Energize Your Most Valuable Treasure
Posted on January 20, 2010 in Administration, Instructor Education, Newsletter
Re-Inspiring Experienced Faculty
Often, as colleges and universities decide to implement cutting-edge technologies into their educational repertoire, teachers and faculty feel overwhelmed by the increasing demands of the ever-changing online academic environment. As a result, colleges that strive for success take firm steps to keep experienced faculty members energized so they can feel inspired by the new educational opportunities at hand.
Today’s teachers are under much pressure to quickly adapt to the increased diversity of their students’ learning styles. This includes adapting to a generation of technology natives who have never known life without the Internet. In many cases, these students are more tech-savvy than their professors. Therefore, it is essential to provide professional development opportunities for faculty members.
According to Dr. T. Grandon Gill in his article, “Informing Faculty: An International Journal of Higher Education Discussion Cases,” published on informingfaculty.org, “If we can help existing faculty become more proficient and creative in their use of technology, we can look forward to enhancements not only in the productivity of their teaching, but also in the quality.”
By properly training experienced faculty and bringing them up to speed with the new tools of online education such as blogging, wikis, virtual campuses, forums and multimedia components, professors will have a much greater chance of being excited to implement them into their courses.
Dr. Gill states that those involved in the development of courses and pedagogical standards can, “re-energize more experienced faculty by daring them to depart from long-used (and over-used) scripts in which the lecturer is the center of the student’s universe.”
Today’s technologies and techniques allow for greater student participation and collaboration rather than the traditional faculty-driven lectures, enabling more students to achieve success through online education, no matter their learning style.
Dr. Rose Mince suggests in her article, “Creating a Learning Culture and Acquiring Faculty Buy-In,” published on sacscoc.org, that giving faculty a voice is a powerful tool of engagement. This can be accomplished by encouraging experienced faculty to take an active role on teacher’s forums and blogs, discussing new methods with their counterparts. Dr. Gill echoes this sentiment on a worldwide scale. He says, “By sharing experiences across national borders, cultures and disciplines, we can gain access to ideas and techniques that we would have never conceived on our own.”
Surrounding experienced faculty members with groups of their own contemporaries who have already begun to incorporate various techniques into their coursework is a great way to convince tentative teachers to accept new methods. Positive first-hand experiences from people who have seen the impact of the new technologies on student engagement often serve as a powerful tool of motivation.
Dr. Mince suggests that by encouraging faculty and student interaction and keeping the focus on learning and student engagement, the purpose behind new educational strategies can be brought to light. She also advocates sharing the data from other schools that have previously implemented similar methods. When the best interest of the students’ education remains at the forefront, educators are more likely to see the benefits of adding new technologies rather than clinging to a certain “classroom formula.”
Keeping faculty interested, engaged and involved is paramount since it will ultimately ensure the sustainability of future programs by helping current faculty to inspire future faculty members. According to Dr. Gill, “If we can introduce faculty to new approaches to teaching, we may be able to inspire new faculty to make teaching an important focus in their professional lives.”
While the introduction of new technologies keeps online educators on the cutting edge, retaining experienced faculty members is also vital, as it is essentially their wisdom that makes the courses successful. Therefore, finding ways to achieve a harmonious balance between technology of the future and wisdom of the past is key to educating future generations.
