January 2005 — Features
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Improving Faculty Use of Technology in a Small Campus Community
University faculty are often reluctant users of technology in their classes. This is especially true when it comes to having their students use technology in meaningful, student-centered ways (Warburton, Chen and Bradburn 2002). The main problem is that university faculty already have teaching, research and publishing requirements, and working to integrate technology takes time away from these activities. Also, faculty often become discouraged because they do not receive credit for their work in adding significant technology components to their courses.
This article focuses on a program designed to improve how faculty use technology at a small branch campus of a major state university. The grant-based program aims to allow faculty to alter their courses so that students are using technology in more student-centered ways such as for problem-solving and project-based work. To accomplish this, a combination of workshops, individual mentoring and various incentives have been used to entice faculty to explore new and different ways of integrating technology into their teaching.
The Community
Imperial Valley, Calif., is a rural county on the U.S.-Mexico border. It is one of the poorest counties in California, with high levels of poverty and unemployment, as well as low income and education levels relative to state averages. Yet with a branch campus of San Diego State University and a community college, students in the valley can earn any academic degree up to a master’s, including teacher licensing through an accredited teacher education program.
The Imperial Valley campus is small, with about 900 students and 29 full-time faculty members. Because of the campus’ size and the nature of its programs, it is possible to attempt campuswide change in technology use by reaching a relatively few number of faculty. Therefore, a program targeted at having faculty use technology in student-centered, activity-based ways could impact a large percentage of students; ultimately, leading to a technology-literate and highly educated workforce.
Title V Funds
In 2000, the San Diego State University-Imperial Valley Campus (SDSU-IVC) received a Title V grant from the U.S. Education Department. Increasing and improving faculty use of technology was the second of two major activities of the grant. Activity 2 of the Title V grant is designed to provide faculty with professional development in integrating technology “combined with student-centered pedagogy to foster students’ content learning, academic skills and technological literacy” (SDSU Foundation 2001).
In its first year, the grant was used to collect baseline data, hire a technology specialist to provide workshops and be available for individual help with faculty, as well as offer a series of technology workshops. The Title V grant also began offering minigrants for faculty to integrate student-centered technology into their classes.
During the first two years of the grant, activities focused on increasing faculty members’ skills with basic software, especially the Blackboard online course delivery system. Results from this period also show success in increasing student use of basic technology. However, progress in student use of more advanced technology - such as spreadsheets, presentations and the use of library databases for research - lags behind.
