Faculty Development for Blended Learning

February 11, 2011 - 11:14am | by paula.thompson
Presenter(s)
Dylan Barth, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (US)
Gerald Bergtrom, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (US)
Tanya Joosten, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (US)
Matthew Russell (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (US)
Session Information
March 28, 2011 - 8:30am
Track: 
Blended Teaching and Learning
Session Type: 
Interactive Workshop
Location: 
Court I/J
Session Duration: 
210 Minutes
Concurrent Session: 
Workshop Session 1 & 2
Virtual Session
Session Chair: 
Karen Vignare
Abstract
To help faculty make the transition to hybrid or blended teaching, institutions are creating faculty development programs to guide faculty as they redesign their courses and get ready to teach courses that are partially online and partially face-to-face. This is necessary because successful blended teaching requires a significant course transformation. Faculty must rethink and redesign their course, create new learning activities, and integrate online and face-to-face course components. Most faculty also have to learn new teaching skills in order to successfully manage online interaction, incorporate new methods of assessment, and effectively use the interactive and organizational tools found in course management systems. Based on key elements of the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee's Blended Faculty Development Program, this pre-conference workshop will identify essential elements of a faculty development program for successful redesign for blended learning. Participants will gain insight into how a course can be redesigned to take advantage of the blended model, discuss their own possible redesign strategies with seasoned blended course instructors, and leave with strategies and materials which they can use in designing and teaching their own blended courses.  
Extended Abstract

Starting with the original Hybrid Course Project in 1999-2001, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Learning Technology Center's (LTC) Faculty Development Program for Blended Learning supports the design and development of over 40 online and blended programs, including certificates, bachelors, masters, and doctorate programs at UWM. The faculty development program has been delivered at campuses and conferences throughout the country and internationally.

The program is taught by faculty and instructors who focus on pedagogic strategies that they have employed in their own blended courses. It also includes group discussions by participants, face-to-face breakouts for small group work, course redesign assignments both face-to-face and online, and facilitator and peer feedback on assignments.

Overall, the program is taught in the blended format and involves face-to-face workshops integrated with online learning activities. As a result, faculty directly experience a blended course as students would and are exposed to good examples of blended course design and teaching practices.

 

Lead Presenter

Dylan Barth teaches blended composition courses in the Department of English and serves as an instructional technology consultant in the Learning Technology Center where he leads the faculty development program for online and blended teaching, leads the online and blended teaching group, and is part of the Sloan-C blended faculty development program. Also, Dylan offers support and workshops on rich media use, cool tools, and more.

Gerald Bergtrom has been a cell biologist and faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences for more than thirty years where he has pioneered blended and online courses. For the last five years he has also been an instructional technology consultant with the Learning Technology Center where he is part of the faculty development program for online and blended teaching and leads the student response system (‘clicker’) initiative. He now enjoys training colleagues across disciplines in the best practices of clickers, blended, online, and more. Gerry has an article on active learning strategies in blended courses in an upcoming JALN and is part of the Sloan-C blended faculty development program.

Tanya Joosten is the Associate Director (Interim) of the Learning Technology Center and teaches blended and online courses in the Department of Communication. She is a part of the faculty development program for online and blended teaching (http://ltc.uwm.edu) and is the UWM campus liaison for online and blended programming (http://online.uwm.edu). Tanya is a member of the steering committee for the Sloan-C Blended Conference and for the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) Focus Session on Blended Learning. Her publications on blended learning include a chapter found in "Blended Learning" published by the Sloan-C and an article in the EDUCAUSE Review. Tanya also is part of the Sloan-C blended faculty development program and is a mentor for the Sloan-C online certificate program.

Matthew Russell teaches blended and online courses in the Department of French, Italian, and Comparative Literature and serves as an instructional technology consultant in the Learning Technology Center where he is a part of the faculty development program for online and blended teaching. In the LTC, he serves as the primary developer for the use of ePortfolios at UWM. Recently, he acted as Assistant Director at the Digital Writing and Research Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, where he specialized in the development of blended courses in composition and writing and the use of student-produced media. He has presented at numerous conferences, such as Sloan-C and EDUCAUSE, on course redesign and ePortfolio use. Matt leads the Sloan-C blended faculty development program