While the Fall semester starts next week, the Division of Information Technology (in partnership with the Provost's Office and Continuing & Professional Studies), is providing support for hybrid learning and instructional continuity. Specifically, departmental course proposals are due to the Registrar's Office September 10 (for Winter), and October 1 (for Spring). Faculty who have support from a chair and meet Fall requirements of the Alternate Delivery Program (ADP) can receive a one-time, $2,500 course development stipend. Space in the ADP is limited, and DoIT encourages faculty to carefully consider how (and why) they are actively using instructional technologies now, but the following resources may be helpful in deciding whether to identify a Winter or Spring 2011 course proposal for "hybrid" or "online" delivery:

Since most faculty teach the way they were taught--and most weren't taught online--the best way to start is to first learn online, when someone else is driving the experience. In 2008 UMBC joined the Sloan Consortium, an institutional organization dedicated to promoting quality online education. As members UMBC faculty have access to Sloan-C's "College Pass" program, which allows them to register for online courses on topics ranging from delivering online content and fostering student engagement to podcasting and use of Second Life. Of particular interest is the two-week "Getting Started: First Step Toward Online Teaching" course that begins August 25 and is repeated on October 13 and November 3. During this course, faculty will be introduced to the fundamentals of online education, and gain practical “hands-on” experience with technology. This is an ideal opportunity for faculty interested in exploring hybrid or online teaching.

The Google Unemployment Index is an economic indicator based on queries sent to Google’s search engine related to unemployment, social security, welfare, and unemployment benefits. Since some of these search terms are probably leading indicators, it can also be used to predict upcoming changes in the actual unemployment rate.

The index is based on queries tracked via Google Insights for Search that are tuned to different countries and you can also focus on particular regions or metropolitan areas and compare the index in several locations. Here’s an example comparing Florida (blue) and Maryland (red).