Best Practices for Engaging the Faculty: Transforming the Perception of the Role of Instructional Support in

Undergraduate Teaching and Learning

Please sit with people you don’t work with regularly.

Best Practices for Engaging the Faculty: Transforming the Perception of the Role of Instructional Support in

Undergraduate Teaching and Learning

Deborah Helman, Ryan Kershner, Amy Kindschi, Diana Wheeler, Paul Oliphant, Lia Vellardita

UW-Madison, Teaching & Learning Symposium, May 25, 2011

• Background and Introduction• Team Discussions• Large Group Discussion• What Next?

In this session:

Background & Opportunity

• Transforming undergraduate engineering education Engineering Beyond Boundaries (EB2)

• Building on successful initiatives Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) Projects

• Harnessing new and emerging trends

• Capitalizing on personnel changes

• Leveraging the physical infrastructure

Image source: National Academies Press

Wendt Commons

• One “common” place to find support • Expanded support for teaching and technology-

enhanced learning• A place for new collaborations & partnerships

New Support Model to Engage Faculty

Guiding Principles:•It’s all about the students

•Create synergy, improve efficiency

•Partner with faculty & instructors to foster innovation based on best pedagogical practices

•Leverage support locally and globally

Early Successes

• Improved access to support

• Continued to drive innovation

• Streamlined the service model

• Increased agility and responsiveness

• Coordinated exploration efforts

Desired Outcomes• Increase & support faculty engagement in innovation

in engineering education

• Support application of sound pedagogical practices informed by education research

• Facilitate knowledge transfer of best practices and peer to peer interaction

• Foster a community of practice

• Adopt evidence-based quality measures to guide course design and delivery

• Sustain and scale initiatives to impact as broad a cross-section of the CoE as possible

Types of Faculty & Instructors

1. “Entrepreneurs” or “early adopters”

2. “Second wave” or “risk aversives”

3. “Careerists” or “reward seekers”

4. “Reluctants”

Hagner, P.R. and Schneebeck, C.A. (2001) Engaging the faculty, p. 1-12 In: Barone, C. A., & Hagner, P. R. Technology-enhanced teaching and learning: Leading and supporting the transformation on your campus EDUCAUSE leadership strategies, no. 5. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.

Hagner, P.R. (2001) Interesting practices and best systems in faculty engagement and support. Educause NLII White Paper. Final Report. 31 pages.

Rogers, E.M. (1995) Diffusion of Innovations (4th Ed.), Free Press.

Engagement methods to date

• Involved faculty in setting directions

• Proactively contacted faculty

• Use existing forums to communicate

• Integrated Wendt Commons services into RFP process for Engineering Beyond Boundaries

• Prototyping a method for knowledge transfer via short videos of faculty and instructors

• Developing marketing materials

Challenges with faculty engagement

• Engaging faculty and instructors as collaborators / partners

• Establishing a new identity

• Marketing

• Developing an effective feedback mechanism

Image: University Communications, UW Madison

Your Turn

• Background and Introduction• Team Discussions• Large Group Discussion• What Next?

Question:  Within your team, what success-stories or strategies can you share with each other for engaging with faculty to improve teaching & learning support for a class?