TEL Faculty Development and Support
To create and teach in a technology-enhanced learning environment requires a dizzying array of skills (see the Peter Goodyear, et. al., article cited in the bibliography below for a merely partial list that extends over several pages). Indeed, in a 2004 Twin Cities campus technology survey conducted by staff members from several colleges and our center, faculty members identified a lack of necessary technical and online teaching skills as among the most significant barriers to the integration of technology into their teaching practices. While they also indicated a desire for help in overcoming these barriers, another major barrier they identified was the limited time faculty members have to devote to integrating technology into their teaching.
Seminar
At the University of Minnesota, we are fortunate that members of the campus community have developed a variety of strategies at the central, collegiate, and departmental levels to help faculty members overcome these barriers. The panelists listed below discussed some of them at the April TEL seminar held in-person and also broadcast live via UMConnect:
April 7, 2005
12:00-1:30 P.M.
274 McNeal Hall, St. Paul, Twin Cities campus
UMConnect Meeting recording
Brad Cohen
DMC, Twin Cities campus
Panelists:
Keith Brown
human ecology, Twin Cities campus
David Ernst
education/human development, Twin Cities campus
Brad Hokanson
design/housing/apparel, Twin Cities campus
Jen Mein
liberal arts, Twin Cities campus
Tonu Mikk
agricultural, food, and environmental sciences, Twin Cities campus
Jenni Swenson
soil/water/climate, Twin Cities campus
Specifically, the panelists considered questions such as the following.
- How can we efficiently help faculty members develop the teaching with technology skills they need?
- Should faculty members be expected to learn all the skills needed to create TEL environments, or should support staff members play a more significant role? If the latter, how will members of the team get and maintain the skills they need?
- How will the teams be constituted?
- Can technology be used to create efficiencies in the development of TEL environments?
Campus Projects
Information about TEL support services offered by some of the panelists' colleges is available on the COAFES Instructional Computing page and the Instructional Technology Fellowship Program page.
Several panelists also have been awarded TEL grants for projects that support faculty members' TEL efforts:
Duin, Ann Hill, Abel Ponce de Leon, Tom Michaels, Tonu Mikk, and Paul Brady. "COAFES TEL Works: Smoothing the Path" 2004 Technology-Enhanced Learning Grant Program proposal. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2004. http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/2004/duin.pdf.
Hokanson, Brad. "Pay It Forward: Faculty as Instructional Designers" 2004 Technology-Enhanced Learning Grant Program proposal. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2004. http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/2004/hokanson.pdf.
Rosen, Carl, and Jenni Swenson. "Developing an Electronic Archive: MetaData, Learning Objects, and Quality Control" 2004 Technology-Enhanced Learning Grant Program proposal. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2004. http://dmc.umn.edu/grants/2004/rosen.pdf.
Bibliography
The following articles may help you research TEL faculty development and support issues and strategies.
Eison, Jim. "Resources on Faculty Development: Classic and Current Texts." University of South Florida Center for 21st Century Teaching Excellence, 1999. http://www.cte.usf.edu/bibs/faculty_development.html.
This is a comprehensive annotated bibliography of faculty development literature.
Epper, Rhonda M., and A. W. (Tony) Bates. Teaching Faculty How to Use Technology: Best Practices from Leading Institutions. Westport, CT: American Council on Education and the Oryx Press, 2001.
This book is a collection of informative case studies from institutions of higher education in North America about key issues related to the integration of technology into faculty teaching practices. Contributors offer lessons from their training experiences and discuss staff support models, institutional reform, workload and resource allocation, and more. Anyone trying to help faculty members integrate technology into their teaching practices will find valuable practical wisdom in this collection.
Gillespie, Kay Herr, ed. A Guide to Faculty Development: Practical Advice, Examples, and Resources. Boston, MA: Anker Publishing Company, Inc., 2002.
This collection of essays from faculty members and administrators covers a range of topics about faculty development, including how to assess faculty development efforts, how to promote programs and centers for teaching excellence, how to involve faculty members in their own professional development, and much more. It will be of particular interest to administrators and staff members who develop, promote, or deliver faculty development services.
Goodyear, Peter, Gilly Salmon, J. Michael Spector, Christine Steeples, and Sue Tickner. "Competences for Online Teaching: A Special Report." Educational Technology Research and Development 49, no. 1 (2001): 65–72.
This article includes a multi-page list of all the skills instructors need to create and teach in a technology-enhanced learning environment.
Williams, P.E. "Roles and Competencies for Distance Education Programs in Higher Education Institutions." American Journal of Distance Education 17, no. 1 (2003): 45–57.
This article describes the multitude of team members with various skills that are needed to develop and deliver higher education distance education programs.
