Good post. I wholeheartedly agree with you about the separation of ID and IT. We’ve allowed ourselves to be perceived as IT’s grad assistants, for lack of a better way to put it, where that’s not where our value is at all. In my opinion, we should be influencing IT and not merely implementing what we’re told is possible. We’re going through similar pains at Penn State and the ANGEL-Blackboard situation provides us with an excellent opportunity to establish who we really are. I’ll be pushing hard in that direction and I’m happy to see that you are doing it as well.

Jeff

I’ve been giving this some thought since I first noticed your post via Jim at bavatuesday. Would be interested in your thoughts regarding a recent blog post: http://edtechatouille.blogspot.com/2009/07/one-chance-to-redefine-edtech.html

-cmd

Keep on writing!

Thanks for the librarian shout-out, Luke! As I’m sure you know, there are many librarians (at CUNY and beyond) who would love to see greater integration of digital and media (and information) literacy into general education. This kind of work is one of the best parts of my job, and I look forward to the interCUNY library-and-instructional-technology collaborations to come.

The point about librarians is crucial… at Baruch, we’ve got some great ones, and our work benefits from the fact that our CIO is ALSO our head librarian (an overburdened dual role, if ever there was one). My desire as an instructional technologist to be viewed as a collaborator in teaching and research rather than as a service provider overlaps with the approach of our librarians. We also share the pleasure and responsibility of being able to digest and translate to the broader academic community cutting edge thinking about the role of technology in the various, overlapping realms of university life.

The fact that librarians love to share and to help others make them the ideal collaborators in imagining a university of the future where the critical examination of technology is a central component of the formulation of both community across the silos and identity within them. We have much to learn from each other and much to accomplish together.

I picked up the link to this event from Gardner and the timing was perfect. On my campus, there’s a groundswell of interest in re-envisioning the liberal arts experience and fostering undergraduate research. Re-envisioning the instructional technology environment can and should accompany these conversations.

As a library administrator, I greatly appreciate your recognition of the direct contributions librarians make to teaching and learning, especially in the emerging realms of digital content development, management, curation, navigation, and application in the education and research process. In this role, however, we see ourselves as full collaborative partners with faculty rather than outsource service providers. It is a team effort.

Thanks again for providing such a rich summary account. All the best,

Andrew

Thanks, Luke.

Jim