UMW Home Page Announcements Archives

Call for President’s Technology Advisory Council Innovation Grants

May 21, 2014 by Melina Downs

The PTAC Innovation Grants are due Monday, September 1st, 2014. Here’s a summary of this opportunity.

1) Innovation Grants

The President’s Technology Advisory Council (PTAC)* wants to invite students, faculty, and staff from the UMW Community to apply for a PTAC Innovation Fund Grant. These grants, which can range from $500 to $25,000, are intended to help jumpstart innovative uses of technology in learning, teaching, and exploration at UMW. One of the charges of the President’s Technology Advisory Council is to foster new and interesting uses of technology and we hope these funds will enable pilot projects, incubate new ideas, and serve as seed money for projects across the University Community. You can find inspiration from grant ideas that were funded last year located here.

Applications are due by September 1, 2014.

To apply for PTAC Innovation Funds, fill out the application at http://president.umw.edu/ptac/grant/application/. The application must include a 250-word (max) proposal, budget, and description of the finished product (presentation, website, tool, video, syllabus/assignment, project, etc.). Since we have a total budget of $25,000, we’ll also ask if it would still be possible to do the project if it was funded at a partial level.

PTAC will evaluate the proposals based on the following criteria: innovative uses of technology in teaching, learning, and/or exploration; how many people will benefit; quality of proposed product, output, or presentation; viability and cost of proposal. Please be sure to include a detailed, accurate budget for your project.

Caveats:

Materials purchased belong to UMW and must be returned to IT upon completion of the project.

Estimating the cost of laptops, iPads, and other standard technology purchases can be made using the UMW form located at http://adminfinance.umw.edu/procurement/tech-purchases/standard-purchases/.

While funding can be used toward a subscription, PTAC Innovation Grants are intended to jumpstart projects and so would not be renewable.

This year’s grants will need to be spent by the Fiscal Year 2014 deadlines, though work on the projects can be continued over the summer.

Grant recipients will be asked to share their work in a public forum (possible venues include Research and Creativity Day, Faculty Academy, as a display in the ITCC, or in an online context).

If you have questions about the PTAC Innovation Grants, contact Jim Groom or other members of the PTAC.

Rosemary Arneson, University Librarian
Hall Cheshire, Interim CIO
Leanna Giancarlo, Chair/Associate Professor
Steve Greenlaw, Professor
Mary Kayler, Director, Teaching Excellence and Innovation
Shelley Keith, Director of Digital Communications
Kim Kinsley, Assistant Professor
Jeffrey McClurken, Chair/Professor & PTAC Chair
George Meadows, Professor
Erik Nosar, Student Representative
Jerry Slezak, Director of IT Support Services
Matt Troutman, Associate Director of Residence Life
Zach Whalen, Assistant Professor

Web Updates and Changes

April 10, 2014 by Brynn Boyer

The UMW Digital Communications team has been hard at work over the past year to bring the UMW website up to speed and to foster an effective and engaging web presence. Although a large number of the changes have been behind the scenes, several updates are immediately noticeable to users.

The new mobile responsive theme provides all of the tools currently available on the website in an easy-to-use format.

Most recently, the office unveiled a new mobile responsive interface for users nearly six months ahead of schedule. The change allows users on mobile devices to find information quickly and easily and to have a consistent web experience across platforms. The new mobile responsive theme provides all of the tools currently available on the website in an easier-to-use format.

The web team also made strategic updates to the homepage. After eight months of collecting user data and several anecdotal conversations with users across campus and the Web Advisory Council, the team removed the “helpful links” interface to bring the more useful “Online Tools” bar out into the open.

Now, icons to university-related web tools such as EagleNet and Banner are located across the top of each page of the website for easy access.

(Photo of the new toolbar)

The team will evaluate user behaviors on this new display to determine down the road if anything needs to be removed or replaced with something more valuable to users.

The web team also recently implemented a tool that will provide specific reports on spelling errors, broken links, accessibility issues, user behaviors, and search engine optimization opportunities to site managers across campus. The team has already started receiving basic reports, and will be working to configure, customize, and hone the tool over time.

Now, links to commonly used tools are easier to find on the homepage.

All of the changes and updates are in line with the initial two-year plan for the web, and are part of an overall strategy to improve the user experience and empower content managers to create meaningful content.

If you have questions or feedback, please contact Shelley Keith, director of digital communications, and Curtiss Grymala, university webmaster, at webmaster@umw.edu.

Extended Stay and Summer Housing Information

April 8, 2014 by Kari Gent

The following message is from the Office of Residence Life:

Hall Closing and Extended stay is now available on the Residence Life website and summer housing information is now available at Summer Housing 2014 Information.

Students desiring to be in on-campus housing after the residence halls close in May or anytime during the summer should complete the online application there. (A paper application version should not be used.)

Please e-mail extended stay and/or summer on-campus student housing questions to Assistant Director of Residence Life for Housing and Operations, Kari Gent, at kstegel@umw.edu.