I wanted to be the first to post a response because, frankly, I would like the activity in my blog. I started the blog a few months ago as an attempt to provide an avenue to discuss material regarding technology in the classroom to our faculty. My goal is to help faculty embrace technology and assist them to implement the latest and greatest technologies to bring new levels of learning to their students. So far, none of my faculty have responded to my postings and it gets a little discouraging to see my efforts go unnoticed.
I hope you find some of the entries in this blog useful, especially the links to the podcasts. I find these podcasts convenient to listen to when I am jogging.
Our distance learning community is unique in the community college setting. We deliver over 150 courses a year taught by more than 50 instructors. Right now we offer 25% of our courses as distance learning. We use Blackboard CE6 for our Learning Management System (LMS). Blackboard bought out WebCT a couple years ago and as a result the company plans to produce a hybrid version of both products next year.
A good majority of these courses are taught by part-time instructors who typically hold down a job during the day and use the weekends and evenings to facilitate their online classes.
As the Instructional Technology Coordinator, one of my goals is to make myself, and my services available to the part-time faculty as well as the full-time faculty. This blog is an example of a tool developed to provide a forum of communicating with instructors at a distance. This blog is in addition to other methods of communication which include outdated e-mail list, word-of-mouth, web sites, telephones and department mailings.
With the goal of this blog to enhance communication with the part-time faculty, I question if they are prepared to embrace such a tool. Obviously, communication is important, especially in the academia environment. We all deal with the issue of communication obstacles between the administrators and faculty. Do you have any ideas on how to facilitate better communication with faculty?
6 comments:
Faculty need to believe that being involved in learning new technology is going to benefit them in some way. We are all like that of course. We are almost always motivated only when we think we will get something out of some endeavor. So faculty won't participate because it's cool or just there. There needs to be a payoff such as: clear indication that doing so is noted in promotion and tenure decisions, time off for participation such as release time, stipends, or a clear understanding that good teaching evaluations from students will depend on mastering new technology. Show them that they will benefit, and they'll be there!
Do I get a prize for being your first comment?
This is a test.
I'm really impressed with the number of classes that you offer online as well as the number of instructors you have involved. You are also obviously really going the extra mile in your attempts to establish communication between you and the instructors. So the lack of response to your blog is a little puzzling. But if I may, I would like to offer one suggestion. I am in constant communication with the IT people, but I know very little about blogs. I do not use them in my classes, and in fact, the blog that I created for this class is my first blog. Also, this response is my first response to a blog. That is the reason for the test comment. I tried to post this comment twice before I figured out what I was doing wrong. So my question is how many of your instructors use blogs either in their classes or for personal use? It may be that some are in the same boat that I am. By the way, why did my picture show up on the comment? Claude
wow, Joel!
I'm new to the world of blogging, but this seems to be a great way to communicate a point, easily and clearly.
I think there will be a time when students don't remember a world without blogging...don't give up.
Happy 4th!
Terry
Hi Joel,
Like some of the others this is my first blogging experience. Thanks for giving me the incentive to try it out. I am not an IT person. Until recently my role has been full time faculty member teaching both F2F and online. I'm now moving into DL administration. I will be one of those who has the challenge of connecting teachers with useful technology. I agree with what David said that teachers must be able to clearly see the advantaqes. You have me thinking about collaborating with our IT folks to help figure out ways to do that. You also have me thinking about taking the plunge and creating a blog of my own as part of this assignment.
Mark
Glad that some of you were able to experience a blog for the first time. The blog is very flexible and encourages asynchronous communication. Of course there are many advantages and disadvantages of using blogging in your classroom. I think, at the minimum, it’s a tool that can be included as part of the classroom so students can decide which communication tool works best for them. Blogs are not for everyone, but it is flexible and supports an active life style and a location to share ideas long after the course is completed
Post a Comment