Pulling in Tandem

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Technology & the Community College

Pulling in Tandem

4/1/2007

By Susan D. Heid

Reaching out to the district. In her role as a member of Ocotillo, a faculty subgroup of the district’s Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI is involved in researching and imparting information on instructional technologies to the faculty), Young had presented the collaboration idea to MCLI. In fact, it was through that organization that she arranged to purchase an Elluminate license for her school. And it was at that point that she began looking at the project from a district perspective: How could the study be structured to evaluate the collaboration efforts of other faculty members? Young then contacted each of the district’s 10 schools, asking administrators at each to provide at least one contact who would act as a liaison to help recruit faculty to expand the study. Young invited her new group of delegates to participate in training on the Elluminate software.

Lisa Young found an online collaboration solution that records lecture content, plus allows for virtual student/faculty meetings 24/7.

Once the delegates were up to speed, she expanded the initiative with an open call to faculty, districtwide; her campus contacts sought out those individuals in their schools who were interested in participating in the study to find out how it could impact instruction more broadly. Young held three two-hour sessions, in person, with interested faculty throughout the district. In those workshops, she explained what Elluminate was, how it could be used, what the time commitment would be, etc. Then she invited session attendees to submit proposals detailing how they’d like to implement Elluminate in their own classrooms.

Though Young hoped to attract 10 to 15 meeting attendees, she was delighted when 70 turned up. Almost two-thirds of the attendees (over 40) later submitted proposals. At the time of this writing, Young reports that nearly 50 faculty members have participated in the study for the spring ’07 semester. She expects to schedule pilot projects in three phases: spring, summer, and fall.

Working relationship. Through the entire experience of experimenting with the software and expanding the scope of the testing across other schools, Young says, Elluminate has been an outstanding partner. “They’ve been fantastic in providing us with training, have helped us select required hardware, and they’re available to help us as needed. We’re definitely working [on this project] together.” In addition, she says, the vendor has helped her and her district peers to connect with academic users nationwide who have used Elluminate for other distinct purposes. For all of the vendor’s helpfulness, Young maintains, she also appreciates the fact that she can easily point out what she doesn’t need. “Of course, we want their support as our vendor. But I’m doing a study and, sometimes, they’re willing to help us more than we can accept. To make sure the study remains objective, at some point we have to say, ‘Thank you so much, but we need to do this part on our own.’ ”