Afterthoughts
on how to support experimentation and implementation of technologies to
improve students' learning.
- Many instructors, especially
untenured ones, say they choose not to experiment with new teaching
approaches because they fear their student evaluations will drop.
Can't we develop campus policies that support risk-taking and experimentation
in the name of better teaching and learning?
- Include improvement of
teaching and learning with technology as a criterion in the tenure
and promotion process.
- Align the use of technology
in teaching with the scholarship of teaching and learning. Urge
faculty to take their work to the next level: present it publicly
and seek peer review. There are a number of high profile projects
engaged in this kind of work. See the Merlot Project (http://www.merlot.org/Home.po)
and the Visible Knowledge Project (http://crossroads.georgetown.edu/vkp/).
- Establish a stronger collaboration
between the staff who do instructional technology training and those
who work with instructional/faculty development. One of the best examples
of this collaboration is the work by Barbara Walvoord and Kevin Barry
at Notre Dame who have presented at Faculty College and on several
UW campuses. Their approach engages faculty in a course design process
and helps them helps them choose technologies that will facilitate
good learning and good use of faculty and student time (See http://twut.nd.edu/fw/).
- Support faculty collaboration.
Departments and programs are key units in which larger numbers of
faculty can participate in improvement of teaching and learning projects.
These are likely to reach some faculty who never participate in campus-wide
teaching workshops and seminars. More importantly, they can organize
faculty around shared learning goals for students in a program and
department. At UW-La Crosse, for example, we have been modestly successful
in working with departments to develop students' writing abilities
and ability to learn through writing. Something similar might be done
with technology (See http://www.uwlax.edu/wimp/)
- Public support from key
administrators. It is true that faculty will resist things foisted
upon them by administration. But many faculty take their cues from
the Chancellor and from the Provost/Vice Chancellor. The Chancellor
and Provost have the ability to set the tone and bigger picture about
student learning on campus. Moreover, this would resonate with the
preponderance of faculty who do care about student learning.
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