DE Oracle @ UMUC

Summer Faculty Leadership Institute, 2004

Susan Ko

Director

Center for Teaching and Learning

Published: July-August 2004

Category: » Events » Past-events

On June 7-10 2004, UMUC's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) hosted the Summer Faculty Leadership Institute: Instructional Strategies and Learning Outcomes in Adelphi, Maryland. Bringing together close to fifty DE faculty and faculty development staff from Europe, Asia, and the United States, this institute's purpose was to improve instruction at UMUC by acquainting participants with recent UMUC research on best instructional practices, introducing them to the effective use of multimedia in online teaching, and bringing about a greater awareness of the concept of peer leadership in the context of working toward "one UMUC."

From left to right at the table, Wendy Hume (SUS), Jeanne McDowell (Asia), Richard Powers (Europe), William Mood (Europe) in the Multimedia workshop.

This institute was highly interactive and very much a collaborative effort between CTL and its sister units in the Office of Distance Education and Lifelong Learning (ODELL), the Institute for Research and Evaluation (IRAHE) and Center for the Virtual University (CVU). The major components of this institute consisted of workshop tracks on Best Instructional Practices and Integrating Multimedia, both with an emphasis on learning outcomes.

The Best Instructional Practices track was organized around IRAHE's ongoing study of best online instructional practices. A videotaped panel discussion spotlighted exemplary faculty who shared their teaching strategies.  Instructional principles and strategies linked to high student satisfaction and retention were highlighted in the study and in the presentation by IRAHE's Director, Husein Abdul-Hamid, that explained the study and its findings.

A few examples of these strategies are the following:

• Clearly state the course learning objectives in the syllabus and a timeline for meeting the objectives
• Develop and maintain organization, structure, and a visible presence in the online classroom
• Continually provide feedback on student performance
• Clearly express grading requirements through the use of matrices and rubrics
• Encourage students to draw on their own experiences on the job or in other non-course activities
• Provide multiple opportunities for students to apply their learning

Cynthia Davis, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs in the School of Undergraduate Studies, gave a presentation on aligning assignments to learning objectives. Using examples from CMIS 102 and ACCT 495, she developed a systematic method for carefully formulating course objectives and designing appropriate assignments for them. In planning assignments, she suggested that one ask the following about each objective:

From left to right, William Stewart (Europe), Laurie Coltri (SUS), Peter Bowen (Europe) in the Best Instructional Practices workshop.

• How will I know whether students achieve this outcome?
• Under what circumstances could I observe this achievement?
• Is this a minimal outcome or an open-ended developmental one?
• What is the minimal level required?
• What criteria will I use in grading to communicate outcomes?
• How does this affect my teaching strategies?

Finally, there was a hands-on case study small group activity that gave the participants an opportunity to try out what they had learned about aligning assignments to course learning objectives.

The second major component of the Summer Faculty Leadership Institute involved using multimedia in the WebTycho classroom. The objectives of this track were to acquaint participants with the various ways in which multimedia can be effectively integrated into courses so as to meet learning objectives and enhance the student learning experience.

Presentations by Theodore Stone of CVU and Cherisse Gardner, Manager of Instructional Design Services for the School of Undergraduate Studies, demonstrated the range of multimedia usage, from low-threshold techniques that faculty can use to create their own multimedia, to high-end applications such as those created by Instructional Development for course modules. It was emphasized that several different modes of multimedia could be used to fulfill the same learning objective and that the focus should always be on the pedagogical content rather than on the technology alone.

From left to right, From left to right, Barbara Happ (GS), Hongyan Wang (Asia) and Yeongok Vanderpool(Asia) discussing plans on the final day of the institute.

Selected faculty innovators showcased and discussed their use of low-threshold multimedia applications in their courses.

Finally, during the small group activity, each group was assigned a different multimedia application and worked with a facilitator to create a presentation, using the same learning objective. The multimedia applications included AuthorGEN, Camtasia Studio, Impatica, and Real Producer Basic. Facilitators included staff from the Center for Support of Instruction (CSI), Center for Media and New Technology (CMNT), CTL and SUS.

Each day of the institute, one or more keynote speakers addressed the participants. President Heeger spoke about UMUC's strategic plan and Theodore Stone reflected on the very rapid evolution of UMUC's online program. Ellyn McLaughlin, Coordinator of Outcomes Assessment for the Graduate School spoke to the participants on the subject of outcomes assessment. The Faculty Advisory Council Chair, Jerry Glover, encouraged faculty to play a more active role in a rapidly growing and changing UMUC. Guest Speaker, Tracey Manning of University of Maryland, College Park's Academy of Leadership gave a presentation on "The Challenge of Peer Leadership." Provost Nicholas Allen addressed the growth of UMUC and faculty's role in UMUC's development as an institution dedicated to both access and quality.

The 2004 Summer Faculty Leadership Institute was designed to benefit the entire UMUC community of faculty.  Faculty participants were asked to create a plan to share what they have learned with colleagues in their home divisions and disciplines over the next few months. CTL will also be creating two online workshops on best practices and multimedia as an outgrowth of the experiences at the Summer Institute with an aim to reach as many faculty as possible. These workshops will be launched in fall 2004 and winter 2005 and CTL plans to offer them at regular intervals throughout the year.

In addition, CTL's Instructional Technologist, David Johnson, is incorporating the insights of the summer institute along with multimedia examples into a series of Web resource pages on the Center for Teaching and Learning website. More information on the workshops and Webpages will become available over the coming months.