partnerships in faculty professional development
DESCRIPTION
Presented at the 2005 NJEDge.Net Annual Conference by Debbie Kell & Ken Ronkowitz. Traces the development of a collaborative faculty development model (using WebCT training as a focus) that began at NJIT and was adapted to the needs of Mercer County College in New Jersey.TRANSCRIPT
Partnerships in Faculty Professional Development
Debbie Kell, Debbie Kell, MCCC and MCCC and Ken RonkowitzKen Ronkowitz, NJIT, NJIT
About Us
• Deborah Kell Asst. to VP of Academic Affairs, Mercer County Community College
• Ken Ronkowitz Manager, Instructional Resource Center, Instructional Technology & Media Services, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
November 2005, NJEDge.Net Annual ConferenceNovember 2005, NJEDge.Net Annual Conference
Training new online instructors...
• requires teaching a variety of technical skills, including how to use a CMS
• also the need to examine best practices in issues such as learning styles, academic integrity, and authentic assessment.
• NJIT developed an eLearning faculty institute which, as part of a collaborative faculty development effort of NJEDge, MCCC faculty participated in, and subsequently adapted to address its own needs.
NJIT’s Faculty Institutes
• 2000 – WebCT Trainer brought to campus for group of 10 trainers, designers & support staff
• 2001 – began our own intensive training for faculty in WebCT
• 2002 – pedagogical sessions added• 2003 – grant-supported addition of
tech/software training• 2004 – expanded to train the trainers/faculty
from other colleges
Institutional Pressures
• Student Issues - retention, satisfaction• Faculty Issues - reviews, lack of
time/compensation• Enrollment Issues - new audiences,
partnerships (other schools, corporations, govt.)
• Teaching & Learning - accreditation concerns, extending f2f, hybrid courses
Selecting A Training Modality
• Is F2F training the best modality?• F2F – presentation or hands-on lab• Online• Hybrid (MCCC)• CBT (self-paced)
• Is “training” your only intention?• Improving overall teaching • Seeing teaching online from a student’s POV• Personal growth• Getting courses created
Sample Institute Topics
• WebCT– Discussion, assignments, testing…
• SOFTWARE– Impatica– Adobe Acrobat– Respondus– Captivate– Turnitin.com– CourseGenie
Sample Institute Topics
• PEDAGOGY– Moving Your Course Online– Assessment vs. Testing– Rubrics– Learning Styles– Academic Integrity Online– Copyright Issues– Web Design
From MOVING YOUR COURSE ONLINE
Understanding the process of instructional design and moving a course online
Mercer’s Goals in Attending NJIT’s Training
• Take advantage of an opportunity to train a group of faculty interested in teaching online
• Study the delivery of the training itself– What content was presented?– How was content prioritized?– How was time managed?– What worked?– Where did the participating faculty members struggle?– What could be adapted to Mercer’s needs?
Mercer’s Follow-Up
• Contact with Ken of NJIT for permissions and materials
• Organization of content into pedagogical issues and technical skills
• Mapping of course content into components that could be delivered either online or in lab to develop a blended / hybrid course
Weekly Delivery of Content
Online Component Computer Lab
Three hours hands-on lab;
instruction and demonstration of WebCT or other technical skills
Mercer’s Product
• 12 hours spread out over 3 weeks
• Each week has one hour online and three hours hands-on lab time
Approximately one-hour of online time;
preceded hands-on component
Faculty Home Page
Faculty experienced first-hand the importance of humanizing and orienting activities.
Humanizing a Course
The faculty experienced
first-hand how something as simple
as a photograph helps
humanize the digital
environment.
Time to get Oriented
• An easily produced video provided a narrated tour of the course.
http://www.mccc.edu/~kelld/videos/tour.wmv
Our faculty needed help thinking about media
other than TEXT.
The voice-over narration not only helped class members
(faculty) “find their way around” but was also a
humanizing experience… a real voice was speaking to
them.
The faculty had to start using the capabilities of the medium right away…
streaming video. They had to get their OWN computers
ready for the online experience.
Modeling Sound Instructional Design
Clearly stated objectives
Followed by the lesson.
Interactivity Built into the Learning Process
Opportunities for formative assessment (this one’s a C.A.T.)
A simple, no-frills
approach
Modeling sensible use of tools and media
Formative assessment activities demonstrated the use of the survey and the quiz tool.
Online lessons were PowerPoint
presentations with voice-over. They were converted to streaming
web pages using Impatica.
Collaborative Faculty Development Initiative (CFDI)
• Faculty and staff of NJ colleges working together to develop an inter-institutional, collaborative approach to faculty development.
• Collaborating to identify desired units of faculty development related to eLearning and the infusion of technology into curricula.
• Individual institutions contributing several seats of face-to-face and/or online modules to member institutions.
Widening the Circle
The creation of a collaborative calendar for colleges to post faculty (and staff?) development sessions that they are willing to open up to other member colleges.
http://media.njit.edu/CFDI/
Considerations
• Selecting an admin for your school
• Selecting sessions to open to others
– Length of session
– Any costs
– Time & day
– Audience
• Controlling the number of seats offered
– Delayed release
• The method of registration
– Controlled at individual schools
Partnerships in Faculty Professional Development
Debbie Kell, Debbie Kell, MCCC and MCCC and Ken RonkowitzKen Ronkowitz, NJIT, NJIT
About Us
• Deborah Kell [email protected]. to VP of Academic Affairs, Mercer County Community College
• Ken Ronkowitz [email protected] Manager, Instructional Resource Center, Instructional Technology & Media Services, New Jersey Institute of Technology.