October 2001 — Features
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Faculty Development and Educational Technology
In the summer of 1998, Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, began its first of three summer workshops promoting the use of instructional technology to enhance student learning in the Williams College of Business. The purpose of this paper is to share our experiences related to this faculty development effort. We will begin by describing the environment in which the General Electric Technology Workshops operated.
The GE Technology Workshops
In 1997, Xavier University submitted a grant request to the GE Fund and GE Aircraft Engines to fund a workshop that would support the use of technology in the classroom to achieve curricular objectives. The GE Fund is a philanthropic foundation that donates generously to higher education. Grant requests are generally solicited. Much of the information following was obtained from the grant proposal.
The Williams College of Business was targeted by the grant proposal because of the need for business graduates to accurately assess data and determine what is required to make better business decisions. The grant proposal reads: "Technology will be presented to faculty as a means to an end. The end result is not the faculty's mastery of technology, but the use of instructional technology to enable all students to achieve curricular objectives." The summer institutes were designed for the following purposes:
- Explore different learning styles and various methods available to tailor instruction to address students' needs;
- Acquaint faculty with the range of instructional media that can enhance the students' learning experience;
- Assist faculty to incorporate technological resources into classroom presentations and course requirements;
- Involve faculty in the assessment and evaluation of student outcomes expected to result from changes in pedagogy and curricula; and
- Communicate the results of the project within the higher education community to further the understanding of the relationship between instructional development and student learning.
An award of $84,000 was received to support three summer institutes for the Williams College of Business Administration faculty. Four members of the administrative staff working with the associate academic vice president planned the workshops. These staff members included representatives from information systems and services, instructional media services and the university library. The associate academic vice president and the dean of the Williams College of Business served as program managers.
Each year 12 faculty members took part in the GE Technology Workshops, allowing nearly 80 percent of the college faculty to participate over the three-year period. To apply for the GE Technology Workshops, faculty developed a proposal for an instructional technology enhancement designed to improve student learning in a course. Upon completion of the workshop, faculty continued to develop the enhancement in the course and an assessment plan during the remainder of the summer. At the end of the summer, each participant presented their technological enhancement to co-participants for feedback and discussion. Student assistants with substantial experience in targeted software applications were available to work with individual faculty participants before, during and after the institute.
