Statement of Purpose

Information technology (IT) permeates nearly every aspect of our students' lives. We cannot prepare our students to compete in the global economy and the global marketplace of ideas without harnessing the power of IT and making it an integral part of our students' learning experience. To ensure that our students are able to take full advantage of all the information and modes of communication and expression available today, investment in information technology, broadly conceived, is one of Hunter College's highest priorities under the leadership of President Raab. Over the last few years a number of of initiatives and investments have been aimed to upgrade our technological capacities including network improvements, wireless access, technologically enhanced classrooms, computer lab expansions and enhancements, timely replacement of office computers, and access to software and licensed databases. These are all crucial prerequisites.

But the key to expanding pedagogically sound use of technology for teaching and learning (TLT) lies with the faculty. The FITT program launched by President Raab in 2008 builds on the steadily increasing use of Blackboard (Bb) course sites and other tools and environments over the last few years and aims at fostering a community of faculty interested in exploring technology for teaching and sharing their ideas and experiences with their colleagues. It encourages the "scholarship of teaching" and more specifically the "scholarship of teaching with technology". Broad and unrestricted discussion of research findings lies at the heart of the academe; we want to encourage an equally open and engaged discussion of teaching endeavors.

FITT is designed to support course development work over the summer months (June, July, August). Successful applicants are supported  by an educational technologist and other staff from ICIT's "Technology Teaching and Lerning Group (TTLG)" as well as by a faculty mentor. For further details see the 2009 Call for Proposals.

Part of the FITT initiative is a series of luncheon meetings (currently dubbed "Tech Thursdays" for their meeting time from 12 to 2pm on Thursdays) in which faculty across all discuplines (including the FITT award winners) present their specific ways of using technology for teaching and learning.

FITT 2009: Award Winners