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WebGrant 2003: Streaming Media WebGrant

Abstract
The Streaming Media WebGrant was the tenth annual WebGrant program offered to faculty and instructional staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison by the Division of Information Technology (DoIT). It was offered to campus in the spring of 2003.

The mission of the DoIT WebGrant program is to provide small annual grants focused on a current issue or topic to transform teaching and learning with technology by disseminating widely the selected new tools and technologies, which are chosen because they can be easily adopted and supported. Additionally, WebGrants help make it possible for UW faculty to employ learning technology in a supportive environment that recognizes the demands on faculty time and minimizes the impact on that time so that faculty can dedicate quality time to their traditional disciplinary activities and responsibilities.

The target audience for this particular grant program was majority faculty, as defined by Hagner (2001) and Rogers (1983).

Previous WebGrant topics included: accessibility, online grade submission through WebCT, building web pages, and more.

This year’s program funded 36 streaming media projects for instructional use in for-credit courses.

Webgrant Project Background
Program planning began in April 2002 with a small group of DoIT Academic Technology Solutions (ATS) staff, once the topic, “streaming media” was selected internally. Campus wide collaboration was planned from the beginning; instructional technology support staff were included at the early planning meetings because they had an essential role in supporting their local faculty in using the new technology not only for the current WebGrant projects, but for future projects as well.  

Campus technology groups filled out a survey that gathered information on the media services they offered, and identified which services were offered for a fee or for free. A spreadsheet compiling all of this information was shared among the technology groups participating in the grant program, and was used to match support staff with accepted project proposals. This survey was instrumental in beginning a campus wide collaboration among technology support staff.

Additionally, campus technology support staff were asked about the role they would like to play in the program:

How would you like to be involved with WebGrant projects?

1. Do work for faculty?
2. Show faculty how to do work, and provide facilities/equipment?
3. Other?

Planning partners and staff resources included:

• DoIT ATS director: Kathy Christoph
• DoIT ATS Learning Solutions (LS) project & technology staff: Peter Burke, Cid Freitag, Michelle Glenetski,  Dirk Herr-Hoyman, Christine Lupton, Dianna Murphy, Jane Terpstra, Mary McEniry
• DoIT ATS LS Asst. Dir: Julian Lombardi
• DoIT ATS Learning Technology (LTDE) consultants: Blaire Bundy, Timmo Dugdale, Renee Schuh, Sandee Seiberlich, Alan Wolf
• DoIT ATS LTDE Asst. Dir: Carole Turner
• DoIT ATS LTDE Infolabs/New Media Centers: Dan LaValley Dave Luke
• DoIT Production Services/Streaming Media Service Team: Peter Mann, Peter Burke, Les Howles, Kathy Riley, Julian Lombardi
• Learning Support Services: Read Gilgen, Director
• Library Technology: Steve Daggett
• Network Services: David Devereaux-Weber
• School of Education Instructional Materials Development Center: Lisa Livingston, Director
• UW Extension Instructional Communication Systems: Michele Jacques, Rosemary Lehman
• UW System: Glenda Morgan

Program Goals
CAMPUS/OUTREACH GOALS

• Identify a variety of effective uses for streaming media in teaching and learning in order to promote use of technology.
• Help students learn to communicate using media technology.
• Clarify the role of libraries in media repositories and course reserves.
• Provide accessible content.
• Generate interest in streaming video by faculty, Administration and the UW System to support good teaching by promoting academic use of existing resources.
• Incorporate technology into current teaching practice.
• Generate more connections and individual consultations with faculty.
• Enhance student learning by helping faculty create instructional media that is truly interactive.  

INTERNAL GOALS FOR DoIT ATS

• Maintain/promote external collaborative relationships in order to build expertise and knowledge of effective departmental resources. 
• Showcase ATS services and faculty support.  
• Build our own and our Tech Partners expertise and knowledge of effective departmental resources. 
• Generate sufficient interest in streaming media so that maximum demand for streaming servers is achieved while at the same time introducing/using/testing Internet 2.

 

Implementing the Grant Process
In the late fall of 2002 and the early spring of 2003, 38 faculty and instructional staff met individually with DoIT learning technology consultants to discuss and develop their project ideas. These conversations were structured around a detailed interview guide that gathered learning objectives, media ideas, student needs and access to technology, faculty support available, and other information necessary for reviewing the individual projects for their potential for success.

All proposed projects were accepted but one, which was outside the scope of the grant. Of these 37 projects, 35 were brought to successful completion within the grant time frame, and 2 were concluded later at a time that was more convenient for the faculty members.

How We Did It
RESOURCES

This project was funded by 2 sources:

• $75,000 provided by the UW System for faculty grants and support
• $40,000 from DoIT for media-related accessibility research and development for each project

Other resources included:

• Staff time provided by DoIT ATS – 1-3 hours of learning technology consultant staff time per project to develop the project idea, and 10-12 hours of technology consultant time per project to build and customize the media for streaming
• Additional DoIT learning technology consultant time provided to develop the Streaming Media Training Series  and to train New Media Center student staff, instructional technology support staff, and interested faculty and instructional staff
• Additional DoIT technology staff time provided to manage the WebGrant program, and the individual projects within it
• NMCs – streaming media-trained student staff, equipment use & check-out service, software
• DoIT servers in place to support RealMedia, WindowsMedia,  & QuickTime – (unlimited) free streaming server space for timetable (for-credit) courses
• DoIT Streaming Media team developed to support the new streaming service on campus
• Campus wide technology support staff worked with their own faculty, as well as taking on additional projects in the cases of some technology support centers that were self-supporting
• Existing Streaming Media Training Series by LTDE
• Existing Streaming Media tutorials by Les Howles & Learning Solutions

Additionally, another $50,000 was offered by AT&T 10 months into the project.  An AT&T staff member found the website while scanning the web, recognized its cutting edge material, and asked to support DoIT in developing additional materials.
AT&T Project proposal

Proposed Budget

Results
This year’s program funded 37 streaming media projects for instructional use in for-credit courses across every school and college at UW-Madison.

It brought together instructional technology support staff from across campus. Ultimately, 1 year later, these staff joined together to form the Community of Educational Technology Support Staff (ComETS).

Please see the Final Evaluation for participant comments, lessons learned, and recommendations for the next project.

UW Web Grants