorials. Additionally, OLT collaborates with other departments and subject matter experts to develop new online learning experiences for students from SVA’s graduate, undergraduate, and continuing education programs. 

OLT also creates an array of online resources and video tutorials accessible via the Faculty Knowledge Base in Canvas as well as SVA’s Mediaspace, an internal media platform. Video-based resources include instructional videos for using classroom tools like the Canvas LMS, Ally, Lucid, SimpleSyllabus, and TurnItIn, to name a few. Additionally, OLT produces SVA’s Teachers on Teaching series, which features SVA faculty members sharing their classroom experiences and advice about teaching, and the Faculty Ignite series, which features instructional designers responding to the most commonly asked questions from faculty members.

OLT is committed to supporting faculty in effectively implementing technology, classroom pedagogy, and course development. OLT staff are available daily via email, phone, and in an online office space to promptly answer questions, meet for more in-depth consultations, or simply connect faculty members with other SVA offices and resources.

OLT regularly hosts a variety of faculty training sessions and workshops. These live events cover a wide range of topics in education, from delving into learning theories and best practices for the classroom to exploring educational tools and ways to effectively navigate new technologies such as generative AI. Visit OLT’s events page for a listing of upcoming sessions. 

The School of Visual Arts prides itself on preparing emerging artists to become successful as creative professionals. Therefore, a basic goal for faculty is to expand pedagogical practices that support students’ engagement with and mastery of course content. A second high-level goal is to prepare students for success beyond college, which includes developing communication and collaboration skills, the ability to critically assess information from various sources, as well as an entrepreneurial spirit supported by multiliteracy, and research and organizational skills.

As an alternative to relying solely on lectures and rote memorization, we know that engaging students in discussion and project-based learning drives critical reflection, and yields a deeper understanding of key concepts, as well as the ability to apply the learning to various situations. We also know that it is imperative that we honor students’ prior knowledge to better assist them in constructing new meaning.

A way of accomplishing these goals is to develop multimodal courses that embrace various methods of communication between students and create opportunities for project-based learning and collaboration. These are not new concepts in education, but today’s technologies give learners fresh and innovative ways to engage in each of these practices.

Adding online discussions and rich media content to traditional classroom teaching helps ensure opportunities for all students to comfortably raise questions or arguments driven by their unique perspectives. OLT strives to provide faculty members with a variety of channels through which to engage and support the varied learning approaches of their students.

Additionally, online tools can facilitate deliberation and participation in ways that develop critical thinking skills, and model “real world” actions through online communities. Such interactions can help students develop the confidence to share and defend their ideas and collaborate effectively.

Finally, today’s learners expect to access course texts, assignment guidelines, and schedules at any time, from any location. They also deserve online access to their classmates — to ask questions, share ideas, and collaborate on challenging problems. As an institution, we must accommodate the ways by which students access and exchange information and knowledge.