Strength in Numbers

Making Connections on Campus

Abstract

The Tech Team at the University of California, Irvine's School
ofHumanitles fosters a collaborative environment that converts
technology-reluctant faculty to the technology-receptive. We
have created a culture of collaboration and free flow of
information between staff and faculty in the interest of
promoting the incorporation of technology with Humanities
teaching and research.
Prior to the formation of the Tech Team, our efforts in the School
were fairly disjointed and at times misguided. We are now able
to provide bettersupportand to implement new services based
on demonstrated faculty interest and need. Working together
on the School-wide instructional technology budget allows us
to provide complementary resources on a departmental basis,
so that our efforts coincide rather than compete.
We strive to redefine the computer lab as collaborative space by
reinforcing the element of human communication. We will
discuss lab design and management as means to achieve this
goal.
The HumaniTech team has been a model for a variety of
departments and schools on campus and for other universities
to which members of its team have been invited to speak.
HumaniTech's discipline-centered approach reaches faculty
in ways that a central resource center cannot, and its staff team
works in close collaboration with various campus-wide centers
with the combined goal of responding innovatively to ever
changing instructional technologies.