94 Colleges Join the Flashlight Network:

The Ameritech/SBC Faculty Development Technology Program and the Flashlight Program of The Teaching, Learning, and Technology Group announce the formation of an alliance to support the continued enhancement of teaching and learning at ninety-four independent colleges and universities in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Over the past five years, the Ameritech/SBC Program has been working with faculty and faculty development professionals to enhance teaching and learning with technology. Forming an alliance with the Flashlight Program for the Study and Improvement of Educational Uses of Technology is a natural

progression in the evolution of the Ameritech/SBC Program. Through the

generosity of Ameritech/SBC, ninety-four independent colleges and universities that are members of four statewide consortia will have access to the Flashlight Tool Series. The four consortia that are participating in the Ameritech/SBC Program are: the Associated Colleges of Illinois (ACI – 24 member institutions ), the Michigan Colleges Foundation (MCF – 14 members), the Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges (OFIC – 35 members), and the Wisconsin Foundation for Independent Colleges (WFIC – 21 member institutions). A list of the four consortia’s members is attached. Flashlight will work with the four consortia, providing “train the trainer” and other services to integrate Flashlight’s tools and services into the Ameritech/SBC Faculty Development Technology Program.

“The partnership with the Flashlight Program is a major step in our commitment to using technology in ways that support creative, effective processes of teaching and learning. We are grateful to Ameritech and SBC Communications for making this opportunity possible.,” commented Dr. Edward J. Barboni, the Ameritech/SBC Program facilitator who coordinated the new subscription initiative.

Dr. Stephen C. Ehrmann, director of Flashlight Program, said, “We’re especially pleased when we can work with consortia and systems. We can work out shared support programs and discounts so the services can be even more cost-effective than when we work with institutions one at a time.”

Over 210 institutions and projects now subscribe to the Flashlight Program’s tools and services at varying levels and in varying ways. For example, faculty can study online collaboration and other technology-supported learning processes in their own courses in order to improve them. Institutions use Flashlight tool kits to devise their own surveys, interviews, cost analyses, and other studies of educational uses of technology. Academic technology units can use Flashlight methods to evaluate and strengthen faculty support. Distance learning programs can use the web-based Flashlight Online system to improve their programs, as can campus-based programs.

About Flashlight and the TLT Group:

Flashlight is an international program that has grown steadily since its inception in 1992, when it was a program of the Annenberg/CPB Projects at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and begun with the aid of a grant from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. In 1998, when its tools were first introduced, five institutions were involved. By the end of 1999, about 40 institutions had subscribed, a total that grew to almost 90 by the end of 2000. Subscribing institutions and projects are located around the world, in China, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. Flashlight is a program of the Teaching and Learning with Technology Group.

The TLT Group is headquartered in Washington DC. It is an affiliate of the American Association for Higher Education. For more information about the TLT Group’s Flashlight Program, see http://www.tltgroup.org/programs/flashlight.html.

About Ameritech/SBC

The Ameritech/SBC Faculty Development Technology Program began in Ohio in 1996 in collaboration with OFIC. The success of OFIC’s program led Ameritech/SBC to expand the project in 1997 to include ACI’s, MCF’s, and WFIC’s members. Planning teams in each of the four states plan and implement faculty development workshops for faculty on their campuses and in multi-campus settings. Recently a network of Ameritech/SBC Teaching and Learning Mentors (TLMs) representing individual campuses was developed to provide a more cost-effective means to determine individual campuses’ needs and to provide a mechanism for disseminating effective-practice resources and faculty development strategies and processes. Six Ameritech/SBC Fellows support TLMs and their on-campus faculty colleagues through the development of effective-practice resources and train-the-trainer programs for TLMs to use on their campuses. All are welcome to join the growing community of faculty and faculty development professionals throughout the country and to use the resources created by the Ameritech/SBC Program. To gain access to these resources, see http://www.imowa.org.

Contact:

Farimah Schuerman, ETC

farimahschuerman@hotmail.com

914 238-4435