etug spring 2013 - toward open education by emily schudel
DESCRIPTION
I will be talking about the history, development, planning and outcomes of a first-time Professional Development workshop for online instructors at Continuing Studies at the University of Victoria. The creation of this workshop was complicated because all online instructors at Continuing Studies are contracted to develop and/or teaching online courses in several different program units, and since they are not continuing appointments at UVic, they are not eligible for professional development opportunities at UVic. We created this workshop first to address this need, and second, to open a doorway to peer support among instructors hired by several different program units – instructors who don’t normally get the chance to interact with each other, including many instructors who have little or no experience teaching (online or otherwise). In addition to discussing what we have done here at Continuing Studies, UVic, I will be inviting input and discussion from the participants at the session on what others have tried with regards to professional development for online instructors (or experiences they may have had as participants in ProD sessions), as well as challenges they have faced trying to develop and run such workshops. http://etug.ca/2013/04/11/spring-workshop-2013-keynote-and-facilitators/#emilyTRANSCRIPT
Online Instructor Professional Development for a Continuing Studies Unit
Overview IntroductionBackgroundPlanning and developmentThe workshopDebrief, revisions, round 2Moving forward and initial
conclusionsDiscussion
But First…
Introduction
Professional programsSubject matter specialistsAdult learners at a distance
BackgroundContract subject matter specialistsSome have never taught before5 Program units, many different programs
delivered by eachNo collective ProD for online instructorsPast program-related ProD has been
intermittent and not been sustained
Planning and Development
The ideaOut of website development and
interviews with instructorsThe proposal
Funding requestDiscussions with staff
Planning and Development
The plan Invite instructors to tell us what they
want to knowChoose a topic (creating community
online)Hire a facilitatorPlan the session around a model for
creating community
The Workshop Invited instructors to register for workshop(s)First one, November, 201217 instructors and 4 program coordinators as
well as DE colleaguesMix of presentation and discussion (large
group and small group)Send all participants a book as a “reward”
Debrief right after session (discussion with planners and facilitator)
Reviewed notes from sessionMeeting with colleagues for suggestions
for revisionsFlow and timing needed to be adjustedReworked discussion questions
Debrief and Revisions
Round 2March, 201313 instructors and 3 program coordinatorsMuch improved!
Moving ForwardFinal debriefAsked for input from participantsConsidering second topic and will run
another survey to confirm
Initial Conclusions Involve appropriate partiesPLAN PLAN PLAN2 hour session seemed to workGroup discussion met the needs of the
participants It was encouraging to see that instructors
were interested and engaged!
DiscussionOther models?Suggestions for improvements?Topic suggestions?
Questions?
Emily Schudel, DE ConsultantDistance Education Services, Continuing Studies, University of [email protected]