Teaching with Technology: Facilitating the Process (Part 2)

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Case Study

Teaching with Technology: Facilitating the Process (Part 2)

The means to bring about change

9/5/2007

By Ric Keaster, Leroy Metze, and Angela Hillegass

Colleges and universities across the nation have realized that technology is an absolute when considering how courses on their campuses will be delivered--either face to face sessions, through distance learning sessions, or in mixed formats.

In part 1 of this two-part series, we looked at the research behind technology's supporting role in education and some methods for helping to bring about successful implementations. This week, we continue to explore more methods (picking up where we left off) and examine the evidence for success at Western Kentucky University.

Facilitating the Change Process (cont'd)
We begin with Step 4 in the process for facilitating change. If you have not read the previous installment in this series, which contains Steps 1 through 3, you can find it at www.campustechnology.com/articles/49985/.

Step 4: Providing training and development. Providing personnel, equipment, and software is no guarantee that technology will be used in instruction. Many faculty will not use technology in their instruction unless they feel comfortable doing so.

To increase the comfort level of the faculty, successful uses of educational technology are emphasized, and professional development is provided on the use of educational technology. Each academic year professional development on the use of educational technology is offered during the week before the beginning of the fall semester and periodically throughout the year. Once a year, an educational technology conference is held. Presentations at the conference highlight the successful use of technology in the instruction of P-16 faculty. The Educational Technology Center (ETC) at Western Kentucky University itself provides regular sessions as well on these topics. Faculty have numerous opportunities to learn about this important aspect of classroom instruction. In addition to what the college provides for its own faculty, both the Instructional Technology division at the university and the faculty development center on campus, provide considerable opportunities for faculty development in the area of instructional technology.

Step 5: Monitoring and Checking Progress. As part of its ongoing assessment process, the college does a very good job of collecting feedback from faculty. One of these efforts is found in the annual evaluation of current technology needs. Each year, as part of a student fee assessment, the university has funds that are available to colleges for classroom equipment and for classroom improvements.

The College of Education and Behavioral Sciences (CEBS) collects input from the departments which comes from suggestions by the individual faculty member. This allows the college to assess where faculty are with interest and needs for continued success in using technology. A second means of collecting input on progress is an annual faculty survey that asks a number of questions that provide the college administration with very useful information. This is discussed in more detail below.