today's malone center
As a means of promoting advancements in teaching and learning in higher education, the College of Education at the University of Montevallo opened the new Malone Center for Creative Teaching, Learning, & Technology in the spring of 2009. Through the Malone Center, University of Montevallo students, staff, and faculty now have access to 2 computer labs, 8 multimedia classrooms, a state-of-the-art videoconferencing facility, and other high-tech learning spaces. The Malone Center also provides training and support for using these facilities and offers a wide range of professional development opportunities for UM faculty and staff members. Additionally, equipment such as Flip video cameras, portable podcast recorders, laptop computers, LCD projectors, and a full complement of assistive technology tools and software are available for checkout.

While conceptualized and developed by the COE, it has always been the belief of Dean Anna McEwan, one of the new Center's co-creators, that the Malone Center belongs to the entire University community. As such, according to Dean McEwan, "the Center serves to highlight the University of Montevallo’s preeminent and ongoing commitment to exemplary teaching."

digital cafe One of the more prominent features of the Malone Center is its Digital Café, a leading-edge learning space that includes easily reconfigurable furniture, a laptop bar (to support student laptop use), small-group work areas (with 32” LCD monitors and laptop ports), mobile whiteboards, a 55” LCD monitor for large-group multimedia presentations, and an open student lounge. In addition to serving as a more traditional classroom when necessary, this flexible facility is primarily intended to serve as an “incubator” space to develop and study experimental, non-traditional, and highly innovative teaching and learning experiences.

materials collection The Malone Center also houses approximately 12,000 print and non-print instructional resources and instructional supplies. The majority of this collection supports professional education programs in the College of Education at the University of Montevallo and consists of state-approved textbooks, state courses of study, national education standards, periodicals, student-produced teaching units, children's literature, big books, professional and reference books, and multicultural and special education collections. Additionally, the center maintains an extensive educational video library and a wide range of educational software.

our philosophy
We recognize that creative teaching occurs with or without the assistance of technology and dismiss the premise that the mere integration of technology into the instructional process conveys, on its own, creativity. Our definition of creative teaching transcends the delivery medium and, instead, tightly focuses on the instructional process and message.

So, why does the Malone Center place such a big emphasis on technology? We believe that contemporary and emerging technologies offer unprecedented and unexplored opportunities to facilitate creative teaching and learning. From that viewpoint, our preeminent goal is to provide those of our patrons who wish to investigate technology’s potential to facilitate creative teaching or learning with the necessary tools and associated support.

If you choose to engage in creative classroom practices with a piece of chalk or from behind a lectern, we applaud you but we realize that you can accomplish your goals without support from the Malone Center. If, on the other hand, you desire to explore technology’s creative potential by immersing your students in a technology-rich learning space or by virtually and instantaneously connecting them with others from around the world then, quite simply, we can assist you.

Ms. Nell Malone, Founder, Malone Curriculum Center

the early years Established in1972 under the visionary leadership of it's first director, Ms. Nell Malone, the primary function of the, then, "Curriculum Center" was to provide current educational resources, media, and services to students, faculty, and staff in teacher-education programs within the College of Education (COE). From it's inception, the Center has not only provided a rich array of learning resources and services for those in the COE, but it has also served as a vibrant and active gathering place within the College--a place where students routinely congregate to discuss upcoming exams, recent field experiences, demanding professors, or even the latest gossip from around campus. The Center has been and continues to be the core of a very lively learning community. The original Curriculum Center, established nearly 40 years ago, forms the foundation on which today's Malone Center continues to be built. Based on the same strong commitments to student-centered service and innovation in teaching and learning, the new Malone Center proudly carries the Malone name, vision, and legacy into the 21st-Century.