October 2001 — Features
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Faculty Development and Educational Technology
It also allowed faculty to practice with new software applications prior to the more intensive how-to sessions on that software application. For instance, the session that profiled a faculty member's use of Lotus Notes to enhance student learning was scheduled for the spring semester, with the sessions on using the Lotus Notes software application following in the summer. The schedule also allowed for more interaction among the faculty, both with other current faculty participants and faculty participants from the prior year.The final summer institute was scheduled for summer 2000. The schedule included few modifications in content based on the positive feedback of the 1999 participants, however, the timetable of the workshop sessions was again revised. While faculty liked the time to consider implementation issues by having sessions dispersed through spring and summer rather than two straight weeks of the workshop as in 1998, the 1999 participants suggested increasing the duration of each session to reduce the number of affected weekends. For the 2000 workshop, the number of spring semester weekend sessions was reduced from four to seven. A session related to teaching via the Internet was added, and some topics were shifted earlier or later in the workshop timetable. A criticism of faculty in both the 1998 and 1999 workshops was that more hands-on training should be included. An effort was made to coordinate with the workshop presenters to include more time for hands-on practice in their sessions.
Feedback from the 2000 faculty participants was more varied. Workshop sessions and presenters rated highly by participants the previous years were not rated as highly by this group. This group of participants suggested a reversal of the order of workshops. They preferred to have the technical workshop sessions on the software applications prior to the profiles of enhanced classes. Another criticism was that some of the workshop sessions were repetitive. A presenter in the 1999 GE workshop had been so well received that the presenter was invited to do a universitywide teaching workshop the next academic year. When he was then asked to present in the GE workshop the following summer, many of the participants who had attended the universitywide teaching workshop were familiar with the material.
Summary
Several lessons were learned from Xavier's experience with the GE technology workshops. Faculty development programs associated with educational technology should include educational theory along with demonstrations of technolo-gical applications. The workshop should emphasize technological applications that are supported on campus and include as much hands-on training as possible. Finally, the schedule of developmental workshops should be dispersed to allow faculty time to practice applications and think through design issues for the course or courses they will modify.
Julie Cagle, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Finance Department at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. She regularly uses technology as a supplement in traditional face-to-face classes and has been teaching an online course for three years. She serves on the Williams College of Business teaching workshop committee, on the university teaching and learning center task force, and on the faculty development and compensation subcommittee of the university faculty committee.
