WISE Consortium Welcomes
Manchester Metropolitan University
The WISE Consortium is pleased to announce the addition of a
15th institutional member, Manchester Metropolitan University,
Manchester, UK.
The Department of Information & Communications at Manchester
Metropolitan University has long been at the forefront of LIS
Graduate and Undergraduate Course provision in the UK. With
professionally accredited LIS curricula, MMU attracts staff and
students globally, and graduates are placed in key positions in
Library and Information Management sectors in the UK and beyond.
In addition to contributions from research units, including the
Center for Research in Library and Information Management (CERLIM),
The Information Research Institute (TIRI), and the Learn Higher
Information Literacy Project, MMU’s presence benefits the entire
LIS Community in the UK. Recently, the school was awarded UK
Government status of "Centre for Excellence in Teaching &
Learning" (a CETL) and the school’s teaching spaces and
technologies have undergone renovation and updating. Manchester
Metropolitan’s WISE Program leader, Bob Glass, notes, “Joining
WISE comes at exactly the right time for us; we are excited,
enthusiastic and ready to make a real contribution to the
scheme.”
Bob Glass reports, “This is a really exciting opportunity both
for our school and for our graduate students. The educational
opportunities and access to resources provided by this online
union are second to none. We look forward to working with the
staff and students who are members of the consortium to provide
a really exciting range of courses and resources.”
WISE Faculty Awards - 2007
On Tuesday, January 8, 2008, WISE recognized seven faculty
representing seven different WISE member schools with the
presentation of the WISE Awards for Excellence in Online
Education. Faculty selected for the award received nominations
from one or more WISE students at an institution other than the
instructor’s home institution, based on their instructional
style in one or more WISE courses taught between Spring 2007 and
Fall 2007.
Tomas Lipinski – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Linda Braun – Simmons College
Ian MacInnes – Syracuse University
Ellen Detlefsen – University of Pittsburgh
Judah Hamer – Rutgers University
Carisse Berryhill – University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Mary Minow – San Josè State University
“The Excellence in Online Education Awards are unique because
they are the first awards where students from one program vote
on a teaching award for faculty at a different university,” says
Syracuse University Associate Provost Bruce Kingma, who
co-founded the consortium. “Cross-institutional initiatives like
this show the growth of WISE as a consortium and provide a forum
for the faculty winners to share success stories across all of
the member institutions.”
The WISE Excellence in Online Education Awards were presented at
the WISE pedagogical workshop, which took place at ALISE
conference. Award recipients contributed their own ideas for
best practices on topics like organization, communication, and
use of multimedia formats, which were then presented at the
workshop and compiled for inclusion in the WISE pedagogy
webpage, which can be viewed online at
http://www.wisepedagogy.com/docs/Best_Practices_2007.pdf.
ALISE Pedagogy Workshop
Philadelphia Free Library, site of 2008
WISE Administrative Meeting
On Tuesday, January 8, 2008, the third annual WISE workshop,
Best Practices for Online Pedagogy: Preparing WISE Scholars, was
held at the Association for Library and Information Science
Educators (ALISE) Conference in Philadelphia, PA. The workshop,
which featured the presentation of the WISE awards for
Excellence in Online Education, drew a record number of
attendees representing schools from across the globe.
Participants enjoyed presentations on the pros and cons of new
technology, effective online teaching, and translating classroom
activities for the online curriculum. The presentation
culminated in a breakout session where attendees were able to
actively engage in discussion with the WISE leadership,
presenters, and other colleagues.
Faculty and administrators from many WISE schools participated
in the workshop, including recipients of the 2007 WISE award for
Excellence in Online Education Ellen Detlefsen (University of
Pittsburgh) and Linda Braun (Simmons College). Professors
Detlefsen and Braun presented best practices used in their WISE
courses including the promotion of a safe, comfortable, and
respectful learning environment, and the use of innovative media
such as Skype, screencasts, and podcasts in class. Materials
from the workshop are
available online.
Breakout session at the 2008 WISE Pedagogy Training Session
at ALISE in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Thank you to all who presented and attended the workshop, to
co-sponsors from the ALISE Distance Education Special Interest
Group, and to WISE staff from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign for making the event a success.
