Gordon Palmer Hall

Faculty Resource Center Now Center for Instructional Technology

A unit of the Office of Information Technology has changed its name to better reflect the service it provides. Effective Monday, July 1, the Faculty Resource Center has been renamed the Center for Instructional Technology.

“Our efforts to rebrand won’t result in fewer or lesser services for UA faculty members,” said Rachel Thompson, director of the Center for Instructional Technology. “We are still here to meet your needs. However, we are happy to adopt a name that reflects our broader mission to assist all UA faculty, instructors, staff, graduate students and undergraduate students with instructional technology and technology accessibility needs.”

The center includes the existing services and staff of the Faculty Resource Center, as well as UA’s technology accessibility team. The group addresses instructional technology problems, shares solutions, and explores new technology ideas and opportunities. The group has served the UA community with support of instructional technologies such as Blackboard, Tegrity and Turnitin; however, as the center moves forward, plans are to make the services more known to students.

“We will continue to offer opportunities for instructors to learn about instructional technology,” said Thompson. “You will soon see more information and instruction focused on the needs of our students.”

Some of the new efforts the center will pursue include instruction in podcasting, gamification, media production, accessible document creation, course templates for instructors and more.

“UA faculty, staff and students are invited to continue to bring us challenges and ideas related to instructional technology,” said Thompson. “If you have instructional technology needs that are not being met, please let us know and we will try to help.”

The Center for Instructional Technology is located on the second floor of Gordon Palmer Hall. To learn more about it, and to see a list of supported technologies, visit cit.ua.edu.