Confused about how to write a paper in MLA format? Unsure of what your professor meant when he told you to make an Excel chart? Baffled by D2L? Well have no fear, the Instruction Center for Educational Technology is here to help.

The Instructional Center for Educational Technology is a department at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville open to both students and staff seeking assistance with software programs, formatting issues, technical support, etc.

In email correspondence with the Exponent, ICET Graduate Assistant Amanda Schroeder outlined ICET’s mission as working to develop documentation associated with uses of software used in academic endeavors, assist with research activities that use technology to enhance the scholarship of teaching and learning, identify resources and research results to showcase best practices in the area of educational technology and to provide opportunities for instructors to share their successes and approaches to using educational technology.

ICET has recently acquired a license to be the office on campus that manages Atomic Learning.

The Atomic Learning website is equipped with 60,000 tutorials which help students to better understand the programs that they work with on a daily basis. These video tutorials are two to five minutes in length and are set up in easy step-by-step formats, allowing even the most technologically confused to use them with ease.

The videos aid in answering the user’s questions on computer programs such as Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel and Desire2Learn through video tutorials.  However, these videos are not just limited to computer software, they also cover other topics relevant to students such as how to write in MLA format and create proper citations.

Director of ICET Lisa M. Landgraf acknowledges the importance of this type of program on a college campus.

“We have a responsibility to support faculty and students on campus. For example, at the beginning of the semester, we did some training workshops for faculty. Also, during welcome weekend, we offered some training, like an overview on what Desire2Learn is.”

ICET is hoping to promote the use of more technology in the classroom. The staff is reaching out to faculty and encouraging tutorials on Desire2Learn and Microsoft programs so that they can incorporate these valuable resources into lectures and lesson plans.

During Winterim 2013 Desire2Learn will be upgraded to a new format. Videos on how to use the new D2L can be found on ICET’s website, uwplatt.edu/ICET.