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Advancing_Innovation
Advancing innovation in teaching and learning with technology in an era of budget cutsAfter months of spirited discussion and debate, the EDUCAUSE teaching and learning community has named the, “Top Teaching and Learning Challenges, 2009.” Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and contribute ideas from your vantage point on campus to build a network of solutions around each challenge. Share the ways that your campus is combating the Challenges in the wiki below or simply peruse suggestions from your peers to find ideas that might inspire change at your institution. Before posting to this wiki, be sure to read the Community Wiki Guidelines developed by lead project contributors. Using the guidelines helps to ensure consistent format and usability of this collection. If you have difficulty posting or have any questions, please contact the workspace manager assigned to this wiki. They can post content for you or answer any questions you may have about contributing. To explore the other Challenges, return to the main wiki and connect with colleagues in the Challenges Ning network. Workspace ManagersJanet Sedgley, janet.sedgley@umontana.edu Bill Knapp, knappb@ferris.edu Challenge OverviewIf indeed, necessity is the mother of invention, there is no better time than now to investigate such innovations as open source solutions, cloud computing, Web 2.0, and creative commons licensing in meeting the needs of the 21st century campus. Many institutions have replaced their proprietary learning management systems with Open Source solutions such as Moodle and Sakai. Instructors have embraced the use of online and Web 2.0 services such as Google Docs, wikis, blogs, YouTube, and iTunesU. The proliferation of creative commons materials and learning objects repositories has greatly increased access to rich media for teaching and learning. Making better use of web and teleconferencing technologies can also help to offset the increased cost of energy, having a lasting and positive impact not only on our budgets but on our planet. Campus Snapshots
Free, Green, and In Touch at Simmons College In responding to the economic challenges we face at Simmons College, we ask ourselves three questions:
Hybrid Learning and Web 2.0 Technologies at Maricopa Community Colleges In an effort to become more efficient, successful, and productive in the financially constrained environment that faces us in the state of Arizona, Maricopa Community Colleges has launched the Hybrid Learning Faculty Development Initiative. This collaborative program seeks to disseminate the use of emerging technologies, especially the use of Web 2.0 tools, through the hybrid learning model design/redesign process. For the past few years, faculty members have been developing and redesigning courses into hybrids with inconsistent support in doing so. In order to better support the colleges in growing and improving their hybrid courses and programs, the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction has designed the Hybrid Course Faculty Development Program: http://ablendedmaricopa.pbwiki.com/. This program is delivered in many formats to each of the ten colleges in the district. Topics include module development, course redesign strategies, assessment techniques, assessing student readiness and setting student expectations for success in the hybrid course model, working with student crisis points, utilizing student teams and other collaborations, academic integrity online, copyright, and how emerging and Web 2.0 technologies can be integrated to support 21st century skill development, critical thinking, problem solving, and independent learning and creativity. For more information, contact Veronica Diaz, PhD at veronica.diaz@domail.maricopa.edu or call 480-731-8300. (This solution was featured in a recent article in the EDUCAUSE Review, Charting the Course and Tapping the Community: The | EDUCAUSE Top Teaching and Learning Challenges, 2009.) Leveraging Internet2 to Partner College Students and K-12 Teachers: Montgomery County Community College In the fall of 2008, Montgomery County Community College, with campuses in Blue Bell and Pottstown, Pennsylvania, piloted a program in which education majors observed real-time elementary school language arts instruction without leaving campus. Using Internet2, students were linked into kindergarten, first-grade, and fourth-grade classrooms at a nearby elementary school. Classroom observation is at the core of the college's education curriculum, and the Internet2 pilot enabled students to observe the same class at the same time, proving to be an invaluable teaching and learning tool. Because Internet2 allows for two-way audio and video interaction, many of the elementary teachers engage in question-and-answer sessions with the college's students after their lessons. Moreover, school districts are enthusiastic about classroom collaboration with the college because it gives their teachers hands-on experience using the technology. In addition to being an invaluable teaching tool, Internet2 classroom observations allow savings in cost and energy. Because the college already uses Internet2 for other programs and activities, there is no additional cost associated with using it in the education curriculum. And because students are required to complete a certain number of hours in classroom observation, it reduces the college's carbon footprint by reducing the number of trips to off-campus sites. (This solution was featured in a recent article in the EDUCAUSE Review, Charting the Course and Tapping the Community: The | EDUCAUSE Top Teaching and Learning Challenges, 2009.) The Breakfast Series - Conversations in Online Pedagogy: Michigan State University, Virtual University Design and Technology Since 2006, Michigan State University's Virtual University Design and Technology department has offered the Breakfast Series as a free faculty development offering, targeting online and blended instruction. The Breakfast Series showcases faculty and academic staff who integrate technology into their teaching in innovative ways. For more information, please review the following resources: The Breakfast Series Archive - Information on upcoming series, EDUCAUSE webinar materials, and archived media from past offerings The Breakfast Series: Conversations in Online Pedagogy - EDUCAUSE wiki entry (This solution was featured in a recent article in the EDUCAUSE Review, Charting the Course and Tapping the Community: The | EDUCAUSE Top Teaching and Learning Challenges, 2009.) Community Solutions<<Hyperlink to Location of Document, Institution, Contributor, Contact>> MultimediaTeaching in a Recession: Technologies, Pedagogies, Practices and Practicalities, a Ning network moderated by Ray Schroeder of the University of Illinois, Springfield.
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I have no data on this topic. I can only say that I observe troubling developments at my university.
A dozen years ago faculty began using new technologies "as the spirit moved them." As time passed, more and more faculty members joined in the move toward adoption of new technologies, mostly from seeing what colleagues were doing. Those were wonderful years of experimentation, learning from each other, and gradually making technology a real part of what we, faculty and students, did.
Over the last two years I have observed with dismay the arrival of a time of requiring faculty to "teach online." Many faculty do not want to follow the dictate but have no choice in the matter. The university has adopted a cookie-cutter approach. Faculty members are filmed lecturing with PowerPoint presentations and the films are then turned over to a business that markets the courses and, indeed, whole degree programs.
One of the issues that needs to be considered as part of the look at faculty adoption is likely effect of required, lifeless, simple online courses created to satisfy a university conviction that properly marketed degrees can make money.
Yes, I've seen this and heard the debate on this as well. I think it's an important problem upon which to focus our energy, especially as budget cuts loom. Institutions will seek the most cost effective way to generate more online and hybrid courses, but there must be a way to meet somewhere in between--to continue to encourage innovation and creativity, but in a more efficient way. I do think the days of supporting the design on redesign of 30 English 101s are over, in favor of a more collaborative development model. Perhaps we can encourage other models of development that are more collaborative and effecient, that continue to foster innovation in teaching and learning?