CUNY 8th Annual IT Conference

December 4, 2009      

 

Presentations:

1. Virtual Mentoring & Online Resource for Adjunct Training & Support 
Adjuncts have an important role in the delivery of undergraduate courses. Their adequate training and supervision are major challenges. Adjuncts teaching at more than one institution with busy schedules make organizing face-to-face training difficult. The CUNY Online BA Program now offers training and virtual mentoring to adjuncts, using a combination of online tools, which could serve as a model for other programs, having relevance for offline courses as well as those offered in online formats.

Presenters:
Philip Pecorino, Professor, Online Baccalaureate (SPS) & Queensborough Community College
Ellen Smiley, Academic Director, Online Baccalaureate; Associate Professor, City College
Wendy Williams, Instructor, Online Baccalaureate
Tina Meyerhoff, Instructor, Online Baccalaureate

 

1. The Background  --Ellen Smiley 

  • Basic characteristics of effective faculty development
  • The challenges of adjunct training
  • Adjuncts & the CUNY Online Baccalaureate
  • Model program at Florida Community College Jacksonville

 

2. The CUNY Online Program Approach -Philip Pecorino

  • CUNY Online Model
    • Roles & responsibilities
    • Activities
    • Online tools – Wimba, podcasts
    • Academic Commons
  • Content of training
    • In-person workshops
    • Mentor communications

 

3. The Mentor Experience--  Wendy Williams

4. Being Mentored -- Tina Meyerhoff

5. Future Plans

6. Q&A  (25 minutes)

 

Faculty Development in the

CUNY Online Baccalaureate Programs

A Comprehensive Approach 

Conceived 2006

Construction initiated Fall 2009

                                           With support from

CUNY CUE 

Ellen Smiley, Academic Director

Philip A. Pecorino, Faculty Development Coordinator

INTRODUCTION 

“to teach, to teach well, and to teach even better”-the resolve of professional educators 

Program Goal

Basic Characteristics for an Effective Faculty Development Program

1) TRAINING Sessions and Workshops on pedagogy and on the Hardware and Software 

2) ANNOUNCEMENTS and COMMUNICATIONS 

3) WEBSITE in CUNY Academic Commons for Faculty Development 

4) NEWSLETTER –at least once/semester 

5) TEACHING HANDBOOK-distributed and located online 

6) INFORMATION on ALTERNATIVES to BB (as backup) in the event of loss of access to BB 

7) FACULTY DEVELOPMENT DAYS- –at least once/semester 

8)  MENTOR PROGRAM

9) ASSESSMENT

 

Program Goal

The goal of the Faculty Development effort is to produce a community of learners and teachers in which the continual improvement of the effectiveness of instruction is a shared value. 

The effort is to produce a community ethos incorporating a dedication to furthering pedagogy and assisting colleagues in the perfection of our craft. 

As instructors come to see what they do with their students as involving both the teaching and the learning so too faculty in these programs should understand that we can teach and learn from one another.  The Faculty Development Program is offered to facilitate that teaching and learning.  All members of the community are encouraged and expected to participate in the sharing of knowledge and in the success of their colleagues and students. 

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Basic Characteristics for an Effective Faculty Development Program 

To insure an effective faculty development program that supports the development of effective online instruction there are several important elements that must be present. 

  1. The program needs to insure that all faculty will eventually produce courses that meet the standards of the program and then continue to revise them in an effort to improve on the efficacy of instruction.  In other words and the basic point is that there needs to be a continuous quality improvement process.  

  2. The program should make use of national standards of best practice, the research literature, and instructional design principles.    

  3. Student learning should be the central focus of the faculty development program and all instruction.

  4. The expectations for faculty and for students are set clearly and set above the merely satisfactory. Continual improvement is the standard and not perfection.

  5. The faculty development program and its elements are to be faculty driven and subject to the review of faculty participants in an effort to continually improve upon the program as do faculty improve upon their instruction. 

  6. The faculty development program employs observations and collegial assessments that are intended to assist the continual improvement of instruction and so they are not designed to be judgmental.  

  7. Assessments of the instructional designs and course content and course management are not to be based on the personal preferences of mentors but on the evidence found in the course and the standards of the program. 

  8. Mentors and observers working with faculty understand that the standards and criteria for observations are to be used in a manner that is not prescriptive understanding that there are many ways for a standard to be met. 

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PROGRAM ELEMENTS DESCRIPTIONS 

1) TRAINING  

Sessions and Workshops on pedagogy and on the Hardware and Software 

Several times throughout the year face to face workshops may be offered as well as one on one meetings of faculty with the support staff to receive instruction or to practice with the hardware and software available to faculty in the program.

These meetings are supplemental to the information that will be available to faculty be means of website resources, most likely located in the CUNY Academic Commons. 

Pedagogy, Instructional Design and Class Management will be distinguished from sessions and resources that deal with the hardware and software. 

There will be a mandatory participation in a full-day orientation and training program that will (1) give prospective instructors a working familiarity with the standards for online pedagogy that are expected in all courses and (2) provide hands-on, computer-based experience with the course management system (Blackboard) as well as specialized software tools available to all instructors, our e-portfolio system, and assessment tools.  A library of online podcasts is under development, with modules focused on each of the skills covered in training. These are not designed to substitute for face-to-face training, that serves an important community-building function, but to function as reminders of key elements. 

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2) ANNOUNCEMENTS and COMMUNICATIONS 

Be means of distribution lists and postings in the CUNY Academic Commons all faculty will be kept current on developments and resources.  Issues of pedagogy and mechanics can be raised and the community can respond with best practices and possible solutions.  

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3) WEBSITE in CUNY Academic Commons for Faculty Development 

The new CUNY resource will be utilized to archive and make accessible the resources developed by the faculty of the CUNY Online BA/BS Programs.

It is possible that there will be separate areas for the Consortial Faculty and another for all faculty.  Some areas will be open to the public and others open only to members of the group. Once faculty are entered into the Commons they may participate in and contribute to the other resources and group discussions found there. 

See here an initial draft of a site to be developed and located at the CUNY Academic Commons

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4) NEWSLETTER –at least once/semester 

Distributed by email to all faculty and archived at the Academic Commons

Focus is on development.  Possible features include:

Q&A, Did you know, Latest developments, hardware and software availability notices 

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5) TEACHING HANDBOOK-distributed and located online 

As written materials related to the program and to effective teaching practices are produced they will be gathered and arranged into a handbook that will be disseminated to all faculty , particularly to new faculty,  and located on the website. 

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6) INFORMATION on ALTERNATIVES to BB (as backup) in the event of loss of access to BB

 As alternatives are identified and tested and as best practices are identified they will be disseminated to all faculty, particularly to new faculty, and located on the website.

It is likely that this information will be located at some location within the CUNY Academic Commons and that the program will make use of it. 

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7) FACULTY DEVELOPMENT DAYS- –at least once/semester 

The current practice will continue.  New features will include:

  • the written expectation that new faculty are expected to attend
  • mentors will identify what they think are best practices whose practitioners will be invited to present them
  • scheduling at least 3 weeks before the start of the Fall and Spring semesters
  • reports on what the post semester course assessments have disclosed as needing attention as commendable or remediable
  • reports on the student post semester assessments
  • reports from the academic directors and faculty development coordinator
  • student panel

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8) MENTOR PROGRAM 

In Fall of 2009 there were Virtual Mentors appointed, each having one to three new faculty to mentor. 
In time Consortial Faculty will serve as Lead Mentors who will oversee several Virtual Mentors who will assist from one to five new adjuncts.
 There are stipends for this work. There is a Lead Mentor for the first cohort of four Virtual Mentors.
There will be a coordinator of the Lead Mentors. 
By 2011 all faculty will serve or be served by the mentoring.  Adjuncts with fewer than four semesters of teaching online will be mentees.
 Faculty with more than three semesters may be called upon to be Virtual mentors. 
 From the ranks of the Consortial Faculty who have been Virtual Mentors will come the Lead Mentors.  
 There will be the one coordinator of faculty development who will oversee the Lead Mentors. 

ALL FACULTY

  • Consortial Faculty provide the Lead Mentors
  • Experienced Faculty (more  than three semesters online) may serve as Virtual Mentors
  • New Faculty (less than four semesters online) will be mentored

Descriptions of Positions in Mentor Component of the Comprehensive Faculty Development

 Lead Mentors

These are members of the Online Baccalaureate Consortial Faculty for each concentration, most of whom have served in teaching and administrative roles in the program for 18 months or more, will coordinate the work of the Virtual Mentors 

Responsibilities 

1) Work with Faculty Development Coordinator in support of faculty development

2) Organize and chair meetings of their assigned Virtual Mentors, either in person or using online conferencing capabilities (such as Go-To-Meeting) and oversee the activities of their Virtual Mentors

3) Organize all components of the mandated course/teaching observations;

4) Assist with the planning of Faculty Development Day

5) Participate in the Faculty Development Resource Site in the CUNY Academic Commons

6) Make recommendations to the Academic Directors and Associate Deans with regard to relative success of training and teaching and needed modifications in processes, including assessment;

7) Orient and train new Virtual Mentors, developing their capacity to interact with new adjuncts in a positive and supportive way, in part by modeling this style;

8) Collaborate with assessment staff in the collection and analysis of data about the virtual mentoring program. 

 

Virtual Mentors

These are experienced, successful instructors in the Online program, who receive specialized training and a stipend for actively mentoring up to five new online adjuncts each semester.   

Responsibilities:

1) Develop positive professional relationships with new adjuncts and provide assistance, suggestions, ideas and regular feedback on course web site structure and teaching practices;

2)  Meet those whom they mentor at Initial Orientation and Training Day

3) Be available as a resource and as support for those that they mentor

4) Serve as a liaison between each adjunct and the program administration

5) Work with adjuncts as they build their sites and teach their first or second semester

6) Conduct early informal observation (in first three weeks) to assist faculty member

7) Conduct required course/teaching observations once each term

8) Conduct post semester follow up assessment including review of :

faculty member's self assessment

student assessment of the course for the faculty member as invited by the faculty member

formal student assessment of the course submitted for the program

9) Attend Faculty Development Day

10) Participate in the Faculty Development Resource Site in the CUNY Academic Commons

11) Monitor each adjunct’s compliance with program-wide policies and procedures

 New Faculty 

Responsibilities 

1)       Participate in Orientation and Training

2)       Work with Mentor in the development/revision  of the class site

3)       Work with Mentor throughout the first semester(s) on class design and management

4)       Work with Mentor on course assessment

5)       Cooperate with Formal Observation

6)       Conduct an assessment of your course- self assessment and student assessment

7)      Make revisions in instructional design and course management techniques as result of assessments 

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ASSESSMENT 

For improving the quality of instruction, especially in general education courses: 

1) Improve the ratings of specific dimensions of teaching and course design, assessed using the rating scale developed during the 2008-09 academic year and used in course observations

Data Collection:  Analysis of formal written teaching observation reports for all instructors 

2) Achieve more positive student ratings of their courses, measured by the evaluation survey distributed each term

Data Collection: Ratings of students on twenty different measures of their course and program experience (each term); comparison of ratings from baseline period and after implementation of proposed activities 

3) Achieve positive reports by adjunct instructors and their mentors concerning the guided teaching experience

Data Collection: All new adjuncts, along with Virtual and Lead Mentors will complete written questionnaires that include both open-ended and rating questions; all mentors will maintain logs of their interactions with new adjuncts 

4) Increase positive self-reports by adjunct instructors concerning their online teaching experience and their sense of attachment and commitment to the online program.

Data Collection: All new adjuncts, along with Virtual and Lead Mentors will complete written questionnaires that include both open-ended and rating questions; all mentors will maintain logs of their interactions with new adjuncts

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