Course Material Development: Web, audio, video, graphics, and other multimedia
Graphically rich websites and network-delivered digital multimedia - videos, audio recordings, images,
and interactive text - are powerful learning materials that deepen students' interest and involvement
in a course. The College of Liberal Arts provides the following services to encourage faculty to
make use of these digital teaching tools.
Special Notes about Proposal Review and Selection
- Proposals must primarily benefit courses in the College of Liberal Arts at The University of
Texas at Austin
- Pedagogical effectiveness is of prime importance
- Special consideration will be given to proposals:
- for larger enrollment classes
- for which results can be extended to larger benefit
- for projects with limited scope, well-focused goals, and accordingly greater
chances of achieving results
- dealing with subjects of enduring interest, including great works of literature
- clarity and brevity in the project description are advantageous to your proposal in the review
process
Liberal Arts ITS Professional Development Staff
The development staff at Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services work directly with faculty in
developing web and multimedia course materials. Collaboration among faculty and LAITS staff has
resulted in a number of award-winning projects used daily by students
throughout the world. Expertise and studio facilities are available for:
- Audio recording, editing, digitization, and compression for network delivery
- Video production, digitization, and preparation for network delivery
- Graphic art and design
- Website design and production, including back-end databases and programming
- Image digitization
- Alternative content delivery - including podcasting, CD, DVD, and audio/video tape creation,
duplication, and sale
(Please see About LAITS
for more about services available to faculty.)
We encourage you to request assistance from the development staff, although demand makes it impossible for
us to help with every project. If we are unable to assist you, your requests for other
funding will still be given full consideration. Requesting LAITS assistance will not diminish your chances
of receiving other funding.
Student Technology Assistants
[watch video]
Student Technology Assistants (STAs) are skilled student developers employed by Liberal Arts ITS who
can be assigned to work with you on your project. STAs scan images, digitize audio and video, prepare
presentations, build websites, and help with many other tasks related to preparing digital instructional
materials. STAs are available up to 12 hours per week for one or two semesters, depending on the
project. They meet regularly with a Liberal Arts ITS staff member for technical advice and supervision,
and often work on faculty projects in partnership with Liberal Arts ITS professional staff. All STA
training, wages, and equipment costs are provided by Liberal Arts ITS. Faculty members interested in
requesting an STA for their projects will find a button to indicate their requests on the proposal
submission site.
Faculty Technology Training Workshop
Faculty members seeking to acquire technology training in order to develop a specific teaching project
may request to participate in the Liberal Arts ITS faculty technology training workshop. Faculty participants will
receive a stipend to attend a 2-week training workshop in Summer 2008. The workshop will be conducted
by faculty and staff skilled in producing digital materials for the classroom and the web. Sessions
will focus on the use of digital materials in instruction, content preparation, and project planning.
There will also be some hands-on instruction in creating and editing images, video and audio clips, web
pages, and digital presentations. The proposal submission website offers faculty two options:
1) attending a workshop in conjunction with other project support; or
2) requesting participation in the workshop only, with no other forms of support
