The Learning Systems Institute (LSI) assists the faculty and administration in developing and maintaining optimal conditions for learning. LSI is committed to both the improvement of instruction and the evaluation of alternative means of instruction. The Institute is composed of five units; LSI Central Office, Center for Educational Technology, Instructional Support Center, Center for Needs Assessment and Planning, and the Center for International Studies.
LSI Central Office. The Central Office of LSI coordinates the activities of the four service units. It serves as a clearing house for information about developments and innovations in education and training, as well as noteworthy, on-campus educational development projects. The Director of LSI also chairs the Council for Instruction. Inquiries about the purpose and function of the Council should be made to the LSI Central Office.
Center for Educational Technology (CET). CET seeks to improve the instructional effectiveness of the faculty, to encourage and assist faculty in making use of instructional technology to solve instructional problems, and to evaluate prototype instructional projects to determine their cost and effectiveness. CET also implements and coordinates instructional improvement projects sponsored by the Council for Instruction. Services offered to faculty include: instructional design, design of computer support of instruction, test development, program evaluation, and instructional media development. CET also administers the Office of Evaluation Services, which provides campus-wide test scoring services, the Student Instructional Rating System, and national tests such as the CLEP and GRE.
Instructional Support Center (ISC). ISC seeks to promote and facilitate the use of technology in the delivery of instruction through providing a wide range of audio-visual services to the faculty and administration to include: planning, design, and installation of systems and facilities; selection and evaluation of equipment and materials; training in the proper operation of equipment; distribution of equipment and materials on campus; preventive maintenance and repair; recording in the classroom; and sale of audio-visual supplies. ISC also administers the University Film Library, the Office of Evaluation Services, which provides campus-wide test scoring services, the Student Instructional Rating System and national tests such as the CLEP and GRE.
Center for Needs Assessment and Planning (CNAP). CNAP seeks to develop new techniques and tools of needs assessment and system planning, research their validity, reliability and utility in the operational field, and revise them as required. The Center is structured and staffed to provide technical assistance to the University in the identification of problems, in the conduct of system and systems analyses, and in the planning of solution strategies. CNAP also provides a "training ground" for graduate students to acquire the fundamental skills and knowledge to plan and implement needs assessment and system planning.
Center for International Studies (CIS). CIS assists national governments and international development agencies in improving their human resources through the application of innovative instructional methods and new communication technologies. Center staff collaborate with a wide variety of Third World institutions, both public and private, in research and development programs aimed at expanding and democratizing educational opportunities at all levels, both in and out of school. Since 1984, CIS personnel have conducted research, provided technical assistance, and trained development professionals in Botswana, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Indonesia, Liberia, Nepal, Peru, Somalia, Thailand, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. They have also attempted to catalyze efforts at FSU and throughout the Florida State System to respond to the pressing human development needs of Third World nations.
CEDE seeks to improve the instructional effectiveness of the faculty, to encourage and assist faculty in making use of instructional technology to solve instructional problems, and to evaluate prototype instructional projects to determine their cost and effectiveness. CEDE also implements and coordinates instructional improvement projects sponsored by the Council for Instruction. Services offered to faculty include: instructional design, design of computer support of instruction, test development, and program evaluation. CEDE also administers the Office of Evaluation Services, which provides campus-wide test scoring services, the Student Instructional Rating System, and national tests such as the CLEP and GRE.
The mission of the Center for Professional Development and Public Service is to bring together appropriate University educational resources to help meet the lifelong learning needs of the citizens of Florida and beyond, state and local government, and other public and private organizations. In carrying out its mission, the Center serves primarily as a service organization, assisting the faculty in the presentation of classes, conferences, workshops, meetings and other outreach educational programs on the main campus, on the Panama City campus, throughout the state and nation and internationally. Services provided may include needs assessment, program development, facility and meeting planning, financial administration, registration, marketing, promotion and publicity. The Center for Professional Development and Public Service maintains its principal offices in the Florida State Conference Center. It also maintains an office on the Panama City campus staffed to handle all types of non-credit programming.
The Center for Professional Development and Public Service, established by Rule 6C2-5.90, Florida Administrative Code, is charged with the administration and coordination of continuing education programs including credit courses and degree programs and non-credit conferences, seminars, workshops and institutes offered by the Florida State University. Any credit course offered by or in the name of the Florida State University for persons who are not fulltime students and who cannot reasonably be expected to comply with normal on-campus registration procedures, and any non-credit conference, seminar, meeting, workshop, class, training session or other program which contains an educational component, identifies the Florida State University or a constituent unit of the University as the sponsor or co- sponsor or is conducted on the campus of the University, and which serves any participants other than faculty or admitted degree seeking students of this University must be coordinated, before the fact, through the Center for Professional Development and Public Service. Faculty planning such activities or interested in teaching either credit or non-credit continuing education programs should contact the Center.
For all such programs cited above, the Florida Administrative Code provides that the Director of the Center be involved in the consideration of requests and assessment of needs, the financial arrangements agreed to by the groups, the review of the budget prepared for the activity, the establishment and supervision of a budgetary account for the activity, the conduct (or coordination of the conduct) of the registration of participants, and the collection and deposit of fees and/or other income accruing for support of the activity. It should be noted that by legislative mandate all non-credit and fee-waived credit institute continuing education programs must be self-supporting, i.e., all program costs must be recovered through registration fees, contracts, grants, allocations or gifts.
The Center is the only unit authorized to collect, receive and administer funds collected on behalf of the University, or any component thereof, for credit and non-credit outreach and continuing education activities. Other auxiliary and quasi-auxiliary budgets were not established and shall not be used for this purpose. Similarly, funds collected in connection with conferences, courses, workshops or like activities sponsored by departments or units of the University shall not be deposited directly into the Florida State University Foundation account.
The University's annual total of Continuing Education Units, both individual and institutional, is recorded with the Board of Regents Central Office where it constitutes an important indicator of the level of effort being expended by the University for outreach or continuing education programs. To ensure that the University receives full recognition for all its non-credit activities, the Center for Professional Development and Public Service must be promptly advised of plans to undertake a non-credit continuing education activity which will involve participation of other than regular degree-seeking students or regular members of the University's faculty. Also, as soon as any such educational activity is completed, the Center should be provided with a copy of the program or syllabus, the date, geographic location and the length of the program, and the number of attendees.
Florida statutes provide that persons engaged in fee- waived credit institutes and non-credit continuing education activities, including those who are otherwise engaged in a full-time basis by the State University System, may be compensated from funds generated by such activities. Compensation will be paid as OPS. Dual compensation approval is needed prior to the start of service. In the case of continuing education credit courses, funded with E&G resources, the dean of the college or school shall determine whether the faculty member is teaching inload or shall be compensated for service in excess of the existing appointment. If additional compensation is to be paid, it will be OPS. Dual compensation approval must be obtained prior to the start of service if the faculty member holds any appointment with the department for the term in which service is rendered. For both credit and non-credit activities, if the Center for Professional Development and Public Service is not the secondary employer, approval of the Center must be obtained in addition to other required signatures. Attention is invited to the Dual Employment and Compensation section of this handbook.
To enhance the University's capability to sponsor or to bring to the main or Panama City campuses major conferences, and to encourage faculty use of the institution's conference facilities, an annual Grant-in-Aid fund has been established from which allocations for the support and subsidy of conferences may be awarded. The following categories of programs will receive the most favorable consideration for these awards:
Applications for a Grant-in-Aid may be made at any time during the year. Applications are reviewed by a Grant-in-Aid Review Committee composed of selected faculty members. Specific application procedures are promulgated annually by the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
The Center for Professional Development and Public Service is responsible for operating the Florida State Conference Center and the Wakulla Springs Lodge and Conference Center on behalf of the University. Facilities available at the Florida State Conference Center include:
Facilities available at the Wakulla Springs Lodge and Conference Center include:
Excellent classroom and auditorium facilities may also be made available on the Panama city campus.
All programs offered in the Florida State Conference Center must meet the following criteria:
The Wakulla Springs Lodge and Conference Center is available for programs meeting the above criteria, but may also be used for functions of a purely social nature. Both conference facilities are operated by the University on essentially a self-supporting basis and charge for their services. Reduced rates are provided for University sponsored functions at the Florida State Conference Center. Rate schedules and budgeting assistance for both facilities are available through the Center for Professional Development and Public Service.
The Center for Professional Development and Public Service staff is also prepared to offer a wide range of services to assist in the development and offering of programs. For such assistance and/or reservation of Conference Center space, the Director, Center for Professional Development and Public Service should be contacted.
An additional service provided through the Center for Professional Development and Public Service is the Office of Adult Student Information Services (OASIS). OASIS offers a one-stop resource for non-traditional students at Florida State University. designed to assist part-time adult students, OASIS provides information and assistance on professional development and personal enrichment programs, correspondence study opportunities, and the wide range of academic and student support services available at Florida State University.
CONTRACTS AND GRANTS: All contract and grant proposals submitted by the faculty or staff of The Florida State University, which contain provisions for classes, workshops, conferences, seminars or other kinds of education or training as a continuing education activity and/or which contain provision for payment of dual compensation must be reviewed by the Center for Professional Development and Public Service.
Ideally, this review should take place in two separate and distinct steps: first, while the proposal is in the early stages, and second, when the proposal is in final form and is being submitted to the University's Contracts and Grants Office under a transmittal form for approval and forwarding to the granting agency.
In the review process, in addition to determining the propriety of proposed dual compensation for continuing education activity, the Center will consider whether: (a) meeting planning or support services or Florida State University conference facilities will be used; (b) registration fees are to be charged for the activity; or (c) individual Continuing Education Units are to be awarded. If none of the above services are to be provided, the proposal is in the "no-cost" service category. In this case the Center is required to record institutional CEUs and does not charge for this service.
If any of the services mentioned above are required in the proposal, the Center must be reimbursed, normally from the grant, for the fiscal and/or registrar services to be provided. If these charges are to paid from the grant, the charges must be identified and substantiated in the budget of the proposal as well as cited in the narrative with specific identification of the Center for Professional Development and Public Service as the service provider.