Focus on Service

As I begin my fifth year in academia, I am expanding my participation in faculty governance by assuming increased leadership responsibilities on campus. In addition to these commitments, I continue to be an active member of committees at the university, college, and school level. I am actively involved in professional work at the state, national, and international levels, as well. Happily, these many opportunities have meshed nicely with my own professional interests in the realm of educational technology.

At the school level, I have taken on the task of coordinating the undergraduate classroom technology area. In this endeavor, I have conducted professional development workshops for BGSU classroom technology instructors, scheduled the 2004, 2005, and 2006 courses, and observed the teaching of the classroom technology faculty. I have also worked closely with Mitch Miller, director of the Technology Resource Center, in updating the operating systems and software for the classroom technology labs. Since classroom technology courses are required in numerous programs, I also work with other EDTL faculty within the following committees: Classroom Technology, Masters in Classroom Technology Cohort, Early Childhood Program, Middle Childhood Program and the Adolescent/Young Adult Program. On these committees I am gaining a better understanding of the overall goals and needs within the program areas. This helps me to adapt classroom technology coursework to better align with the focus of the program areas. Within the work of these committees I am finding areas to extend my scholarship, as in the area of electronic portfolios and technology assessment. I am also webmaster for the STL website faculty biographies and the Early Childhood Program. I am happy to use my technical expertise to contribute to the growth and development of our programs in the School of Teaching and Learning (Service Artifact 1).

At the College of Education and Human Development level, I have been an integral a part of the development and implementation of the EDHD Assessment of Technology Competencies (ATC-Service Artifact 2). I have worked closely with Judy VandenBroek, Cindy Ross, and now, Allison Goedde, as over 600 EDHD 201 students participate in this assessment process each semester. Several institutions of higher education, as well as area high schools, have expressed a strong interest in the ATC, providing an opportunity for the BGSU teacher education program to lead in this area. The ATC documents that BGSU teacher candidates begin their preparation with basic technology skills that can be used and expanded throughout their programs. This process is key to enabling students to meet state and national standards in classroom technology. Three of my current publications share research from my work with the ATC. I also have several institutions of higher education that are interested in implementing this assessment on their campuses.

Also at the college level, I have been the chair of the EDHD Electronic Portfolio SubCommittee and member of the EDHD Assessment Committee. We developed a portfolio template for teacher candidates and piloted the university electronic portfolio system. I co- directed the ETCP (Educational Technology Convergence Project) during the 2004-2005 academic year, focusing on curriculum alignment of national technology standards within teacher education programs in our college, university, and other regional partner campuses. I completed my term as vice-chair of the EDHD Research and Development Council, reviewing

Savilla Banister Fifth Year Review 9/05 faculty proposals for research funds. I also serve on the EDHD Website Committee and the EDHD Technology Committee. In these capacities, I have opportunities to explore our college’s current use of and future plans for information technology systems. I am a member of the EDHD Elections Committee, and facilitate the process of keeping the service work of the college well-staffed, in this role.

At the university level, I have recently been asked to serve on the Distance Learning Advisory Board (Service Artifact 3). This was a serendipitous appointment, as my OLN grant to redesign EDTL 611 for online delivery has catapulted me into the world of online course development. I have been a member of the university Student Affairs Advisory Committee since 2003, and will chair that committee for the 2005-2006 academic year. I continue to work informally with Dr. Milt Hakel to fine tune the university electronic portfolio system. I also have participated in the review of manuscripts for the Graduate College’s Distinguished Dissertation Award .

At the state level, I am participating at the organizational level in Ohio Schoolnet (now Etech), Catalyst Ohio and the OBOR Technology Congress (Service Artifact 4); I am a part of the network of educational technologists connected through the Research Center for Educational Technology based at Kent State University, and the SUED Technology Committee, also. In these venues, we have been exploring the use of handheld computers, web-based digital learning objects, and e-portfolios to improve teacher candidate evaluation and K-12 student learning.

On a national level, I have served as a proposal reviewer for the American Educational Research Association (Service Artifact 5) for their 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2005 conferences. I have taken the leadership position as Multimedia Secretary for the Media, Culture, and Curriculm AERA SIG. I also am a member of the Electronic Portfolio special interest group for the Association for the Advancement of Computers in Education. State and national organizations of which I am a member include: o American Educational Research Association o Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education o Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development o International Society for Technology in Education o Ohio Association of Teacher Educators o Ohio Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development o Phi Delta Kappa

Though I am quite busy with the various committees and organizations to which I belong, I am finding that these responsibilities strongly support my teaching and my scholarship. I am better able to contextualize my courses and align them to college, state, and national expectations, because of the conversations and work I have experienced. I have also been able to more completely develop my research agenda in the areas of K-12 classroom technology integration and technology in teacher education through the support of colleagues that I have met through this work. Because of these very positive outcomes, I see the multi-faceted purposes of faculty service.

Savilla Banister Fifth Year Review 9/05