New OID director plans to enhance use of technology

Photo: Bill Jackson, director of the Office of Instructional Development

By Beth Roberts

When Bill Jackson's appointment as director of the Office of Instructional Development became effective April 1, he already had plans to enhance the quality of programs being offered. Jackson, who served as acting OID director until the conclusion of a national search, says goals for OID's immediate future are twofold: "We're going to work hard to maintain the quality of efforts now under way and, at the same time, we plan to increase significantly activities designed to enhance the use of technology in instruction."

Reorganization likely
He says the interest in technology is not new at OID, where the staff has been thinking about these issues for some time. One immediate effect is likely to be some degree of reorganization in OID and the Instructional Resource Center.

"Although they are thought of as two separate entities, OID and IRC are really part of the same organization," Jackson says, "and we're going to try to integrate them more fully, so we can be more efficient and effective."

He sees the emphasis on instructional technology as an institution-wide effort in which OID will play a major role, and expects to collaborate with other units on campus--University Computing and Networking Services, the libraries--in encouraging faculty to make use of technology in their classes. "There's a spectrum of opportunities that technology provides, and we'd like to encourage people to experiment," he says. "We need to investigate and support ways to create a richer learning environment."

He points out that students who have access to the World Wide Web, for instance, have such a wealth of information at hand that they will have to apply critical thinking skills--making judgments and evaluating sources--to make use of that material.

In other words, he says, "We're looking for ways to use technology to give students more responsibility for their learning."

At UGA since 1983
Jackson has been at UGA since 1983, when he became associate director of OID. Ron Simpson, Jackson's predecessor as OID director, has joined UGA's Institute of Higher Education, where he will continue to coordinate several projects he began at OID.

"It was always my desire to eventually return to full-time teaching and research," Simpson says. "Leaving the office in Bill Jackson's capable hands not only has made this transition possible, it has made it desirable.

"He is one of the most capable and decent human beings I have ever known," Simpson says. "In my judgment, there is no one in the country better poised to lead OID into the future."

"Ron Simpson did a tremendous job in developing this unit," says Jackson, "and it was a privilege to be able to work with him. It's a real challenge to follow someone like him."