EDUCAUSE | Faculty and Teaching

Faculty Development Programming: If We Build It, Will They Come?

ckeller — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:03:20 -0500

A faculty development survey analyzed what faculty want and need to be successful teaching online.

How to Use What We Know: 21st-Century Faculty and Students

drupal — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:35:40 -0500

What do faculty really want from faculty development efforts designed to help them teach with technology? How can institutions best meet faculty needs in this area? This presentation will share results from longitudinal studies of faculty, students, and technology at the University of Minnesota and will discuss the impact of these results on our faculty development efforts.

Tune in March 25 for a Free Web Seminar on Teaching with Digital Collections in Undergraduate Curriculum

pkurkowski — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:35:38 -0500

Many academic digital collection projects are focused on special collections and college archives. Such projects seek to bring collections "out of the basement" and enable greater access to valuable and specialized research materials. However, undergraduate students and faculty often have very different needs and expectations of these digital materials than experienced researchers or the general public.

What does it take to implement a digital asset management system that not only improves access to collections but also allows faculty to integrate digital materials into their teaching? In this free March 25 EDUCAUSE Live! web seminar, Teaching with Digital Collections in the Undergraduate Curriculum, presenters Marianne Colgrove, Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Director of Web Support Services, Reed College, and Dena Hutto, Director of Reference and Instruction, Reed College Library, will share their experiences in implementing a CONTENTdm-based digital image collection for the classics and humanities.

Those unable to attend may wish to visit the archives after the event or browse related EDUCAUSE resources on DAMS, Digital Collections, Learning Objects, and Teaching.

Assessment From the Faculty Point of View

ckeller — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:39:55 -0600

Anthropologists say professors should stop looking at measuring outcomes as an external threat and start taking ownership of the process.

Design and Development of a Faculty Technology Practices Directory

ckeller — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 13:24:49 -0600

A dynamic information base aids research into existing technology practices among faculty and fosters partnerships.

Exploring Burnout among University Online Instructors: An Initial Investigation

ckeller — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 10:43:10 -0500

Burnout has been identified as a significant issue among those in instructional positions. The purpose of the present research was to identify and describe the status of burnout among higher education online instructors. The population for this study included responses of 76 online instructors employed by baccalaureate granting institutions within the United States. A demographic survey and the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) were used to collect data from respondents. Data analysis
revealed online instructors possessed an average score on the emotional exhaustion subscale, high degree of depersonalization, and low degree of personal accomplishment

Office Hours: Coming to a Computer Near You

ckeller — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:07:37 -0500

Harvard University has begun experimenting with virtual office hours this semester. TAs will begin holding real-time, online help sessions for students this week. Using free, Java-based software, students can log on, chat with each other (via text or microphone) and even “raise their hands” with the click of a button, which adds them to a queue on the teaching fellow’s computer.

Using Needs Assessment as a Holistic Means for Improving Technology Infrastructure

ckeller — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 10:39:23 -0500

This paper describes a four-step needs assessment process that institutions can use to determine the gaps between current and desired states of technology infrastructure, facilitating rapid decision making. The framework described focuses on aligning learning outcomes and technology tools and can help institutions compare the current state of technology infrastructure with a desired state to best meet identified learning outcomes.

A SIRIUS Look at Faculty Development

drupal — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 14:20:55 -0500

Will faculty reduce lectures, become facilitators of learning, and adopt interactive learning methods? Are development tools available to help bring about these changes? Will students benefit? These questions will be addressed in Florida Community College's presentation of the SIRIUS Project involving over 300 faculty.

Reflecting, Writing, and Responding: Reasons Students Blog

drupal — Wed, 09 May 2007 10:10:43 -0500

Faculty and students are recognizing blogging's learning potential, including the chance to practice writing, reflect on others' thinking, and respond to critical analyses of one's own work. In this paper, a graduate student explores the campus "blogosphere" to discover who is blogging and what they are posting, as well as how faculty are using blogs in their courses and the results they are seeing.

The Invisible Professor and the Future of Virtual Faculty

drupal — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:19:38 -0500

"Traditional professors are disappearing from online classrooms as distance learning has altered their roles and responsibilities, as well as their professional status, job security, workload, rewards, and intellectual freedom. This article delineates some of the most significant challenges and suggests that distance learning has created new questions about the future of virtual faculty."

The Millennium Student: And Now, Evidence for the Millennial Instructor!

drupal — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:18:41 -0600

Research on students and faculty and differences in the use of technology in teaching and learning at the University of Michigan show how a new millennial instructor is emerging, sometimes resembling the millennium student, and sometimes the traditional faculty member, but most often unique. Are we ready for the implications of this new teacher?

Building Community Among Faculty: Best Practices Online

drupal — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 17:18:39 -0600

Firmly established faculty development at St. Lawrence University is being leveraged to produce an online archive of best practices. Learn more about how interactive and media-rich publications on the Web are developed in an initiative to build community among scholars and promote best practices for teaching, learning, and research.

Faculty Conceptions and Misconceptions of Hybrid Education Courses

drupal — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:56:51 -0500

This study identified faculty conceptions and misconceptions that influence the adoption of hybrid (online plus face-to-face) courses. The results of a survey of 128 faculty in four private colleges and universities in New York will be presented. We also compared misconceptions between faculty experienced in teaching with faculty not experienced teaching hybrid courses.

Using Rubrics to Foster Learning-Centered Practices

drupal — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 15:56:45 -0500

Through the use of an online self-assessment rubric and supporting worksheets, faculty developers can guide faculty to incrementally change their teaching in five practice areas. Participants will use these materials to assess the learning-centered status of a course. We will also consider if all courses should be learner centered. We will discuss the various ways faculty developers can use self-assessment rubrics, and problems that can arise when administrators use formative evaluations as summative measures to make high-stakes decisions.

Technology and Learning: Defining What You Want to Assess

drupal — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 12:30:44 -0500

Asking whether technology improves learning may seem straightforward, but the answer is not simple. The challenge begins with defining assessment and is compounded by the complexities of people, technology, and educational organizations. This paper clarifies technology assessment by exploring the definitions, methods, and realistic expectations it can address.

Copyright Shouldn't Silence Creativity

drupal — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 10:39:47 -0600

The author discusses a professors claim that note-taking services may violate professors' copyrights.

No Teacher Left Behind: How to Teach with Technology

drupal — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 11:25:37 -0600

A three-phase program taught veteran and novice instructors how to effectively integrate technology into lesson plans.

By Design: Grassroots Development for Strategic Gains

drupal — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 12:34:32 -0600

Virginia Tech's Faculty Development Institute, Graduate Education Development Institute, and Center for Innovation in Learning represent substantive, long-term investments in faculty creativity. This presentation will describe a program suite that supports opportunities for systematically rethinking teaching and using technology to benefit learning across curricula and in strategically targeted instructional arenas.
WINNER: 2005 EDUCAUSE Award for Systemic Progress in Teaching & Learning. Award sponsored by WebCT, An EDUCAUSE Gold Partner.

ELI Innovations & Implementations – Online@UCF

drupal — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 16:23:31 -0500

The University of Central Florida's Online@UCF initiative serves tens of thousands of students across Florida and engages 75 percent of UCF faculty. It offers 15 online degree programs, 10 online graduate certificate programs, approximately 1,300 fully online and blended courses, and hundreds of other courses that enhance face-to-face instruction with online resources. In AY 2003–2004, almost 44 percent of UCF's roughly 44,000 students enrolled in at least one fully online or blended course.

Online@UCF has achieved this success through three units. Instructional designers in Course Development & Web Services (CDWS) work with faculty to increase their knowledge and use of best practices in fully online, blended, and Web-enhanced learning; the Center for Distributed Learning (CDL) provides planning and administrative support for online learning faculty and students; and the Research Initiative for Teaching Effectiveness (RITE) documents the success of these efforts in the form of improved learning outcomes as well as high rates of faculty and student satisfaction. Together, these units have established Online@UCF as an effective practice model in the development and support of online learning.

ELI's Innovations & Implementations series highlights innovative teaching, learning, and technology practices in higher education. Each Innovations & Implementations piece provides a practical overview of an innovation, focusing on its significance and implementation issues. Use Innovations & Implementations to explore innovative practices that might be of value to your institution.

ELI Innovations & Implementations - Instructional Development Initiative (IDI)

drupal — Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:34:29 -0500

In 1993, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University launched the Instructional Development Initiative (IDI), using technology to foster curricular and pedagogical innovation. IDI set in motion a series of carefully managed investments, resulting in a suite of high-profile, campus-wide professional programs for faculty and staff. As a result, Virginia Tech has been recognized nationally for its achievements in engaging faculty in the sharing of successful strategies; expanding the range of active learning experiences available to students; providing a replicable model for other institutions; and managing resources while supporting innovation in an era of continual budget constraints.

7 Things You Should Know About Augmented Reality

drupal — Thu, 06 Oct 2005 12:43:20 -0500

Augmented reality adds information and meaning to a real object or place. Unlike virtual reality, augmented reality does not create a simulated reality. Instead, it takes a real object or space and uses technologies to add contextual data to deepen students' understanding of it. To the extent that instructors can furnish students with a broad context for understanding the real world, students are more likely to comprehend and remember what they are learning. Through exposing students to an experiential, explorative, and authentic model of learning early in their higher education careers, augmented reality may help shift students from passive to active learning modes and thus become more successful learners.
The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning practices and technologies. Each brief focuses on a single practice or technology and describes what it is, how it works, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use ELI's "7 Things You Should Know About..." briefs to gain a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

ELI Innovations & Implementations - Calibrated Peer Review: A Writing and Critical-Thinking Instructional Tool

drupal — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 12:09:53 -0500

Calibrated Peer Review (CPR) is a Web-based program that allows instructors to incorporate frequent writing assignments into their courses, regardless of class size, without increasing their grading workload. Students are trained to be competent reviewers and provide classmates with personalized feedback on writing assignments. The CPR system manages the entire peer-review process, including assignment creation and submission, student reviewer training, and student input analysis. The tool suite is discipline-independent and supports a "writing-across-the-curriculum" approach. UCLA hosts CPR and makes it available free to participating institutions, who receive technical assistance from the development team via e-mail and a listserv. More than 500 institutions now use this free service, deploying it in 1,900+ courses that enroll more than 72,000 students.

ELI Innovations & Implementations - SCALE-UP: Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs

drupal — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 11:45:31 -0500

The SCALE-UP Project provides an effective and affordable model for introducing hands-on, team-based learning into large-enrollment undergraduate courses. SCALE-UP's approach to undergraduate education was first applied to introductory physics and chemistry courses at North Carolina State University in 1997. Since then, the model has been replicated at more than two dozen other institutions, including the University of Central Florida and MIT.

7 Things You Should Know About Blogs

drupal — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 14:03:22 -0500

A blog—shorthand for "Web log"—is an online collection of personal commentary and links. Blogs can be viewed as online journals to which others can respond that are as simple to use as e-mail. The simplicity of creating and maintaining blogs means they can rapidly lead to open discussions. Faculty are using blogs to express their opinions, promote dialogue in their disciplines, and support teaching and learning; students increasingly use blogs for personal expression and as course requirements. By carefully evaluating blogs' strengths and weaknesses, educators are learning to set guidelines and expectations to maximize blogs' instructional benefits. Structured exercises and clear goals are further enhancing the educational value of blogs. Put into practice with an understanding of their benefits and limitations, blogs are an increasingly accepted instructional technology tool.

Faculty Instructional Development Labs: Now That You've Built Them, Are They Coming?

drupal — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 14:06:30 -0500

Faculty need instructional and technical support for their efforts to improve learning by incorporating new and emerging computer, Web, and multimedia technologies and pedagogies into their courses. Two universities share experiences, via virtual tours of their faculty teaching and learning labs, in providing and marketing faculty support services and facilities.

Evolving Faculty Development: A Model for Responding to Change

drupal — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 11:20:21 -0500

A major challenge in faculty development is moving faculty from technical skills training to consideration of the pedagogical potential and implications of digital technologies. One university's seven-year evolution from skills training to curricular development to technology-infused pedagogical design will provide a model for structuring faculty development efforts at other institutions.

Lessons Learned from a Faculty Incentive Grant Program

drupal — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 10:35:02 -0600

Two years ago, UMBC offered teaching, learning, and technology "mini-grants" to encourage faculty to develop innovative approaches to instruction and enhance students' technology fluency. Awards could be used individually or spread across a department, but recipients were required to present their approaches at an annual TLT fair.

An AAUP Response to "Dirty Little Secrets"

drupal — Tue, 22 Oct 2002 17:49:17 -0500

Faculty members attending an AAUP Summer Institute seminar analyze the five higher education "secrets" identified by Laura Palmer Noone and Craig Swenson in the November/December 2001 EDUCAUSE Review.

Five Dirty Little Secrets in Higher Education

drupal — Fri, 12 Oct 2001 15:04:18 -0500

Recent societal and economic forces have called time-honored academic conventions into question, revealing several "dirty little secrets" in higher education.

Technology, Teamwork, and Teaching Meet in the Classroom

drupal — Tue, 04 Sep 2001 11:55:02 -0500

A laptop policy prompts development of a new model to help faculty migrate to a new teaching paradigm.

Distance Education and Teaching Issues: Are Teacher Training and Compensation Keeping Up with Institutional Demands?

drupal — Fri, 10 Sep 1999 17:05:31 -0500

During March and April of 1998, a survey was distributed to 60 faculty at Arkansas State who had taught at least one course by compressed video to distance sites for the university. The purpose of this study was to determine how teachers, currently using distance education methods for course delivery, viewed the strengths and weaknesses of the method and its approach to educational instruction. Secondly, this study sought to determine whether teachers felt they had been sufficiently trained in adjusting their curriculum and instructional design to meet the needs of the distance learner. This study also investigated what methods faculty members utilized in the delivery of their courses. Finally, the affects on workload and compensation were assessed to determine whether teaching loads are still being determined in the traditional way by this university.

Teaching as a Social Process

drupal — Thu, 10 Jun 1999 17:28:01 -0500

This essay proposes that two popular stereotypes of teachers, the sage and the guide, are incapable of realizing the expectations of students, parents, employers, politicians -- and teachers. These metaphors obscure the fundamental social responsibility of a teacher as an expert professional in a domain. Students look to their teachers to show them the ways of a community and offer them entries into practicing memberships in that community. In this article, Denning comments on the discussion of the changing view of the teacher role from information conveyor to facilitator and how shifting markets are affecting the teacher model.