Advisory Council On Instructional Excellence

The following University service units might be useful in providing assistance in support of a proposed project. It is important that such consultation take place as early as possible during the proposal preparation process.

CIDDE serves the teaching and learning mission of the University by providing support for instructional excellence and innovation. CIDDE also supports continuing faculty development in the theory and practice of teaching and learning. The Center provides comprehensive services to assist faculty in the application of effective teaching methods and technologies for on-campus and distance education. CIDDE assists faculty members in the following ways:

Provide instructional design and development support for the creation of new academic courses and programs and for the redesign of enhancement of existing courses and programs.
Provide support for the design and development of teaching materials, including those that integrate instructional media and computer technology.
Investigate, evaluate, and promote emerging tools, trends, and technologies to support the enhancement of the teaching process and the delivery of instruction, both on campus and at a distance.
Provide professional graphic, photographic, video, engineering, electronic imaging, and audio/visual support services to the University community.
Design and develop specialized instructional facilities, including the University's media-enhanced classrooms and interactive television (ITV) classrooms.

CSSD provides support for instruction and research; delivers services that will meet the University's computer, information processing, and telecommunications needs; provides leadership and assistance in developing policy and planning for the effective use of technology; and offers limited public computer services. CSSD can assist students, faculty and staff in many different ways including hardware and software needs analysis and consulting, distributed software services, computer classrooms, training and remote dial-up access to the Internet. Purchases of personal computers, peripherals, printers and software can be made with private or University funds through the e-Store, an Internet-based online computer store (http://e-store.pitt.edu) at academic discount prices. Computing support is also available from the Help Desk (412-624-HELP) and the University computing labs.

OMET provides services to the University community related to the evaluation of teaching by students, the computer-based and paper-and-pencil administration of national admission and certification examinations, the scoring of objective examinations given by University faculty, and the scanning of NCS answer sheets used in survey research. In addition, consultation with respect to research design, statistical analysis and the construction of tests and questionnaires is available.

The mission of the ULS is to support the education and research needs of its community of users. Pursuant of this mission, librarians and subject specialists are available in all ULS libraries to provide reference services for the University community. Reference and instruction services are offered to help all faculty, staff and students in their research, teaching and informational efforts.

The ULS provides access to several hundred electronic resources, Internet access to the wealth of scholarly information available from sites around the world, and over four million books and other materials. It is the goal of all ULS librarians to provide access and assist users in identifying, locating, and efficiently using these resources.

For general information about reference services, please call the Hillman Library Information Desk (412-648-3330), or contact any departmental or regional campus library. The ULS also offers reference assistance via e-mail: ask-a-librarian@pitt.edu.

The Office of Research, although not affiliated with the Innovation in Education Awards program, maintains a website that provides assistance to new proposal writers. Proposals for the Innovation in Education Awards program are not submitted through this office, but sent directly to the Office of the Provost.

Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence Campus Support Units

Advisory Council on Instructional Excellence
Campus Support Units