Archive for month: July, 2015

We’ve landed safely, the students have had their first quick snorkel, and we’ve just let them off to go explore the BCI Trade Days for a few hours in Avarua (on Rarotonga).                  

As online and blended learning reshapes the landscape of teaching and learning in higher education, the need to encourage and support faculty to move from delivering passive, teacher-centered experiences to designing active, student-centered learning increases.  Our new social era is rich with simple, free to low-cost emerging technologies that are increasing experimentation and discovery in the scholarship of teaching and learning. While the literature about Web 2.0 tools are impacting teaching and learning is increasing, there is a lack of knowledge about how the adoption of these technologies is impacting the support needs of higher education faculty. This knowledge is essential to develop new, sustainable faculty support solutions.

Driven by my own experiences as a full-time and part-time faculty and early adopter of VoiceThread — a Web 2.0 tool that fosters asynchronous voice, video, and text conversations around media — I designed my dissertation research study to investigate the how the use of Web 2.0 tools is impacting the support needs of higher education faculty. I performed this action research study in collaboration with the VoiceThread organization with the purpose of improving the support needs of their higher education users.

The study’s sample included 50 higher education faculty members, comprised of a mix of part-time and full-time faculty from 2-year and 4-year institutions in the United States with a VoiceThread account (free, an individual Higher Ed account, or a site license). The interview and reflection data revealed unique support needs of faculty who teach with emerging technologies, a growing demographic. These include:

1. Just-in-time resources. Faculty support programs comprised of face-to-face workshops and consultations will not meet the needs of faculty. The issues underlying this finding are related to the significant changes in the demographics of faculty. Today, most classes are taught by part-time faculty and many of these individuals also have a full-time job and teach at multiple institutions. Online resources that can be accessed from anywhere at anytime from multiple devices are essential to supporting innovations in teaching and learning.
2. Non-linear PD experiences. Faculty who adopt new technologies desire non-linear professional development experiences to support the integration of technology into their classes. Faculty noted that accessing an eBook to learn new strategies to teach with VoiceThread was “less risky” than spending the time in a workshop, as the eBook provided non-linear pathways, allowing a faculty member to engage with the topics that align best with her/his needs.
3. Community. The adoption of emerging technologies by faculty is resulting in pockets of innovation on campus. As a result, faculty who integrate emerging technologies into their teaching feel isolated from their peers. Professional learning networks designed to connect faculty and promote sharing of practices and ideas will be key to supporting faculty. Social technologies like Twitter, Hangouts on Air, and Google+ Communities will continue to play important roles in connecting faculty innovators across campuses.
4. Funding for accounts. The freemium model employed by most edtech companies provides faculty with a low-barrier entrance and encourages experimentation. However, as the adoption cycle for Web 2.0 tools matures, many faculty are finding themselves paying out of pocket for the premium version(s) of their tool(s) of choice. While will need to consider new funding approaches for supporting faculty within these pockets of innovation. 
5. LMS integration. Learning Management Systems (LMSs) remain the most pervasively used technology in higher education. Learning Technologies Interoperability (LTI) is an industry standard that provides a simple way for web-based technologies to integrate with major LMSs. offering streamlined teaching experiences that may eliminate the need for students to create accounts and provide the ability to grade the activity inside the LMS. Faculty see LTI integration as an opportunity to save them time and promote more adoption across campus. However, faculty have the perception that administration want to see strong adoption rates prior to considering an LMS integration. This tension is evidence that faculty use of web-based tools is reshaping the teaching and learning landscape.

Faculty support must be understood as a dynamic process that needs to adapt to the changing needs of instructors. Colleges, universities, and edtech companies exist within a new edtech ecosystem. Organizations within this ecosystem have a shared interest in supporting faculty who teach with emerging technologies.  In my next post, I will discuss the potential that co-created faculty support resources hold for providing continuous support for faculty, as well as empowering instructors to be leaders in teaching and learning innovations. 

Everyone is at gate 132 waiting on this here jet plane.              

Here I am back home from acquiring more necessary items for this long awaited adventure. I purchased a brightly colored bandana from the craft store Michaels, to tie onto my upgraded luggage from Costco. In hopes that, it will not be confused with other checked baggage or get lost at the airport. Oddly enough, this bandana strategy has washed away my biggest worry. In any case, I’m overwhelmed with joy because in less then 24 hours I’ll be hopping on a plane to London! I’ll get to share this experience with 14 other awesome students who I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know over the last few weeks. I find myself constantly looking at the forecast in London and repacking. Some of you might have guessed that I’m a novice international traveler, and you would be right. This is going to be my first time traveling abroad and I’m ecstatic! 

(The above picture is from a few days ago when Bri, Amber, Monique and I met at the Camarillo Public Library to work on our group presentation due in London.)

Leading up to this has been an emotional roller coaster. The anxiety of waiting to hear who was chosen for Dr. Jenkins’ Intercultural and Design class was almost the death of me. Fortunately, the odds were in my favor and I made the cut. This summer Dr. J. has enlighten us on the six periods of architecture, dating back thousands of years. I now have a greater appreciation for everything that a building entails. Even more, he prepped us on London’s drastically different transit system. I cannot wait to explore the city! Incidentally, I have been dominating in the mobile app game called Trivia Crack. “What is the tallest building in the world?” Obviously, it’s the Burj Khalifa in Dubia! #humblebrag. Needless to say, five days in London is a brilliant way to end summer school. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to embrace London’s culture and architectural beauty! 

Sidenote: I am excited to go to Saint Paul’s Cathedral while in London. #blessed 

Xoxo A

Gardenia taitensis or Tiare Maori is the national flower of the Cook Islands. This flower was introduced to the Cook Islands from Western Polynesia. The flower grows on shrubs that can reach four meters in height and is white with five to nine petals. In Novemeber, there is a week long Tiare Flower Festival where […]