Institutions of Higher Education are beginning to place a greater emphasis on quality teaching and student learning. However, few faculty receive any type of teacher training prior to entering the academy. As a result, faculty development is one likely solution to teacher quality issues. But faculty development is faced with serious shortcomings that impede its ability to improve teacher quality. This paper explores how moving faculty development online while at the same time incorporating the use of teacher stories could be a viable strategy to improve faculty development and teacher quality.
Giving Back: Exploring Service-Learning in an Online EnvironmentRochell McWhorter
This is the last author's copy. To read the published copy:
http://www.ncolr.org/issues/jiol/v14/n2/3
Service-Learning (SL) as an instructional method is growing in popularity for giving back to the community while connecting the experience to course content. However, little has been published on using SL for online business students. This study highlights an exploratory mixed-methods, multiple case study of an online business leadership and ethics course utilizing SL as a pedagogical teaching tool with 81 students. Results from the study noted that hours completed exceeded those assigned and students identified outcomes for themselves, their university, and nonprofit organizations where they served. The outcomes of this study mirrored those identified by students in traditional face-to-face courses underscoring the value of SL projects in online courses in higher education.
Faculty Learning Communities: A Model for Faculty DevelopmentMatt Lewis
Dr. Nancy Pawlyshyn, Dr. Braddlee, and Dr. Laurette Olson co-authored this presentation. On Feb. 16, 2011 Dr. Olson and I presented this to the ELI Educause event in Washington DC.
How International Is Our School? MA DissertationStephen Taylor
Title: A pilot-test of a visualization and set of evaluation rubrics for factors affecting the promotion of international-mindedness and global engagement (IMaGE) of a school.
A group of a dozen educators got together on August 7, 2012 in Chippewa Falls, WI to develop a plan to shift educational paradigms. This slideshow was prepared by Jim Adams, Barney Slowey, and Tamara Sharp.
New Pedagogies for Deep Learning. (2016). NPDL Global Report. (1st ed.). Ontario, Canada: Fullan,
M., McEachen, J., Quinn, J. Retrieved from http://npdl.global/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/
NPDL-Global-Report-2016.pdf
Authored by:
Joanne McEachen & Matthew Kane
Reshaping distance education – returning the student to centre stagealanwylie
A parallel presentation by Dr Barrie Todhunter from the University of Southern Queensland for the DEHub/ODLAA Education 2011 to 2021- Global challenges and perspectives of blended and distance learning the (14 to 18 February 2011)
Slides to support short presentation by Kathy Wright at the 2015 HE and FE Show in London on 14 October. The presentation is taken from previous keynotes by Dr Abbi Flint of the Higher Education Academy.
Giving Back: Exploring Service-Learning in an Online EnvironmentRochell McWhorter
This is the last author's copy. To read the published copy:
http://www.ncolr.org/issues/jiol/v14/n2/3
Service-Learning (SL) as an instructional method is growing in popularity for giving back to the community while connecting the experience to course content. However, little has been published on using SL for online business students. This study highlights an exploratory mixed-methods, multiple case study of an online business leadership and ethics course utilizing SL as a pedagogical teaching tool with 81 students. Results from the study noted that hours completed exceeded those assigned and students identified outcomes for themselves, their university, and nonprofit organizations where they served. The outcomes of this study mirrored those identified by students in traditional face-to-face courses underscoring the value of SL projects in online courses in higher education.
Faculty Learning Communities: A Model for Faculty DevelopmentMatt Lewis
Dr. Nancy Pawlyshyn, Dr. Braddlee, and Dr. Laurette Olson co-authored this presentation. On Feb. 16, 2011 Dr. Olson and I presented this to the ELI Educause event in Washington DC.
How International Is Our School? MA DissertationStephen Taylor
Title: A pilot-test of a visualization and set of evaluation rubrics for factors affecting the promotion of international-mindedness and global engagement (IMaGE) of a school.
A group of a dozen educators got together on August 7, 2012 in Chippewa Falls, WI to develop a plan to shift educational paradigms. This slideshow was prepared by Jim Adams, Barney Slowey, and Tamara Sharp.
New Pedagogies for Deep Learning. (2016). NPDL Global Report. (1st ed.). Ontario, Canada: Fullan,
M., McEachen, J., Quinn, J. Retrieved from http://npdl.global/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/
NPDL-Global-Report-2016.pdf
Authored by:
Joanne McEachen & Matthew Kane
Reshaping distance education – returning the student to centre stagealanwylie
A parallel presentation by Dr Barrie Todhunter from the University of Southern Queensland for the DEHub/ODLAA Education 2011 to 2021- Global challenges and perspectives of blended and distance learning the (14 to 18 February 2011)
Slides to support short presentation by Kathy Wright at the 2015 HE and FE Show in London on 14 October. The presentation is taken from previous keynotes by Dr Abbi Flint of the Higher Education Academy.
Teacher Educators’ and Student Teachers’ Attitude towards Teacher Education P...IJSRP Journal
Attitudes vary at different times of one’s life and are usually determined by several factors such as work environment, job satisfaction and status of the profession. Both student-teachers’ and teacher-educators’ attitudes may affect the quality of teacher preparation program and finally quality of the teacher either positively or negatively. This paper is a focus on the attitude of teacher educators and student teachers towards teacher education programmes in universities. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The study sample consisted of Bachelor of Education fourth year students drawn from three Public universities and three Private universities, Teacher Educators and Heads of Departments from the faculty of Education. Stratified random sampling was used to select the universities, student-teachers and Teacher Educators. Data was collected using questionnaires, interview schedules, observation checklists and documents analysis. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study found that a large percentage of the respondents portrayed a negative attitude of teacher education programmes. This may be to the fact that most student teachers and teacher educators enrolled in these programmes, do not have teaching as their professional interest thus join by circumstance. The study recommends the need to conduct screening of individuals before admission in teacher education programmes so as to ensure that only those who are interested and committed to teaching as a profession are enrolled. Keywords: Attitude, Teacher Education Programmes, Enrollment, Teacher Educators, Student Teachers, Public University, Private University
21st Century Pedagogy: Transformational Approachijtsrd
Pedagogies are constantly evolving and great emphasis has been laid on the teachers to use effective teaching strategies and method to improve students' achievement. That is why pedagogy is one of the important factors that need to revisit in order to maximize the attainment of educational objectives. Based on the data gathered, technology in the classroom, differentiated instruction and student centered approach should be adapted and modeled across the country to elevate and nourish the capability of the students to go beyond limitation. Further, the way students learn and comprehend have change dramatically educators must also evolve from traditional way to 21st century way of teaching. Novelita T. Bornea | Ma. Georgina B. Espa±ol | Ma. May A. Buala | Pedrito S. Ocba Jr "21st Century Pedagogy: Transformational Approach" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-1 , December 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29806.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/education/29806/21st-century-pedagogy-transformational-approach/novelita-t-bornea
What is blended learning? Hear from the experts at Reading Horizons and learn how blended learning is permanently changing the structure of education. Visit www.readinghorizons.com or follow Reading Horizons on social media to learn more about blended learning.
This essay is North Central University course EL-7001-8 assignment 8: introduction to E-Learning. The aim is to introduce Ed.D students to principles and philosophies of e-learning as well as challenges of educators working in the field. The document is written in APA format, includes references, and has been graded by a facilitator.
From school to home english learning challenges in the framework of covid 19 ...MelanieVegaLongas
From School to Home English Learning Challenges in the Framework of COVID-19 pandemic by Melanie Vega Longas is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Construct maps are important tools in educational assessment and can serve multiple purposes related to development and validation, as well as score interpretation and use. This chapter outlines a process for developing a construct map from the qualitative ordering of teachers’ responses to open-ended assessment items. The construct of interest pertains to a teacher’s ability to attend to what students say and do, which is a key component of many recommendations for instructional practice within mathematics education. The instrument we are developing is designed to measure teachers’ attentiveness to student thinking in quantitative reasoning problem situations. A key aspect of our instrument development process is the development of a construct map that hierarchically orders qualitatively different levels of teacher attentiveness. In this chapter we describe our process for developing the construct map with the intent of providing an example to others who may be interested in engaging in the development of construct maps.
Scholars across many disciplines have grappled with questions of what it means for a person to
be and interact online. Who are we when we go online? How do others know we are there and
how do they perceive us? Within the context of online learning, scholarly questions tend to
reflect more specific concerns focused on how well people can learn in a setting limited to
mediated interactions lacking various communication cues. For example, how can a teacher and
students come to know each other if they cannot see each other? How can they effectively
understand and communicate with each other if they are separated by space and, in many
instances, time? These concerns are related to issues of social presence and identity, both of
which are complex, multi-faceted, closely interrelated constructs.
In search of a better understanding of social presence: An investigation into...Patrick Lowenthal
Research on social presence and online learning continues to grow. But to date,
researchers continue to define and conceptualize social presence very
differently. For instance, at a basic level, some conceptualize social presence as
one of three presences within a Community of Inquiry, while others do not.
Given this problem, we analyzed how researchers in highly cited social
presence research defined social presence in an effort to better understand how
they are defining social presence and how this might be changing over time. In
this article, we report the results of our inquiry and conclude with implications
for future research and practice.
Open Access Journals in Educational Technology: Results of a Survey of Exper...Patrick Lowenthal
As the academic publishing industry evolves, there has been an unprecedented growth of “open access journals” (OAJs). In educational technology alone, with an estimated 250 or more total journals, nearly one-third are designated as “open.” Though OAJs are lauded for their contribution to social justice issues (reduction of subscription requirement barriers), many people are suspicious of the content found in them and question the legitimacy of publishing in them. In this study, we sought to discover the opinions of educational technology scholars about OAJs in their own field. We were able to learn which OAJs were deemed to be most valuable, as well as the characteristics of OAJs thought to be particularly important. A companion site accompanies this article, http://edtechjournals.org
In Search of Quality: Using Quality Matters to Analyze the Quality of Massive...Patrick Lowenthal
The concept of the massive, open, online course (MOOC) is not new, but high-profile initiatives have moved them into the forefront of higher education news over the past few years. Members of institutions of higher education have mixed feelings about MOOCs, ranging from those who want to offer college credit for the successful completion of MOOCs to those who fear MOOCs are the end of the university as we know it. We set forth to investigate the quality of MOOCs by using the Quality Matters quality control framework. In this paper, we present the results of our inquiry, with a specific focus on the implications the results have on day-today practice of designing online courses.
Getting graphic About Infographics: Design Lessons Learned From Popular Infog...Patrick Lowenthal
People learn and remember more efficiently and effectively through the use of text and visuals than through text alone. Infographics are one way of presenting complex and dense informational content in a way that supports cognitive processing, learning, and future recognition and recollection. But the power of infographics is that they are a way of delivering the maximum amount of content in the least amount of space while still being precise and clear; because they are visual presentations as opposed to oral or text presentations, they can quickly tell a story, show relationships, and reveal structure. The following paper reports on an exploration of top 20 “liked” infographics on a popular infographic sharing website in an effort to better understand what makes an effective infographic in order to better prepare graduate students as consumers and designers of infographics. The paper concludes with recommendations and strategies on how educators might leverage the power of infographics in their classrooms.
Intentional Web Presence for Research and Technology ProfessionalsPatrick Lowenthal
Intentionally creating a well-crafted online presence, sometimes called a web presence, is important not only for recent graduates but for any professional in a community of practice that values technology use and innovation (e.g., information technology, computer science, digital and graphic design); also, professionals who work with external stakeholders (e.g., consultants working with clients, teachers working with parents, artists working with customers and funding sources) benefit from attention to their web presence. In this presentation, I will share why professionals need to attend to their web presence and share some strategies for crafting the components of a vibrant and dynamic professional web presence and digital footprint.
AERA 2015 Instructional Design Lessons Learned From Reviewing Popular Infogra...Patrick Lowenthal
Infographics are one way of presenting complex and dense informational content in a way the supports cognitive processing, learning, and future recognition and recollection. Infographics, as the name implies, are a way of presenting information graphically. But the power of infographics is that they are a way of delivering the maximum amount of content in the least amount of space while still being precise and clear. In this session we will share the results of our inquiry into what makes an effective infographic. Derived from our inquiry, we will share recommendations on how educators might leverage the power of infographics in their classrooms, and assignments we now use with our students.
Online video is believed to help build social presence and community in online courses. But do students actually watch these videos? And what do they think of them? Do they always build social presence for every student? This mixed methods exploratory study investigates students’ perceptions of online video and the degree to which different uses of online video (e.g., video announcements, instructional screencasts, and video feedback) help establish and maintain social presence. The results of the study and the implications for faculty and instructional designers will be discussed in this session.
Intentional Web Presence for Educational Technology ProfessionalsPatrick Lowenthal
Educational technology professionals must be digitally literate. Part of this involves effectively managing one’s web presence. In this presentation, I will argue that educational technology professionals need to practice what they preach by attending to their web presence. I will share strategies for crafting the components of a vibrant and dynamic professional web presence such as creating a personal website, engaging in social networking, contributing and sharing resources/artifacts, and attending to search engine optimization (SEO).
PASSHE 2015: If You Record It, Will They Watch It? And Will It Matter? Explor...Patrick Lowenthal
If You Record It, Will They Watch It? And Will It Matter? Exploring Student Perceptions of Online Video
Online videos can help build presence and community in online courses. But do students actually watch these videos? The presenter will share his experience using asynchronous video (e.g., video announcements, video feedback) as well as share research on students perceptions of asynchronous video, while engaging the audience in their own use of rich media.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
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2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
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A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
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Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
Francesca Gottschalk - How can education support child empowerment.pptxEduSkills OECD
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Online faculty development and storytelling: An unlikely solution to improving teacher quality
1. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching Vol. 4, No. 3, September 2008
349
Online Faculty Development and Storytelling: An Unlikely Solution
to Improving Teacher Quality
Patrick R. Lowenthal
CU Online
University of Colorado Denver
Denver, CO, 80217 USA
patrick.lowenthal@ucdenver.edu
Abstract
Institutions of Higher Education are beginning to place a greater emphasis on quality
teaching and student learning. However, few faculty receive any type of teacher training
prior to entering the academy. As a result, faculty development is one likely solution to
teacher quality issues. But faculty development is faced with serious shortcomings that
impede its ability to improve teacher quality. This paper explores how moving faculty
development online while at the same time incorporating the use of teacher stories could
be a viable strategy to improve faculty development and teacher quality.
Keywords: Professional Development, Teacher Training, Narrative, Digital Storytelling
Introduction
Historically members of the academy have assumed that “knowing a subject well is sufficient training to
teach it” (Stevens, 1988, p.64). However, with increased pressure from students, parents, and
politicians, colleges and universities are being held more accountable than ever for quality teaching and
student learning; as a result, more emphasis has been placed on quality teaching than ever before.
Research and publishing are still the sine qua non for faculty success and institutional prestige; however,
faculty are now expected to be expert teachers, as well as expert researchers (Boyer, 1990). As a result,
faculty find themselves in a difficult position; they are expected to be high quality teachers even though
they have received little to no training on how to teach.
In this paper, the author argues that the most logical, or perhaps most feasible, solution to the teacher
quality dilemma in this new age of accountability is teacher training. At colleges and universities, teacher
training has manifested itself primarily in the form of faculty development. However, traditional faculty
development practices are not sufficient to meet the needs of faculty in the 21st century. In this paper,
the author argues that the answer might lie in the marriage of two unlikely partners: online learning and
storytelling.
The Problem
Despite the proliferation of centers for faculty development, there is little evidence whether faculty
development initiatives are changing faculty teaching and student learning. While a detailed analysis of
the shortcomings of faculty development is beyond the scope of this paper, the author highlights a few
pervasive problems or limitations with faculty development.
Reactive Nature of Faculty Development
One shortcoming of faculty development is its reactive nature; faculty developers tend to respond to
requests, rather than initiating university wide strategies for change (Fletcher & Patrick, 1998). The
current overemphasis on training faculty to integrate technology into the classroom is an example of this.
There is a place for technology in classrooms, but scholars have illustrated that it is the pedagogy, not
the technology, that makes the difference in student learning (Clark, 1983; Reeves, 1998). Therefore,
for technology to make a difference in student learning (and hence teacher quality), faculty need to have
a solid understanding of teaching and learning in the first place. Being reactive is not necessarily a bad
2. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching Vol. 4, No. 3, September 2008
thing. In fact, it is important to be responsive to faculty needs. For instance, Stevens (1988) explains that
faculty begin to “tinker” with their teaching as the result of either reflection about their teaching or
reacting to a situational problem in their teaching. However, there is a fine line between reacting to
trends or problems and providing faculty with relevant and timely support to improve instruction.
Changing the World in a Day
Another problem faculty developers struggle with is aligning their methodologies and epistemologies.
While research on learning espouses a learner-centered approach to learning and places high
importance on the transfer of learning (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999), typical faculty development
initiatives follow a teacher “in-service” approach of changing the world in a day. Often this is the only
successful way of attracting faculty to take time out of their schedule to attend faculty development in the
first place. While extended workshops are pedagogically appealing, they are expensive and seldom
attract enough faculty.
Attracting Faculty
Attracting faculty to attend faculty development remains a serious obstacle for faculty developers. In a
recent study, faculty claimed that lack of time and competing priorities were the two major obstacles to
attending faculty development (Stevens et al., 2005). To complicate matters, colleges and universities
are relying more and more on part-time faculty who often have even less formal training than full-time
faculty and even more competing priorities. In fact, Stevens et al. (2005) found, in a study they
conducted, that part-time faculty also claimed that lack of time and competing priorities was the number
one obstacle to attending faculty development. Therefore, for any faculty development initiative to
improve teacher quality it will not only have to deal with the issue of how to attract faculty but also
address attracting part-time faculty as well.
Changing Faculty Behavior
Perhaps the most daunting challenge faculty developer’s face is helping faculty change their teaching.
Even if colleges and universities required all faculty to attend faculty development to improve their
teaching, it would be a major challenge “helping teachers ‘unlearn’ the beliefs, values, assumptions, and
cultures” they have learned about teaching and learning in the academy (Dede, 2004, p. xii). Dede
(2004) explains further,
Altering deeply ingrained and strongly reinforced rituals of schooling takes more than an
informational interchange of the kind typical in conferences and ‘make and take’ professional
development. Intellectual, emotional, and social support is essential for ‘unlearning’ and for
transformational relearning that can lead to deeper behavior changes to create the next
generation of educational practices. (p. xii)
On top of all of this, faculty developers have to contend with the issue of competing priorities; namely,
why should faculty devote time to improving their teaching when promotion is typically tied more to
research?
Relevance, Context, and Transfer of Learning
Finally, there are issues of relevance, context, and transfer. Some attempts at improving teacher quality
have focused on isolating “best practices” or principles of good teaching. The most prominent work on
best practices come from the work of Chickering and Gamson (1987, 1999) and Marzano, Pickering, and
Pollock (2001). While lists of best practices are very popular, it is unclear whether they actually help
improve faculty teaching and student learning. Vrasidas and Glass (2004) and Cross (1998) have
challenged the trend of making a list of best practices by arguing that they oversimplify and
overcomplicate learning. However, lists like these are still plastered over countless faculty development
websites. Just as good teaching requires more than content knowledge, it too requires more than a
decontextualized bulleted list of best practices. Faculty cannot afford to forget the situated and specific
nature of learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Therefore, faculty development “must honor the complexity
of teachers’ practices …. [while allowing] participants to develop the reflective skills needed to gain new
insights into their pedagogical approaches and teaching practice” (Vrasidas & Glass, 2004, p. 4).
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Therefore, faculty development must be relevant to faculty’s individual needs; further, it must be situated
and contextual to help encourage the transfer of learning and changing of practice that needs to take
place. Without contextualizing and making things relevant, attracting faculty and hence helping support
the transfer of what faculty learn to their own classroom to improve their teaching is futile.
A Possible Solution
Given these and other shortcomings, faculty development might not appear to be the best place to start
to improve teacher quality. However, given the culture of the academy (e.g., requiring teacher training is
almost as unrealistic as systematically changing the reward structure), faculty development appears to
be one of the only realistic and viable solutions. There is no question that each of the previously
mentioned shortcomings must be addressed in part if any faculty development initiative or program is
going to be successful. However, the author argues in the following pages that online learning and
storytelling can help improve faculty development, which can ultimately improve teacher quality.
Online Learning
Online learning is drastically changing the face of higher education (Daugherty & Funke, 1998; Kezar &
Eckel, 2002). Online learning was expected to come and go like other fads in education, but enrollments
in online courses and programs continue to grow dramatically each year. In the fall of 2005, an
estimated 3.2 million students took at least one online course—800,000 more than the previous year
(Allen & Seaman, 2006). As a result, a great debate surrounding the quality of online learning has arisen.
An unintended consequence of this debate, as well as online learning’s continued popularity, is that
online learning is serving as a catalyst forcing colleges and universities to reconceptualize teaching and
learning (Daugherty & Funke, 1998; Duffy & Kirkley, 2004; Speck, 2002). While, it is the pedagogy, not
the technology, that makes the difference, different learning formats (e.g., the internet) have certain
affordances (e.g., Ryder & Wilson, 1996). Furthermore, Wiley (2002) eloquently argues that the online
learning environment influences how one teaches (i.e., teachers teach differently online than in the
classroom). Therefore, given the popularity and the possibilities of online learning with students, it is
surprising how little online learning—specifically facilitated asynchronous learning (the most popular form
of online learning in higher education)—has been used by colleges and universities for faculty
development.
Online Faculty Development
As the popularity and success of online learning continues, online faulty development is beginning to be
acknowledged as a viable alternative to face-to-face faculty development (Shea, Sherer, & Kristensen,
2002; Vrasidas & Glass, 2004). Putting faculty development online addresses some of the shortcomings
or limitations of faculty development. Also, as Vrasidas and Glass (2004) explain, ‘the demands of work
and family life for teachers [coupled with the rise in part-time faculty] . . . underline the need for
professional development activities that can be delivered anytime, anywhere” (p. 4).
Online faculty development is still in its infancy, though. However, when it has been used, it has been
used primarily to train faculty to use technology in some form—whether for online teaching or to integrate
technology into the classroom (Irani & Telg, 2002; Padgett & Conceicao-Runlee, 2000). This focus, falls
short of supporting the needs of all faculty members, and loses sight of one important issue: In this age
of accountability, faculty development’s primary objective should be to improve faculty teaching and
student learning, both in the classroom and online.
Using online faculty development that reflects an understanding of these issues and meets the needs of
the faculty at large is not an easy task; a few universities have begun to do this with mixed results
(Bellows & Danos, 2002; Wood et al., 1998). The experience of these institutions, as well as the
literature about online learning, suggests that putting faculty development online can address some of
the problems addressed earlier in this paper.
First, by using asynchronous communication or self-paced workshops online, all faculty can access
workshops at their convenience. Therefore, this format can help address attracting faculty to attend
workshops by eliminating issues of time and place. Second, by putting faculty development online,
faculty developers can increase “seat-time” by extending the workshop over time and avoid the problem
of changing the world in a day. Third, while online faculty development has not been shown to
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specifically address the challenge of changing faculty’s teaching, there is reason to believe it could. For
instance, Vrasidas and Glass (2004) remind us:
Students learn best when they are actively engaged in meaningful activities; when they
collaborate with peers, exchange ideas, and provide and receive peer feedback; when they
reflect critically on what they are doing; when they work on real-world, challenging, authentic
activities; when their work is constantly evaluated; and when they are intrinsically motivated. But
we tend to forget that teachers learn best in these ways too. (p. 2)
Thus, if online faculty development workshops were approached with these same strategies in mind,
there is reason to believe that in time faculty could begin to improve their practice.
But simply putting faculty development online will likely not be enough to improve teacher quality. For
instance, while eliminating issues of time and place by putting faculty development online helps address
part of the issue of attendance, it fails to address how the content, context, and relevance (or lack
thereof) of faculty development workshops also dissuade faculty attendance. Therefore, the author
argues in the remaining of this paper that the use of storytelling could be the missing ingredient needed
to help improve teacher quality with online faculty development.
The Power of Stories
Stories and storytelling might seem like a strange thing to pair with online learning to improve teacher
quality, but the power of stories to improve learning has been well documented (Abrahamson, 1998;
Connelly & Clandinin, 1994; McDrury & Alterio, 2003). While there is very little literature specifically on
the use of stories in faculty development, the literature on storytelling in education suggests that the
intentional use of stories and storytelling could greatly improve faculty development by addressing
among other things the issues of content, context, and relevance.
Before elaborating, it is important to highlight some of the reasons why people tell stories and why
faculty should tell more. The power of stories lies in their ability to build bridges of understanding
between individuals. Stories do this through using concrete examples rather than vague abstractions (or
bulleted distillations). Further, “story provides the framework and context for individuals to better
understand others by providing the key to their own experiences” (Abrahamson, 1998, p. 441). Stories
also have the ability to build connections with personal experience, which helps facilitate meaning
making and retention. For instance, Schank (1990) explains that,
We can tell people abstract rules of thumb [e.g., the “seven principles”] which we have derived
from prior experiences, but it is very difficult for other people to learn from these. We have
difficulty remembering such abstractions, but we can more easily remember a good story.
Stories give live to past experiences. Stories make the events in memory memorable to others
and to ourselves. (p. 10)
352
Further, Schank adds:
Thinking involves indexing . . . [and] the more information we are provided with about a situation,
the more places we can attach it to in memory . . . . Thus, a story is useful because it comes with
many indices . . . the more indices we have for a story that is being told, the more places it can
reside in memory . . . and hence the greater the learning. (p. 11)
This should not surprise anyone though. Story is perhaps the oldest form of education.
Storytelling and Faculty Development
Stories come to life during the social process of sharing or telling one’s story with others. The act of
telling a story creates a sense of community, which fosters collaboration, which then fosters meaning
making. Burk (2000) explains, “through oral storytelling, students may feel empowered as participants
rather than passive recipients of knowledge” (p. 7).
It is because of these reasons, and many more, that colleges and universities need to begin intentionally
integrating and leveraging the power of story and storytelling into faculty development. As Burk (2000)
5. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching Vol. 4, No. 3, September 2008
points out, “storytelling is a pedagogical strategy that gives students ‘voice’ in the classroom” (p. 3). By
having faculty share their own stories, while also hearing and reading the stories of others, faculty
developers can begin to approach faculty development from an additive rather than a deficit or
remediation model. Through sharing their own stories, faculty can begin to become part of the process
and the solution rather than the problem. Further, the act of sharing stories can have a magical and
humanizing effect on learners (Kreps, 1998) while at the same time contextualizing and adding
relevance to learning.
Ackerman and Maslin-Ostrowski (1995) have perhaps most successfully integrated the writing and
sharing of educational stories with adults. They have developed what they call the “case story.”
According to Ackerman and Maslin-Ostrowski (1995), “a case story is both a written and oral description
of a real life, ‘close-to-the bone’ leadership situation, written with words meant to come fully to life when
discussed” (p. 1). More specifically, they have developed a case story model that involves having a
group of people first free write and then write a case story; then after they have written a case story they
share their story in small groups. After they share their story with their colleagues, they reflect on the
writing and sharing process and then wrap up and conclude while thinking about professional practice
(Ackerman & Maslin-Ostrowski, 1995).
While Ackerman and Maslin-Ostrowski developed the case story and used it for educational
administrators at the K-12 level, it could be adapted to meet the needs of higher education faculty. For
instance, faculty developers could have faculty share stories about their best or most effective learning
experience as a student in order to explore collective values of teaching and learning before talking
about the successes or challenges of teaching (Lowenthal, Dunlap, Stevens, Wray, & Bates, 2005).
While integrating faculty stories into faculty development could undoubtedly help improve face-to-face
workshops, the power of online learning is needed to extend these learning opportunities to all faculty.
Online Faculty Development and Teacher Stories
Faculty, even more than students, are skeptical of online learning. Therefore, as mentioned earlier,
putting faculty development online is not a panacea for faculty development. In fact, in a recent study,
even faculty who taught online did not express interest in doing faculty development online (Stevens et
al., 2005). Similarly, the intentional use of teaching stories is not enough to motivate and change
behavior for all faculty at all times. There is not a silver bullet to improve teacher quality. The fact that
teaching is often a private enterprise and not valued by many only complicates matters further. However,
people share things online (whether in a discussion forum or an email) that they normally would not in
person. Therefore, it is possible to think that one of the often drawbacks to online learning, the fact that
learners cannot see each other, might be an asset when it comes to putting faculty development online
that entails sharing personal stories about ones practice.
Digital Storytelling
Last but not least, using digital media in the form of digital storytelling can add another dimension to
using teacher stories in online faculty development to improve teacher quality. Digital Storytelling is the
process of using digital media (e.g., pictures, audio, video) to tell a story. This definition over simplifies
what digital storytelling is just as the act of writing about digital storytelling over complicates it. According
to Porter (2004), “digital storytelling takes the ancient art of oral storytelling and engages a palette of
technical tools to weave personal tales using images, graphics, music and sound mixed together with the
author’s own story voice” (p. 1). Despite recent trends to incorporate digital storytelling in K-12
(Banaszewski, 2002) and higher education classrooms (Lowenthal, in press; Robin & Pierson, 2005),
there is an absence of literature documenting its use for faculty development. However, there is reason
to believe that digital storytelling could be a very effective faculty development tool (Lowenthal, Stevens,
& Dunlap, 2005).
Digital stories could and should be used like case studies (Lowenthal et al., 2005). However, unlike a
case, a story does not have to begin or center on a “problem” that is to be “solved.” Rather, faculty and
faculty developers could create digital stories to document both good and bad teaching experiences. But
unlike a case, digital stories not only bear a higher fidelity, they also invite the listener to experience their
story. The power of the voice is something that cannot be captured the same simply in text.
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6. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching Vol. 4, No. 3, September 2008
An example of what this might look like would be to have faculty develop their own digital stories
documenting their most memorable learning experience or a recent classroom challenge. An example of
this can be seen online at: http://www.patricklowenthal.com/digitalstory/digitalstories/samsara-large.mov.
Through creating a digital story like this, faculty could not only indirectly receive training on how to use
technology, while reflecting and connecting with colleagues about best teaching practices, but they could
also reflect on best practices in action. Further, digital stories like these could be uploaded and shared
online—across universities—at places like Story Circles (http://storycircles.org) or Youtube
(http://www.youtube.com).
Vrasidas and Glass (2004) remind us that “research has shown that teachers tend to teach as they were
taught” (p. 3); however, teachers often emulate average teachers, not the spectacular. Digital stories,
whether one’s own or others, have the ability to change the way faculty developers can motivate faculty
to think about their teaching and to take part in faculty development. While the academy has instilled a
culture in which teaching is a private, isolated, experience—digital stories coupled with online faculty
development have the potential to slowly open the doors and minds by giving faculty a safe, semi-anonymous,
accessible, and inviting place to learn by sharing stories about our experiences in the
classroom.
Conclusion
Institutions of higher education expect faculty to be exceptional teachers as well as active researchers
and prolific writers. While faculty developers are expected to help faculty—who are not naturally high
quality teachers or who have received previous teacher training, traditional faculty development
initiatives have struggled attracting faculty to attend workshops, trying to change the world in a day, and
changing the way faculty teach. As a result, some institutions have begun to explore the possibilities of
putting faculty development online to address these problems. However, just because workshops are
accessible from anytime and anyplace does not mean that faculty are going to make any more free time
to devote to these activities. Storytelling, though, has the ability to not only attract and maintain faculty’s
interest by contextualizing and situating their experiences in story but also has the ability to help faculty
reflect on and possibly change the way faculty teach by presenting material in a novel and fresh, yet
traditional and intuitive manner. It is unclear exactly where faculty development is going, but one thing is
clear—if what you are doing, is not working, then it is time to try something new; that something new
should involve online learning and storytelling.
354
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