Faculty Development

I love working with people, helping them improve their teaching, learning, technical repertoire, or processes; anything that will make them more dynamic and vibrant in their work or teaching. Because I approach this as a partnership, it ends up being a two-way interaction where I learn as much from them as they do from me.

I have been helping faculty since 1997 when I began designing online courses. The first step in the partnership is to gain mutual respect; for what I do and for the subject expertise the professor brings to the design process. I've been extremely fortunate to work with very talented professors from across various disciplines: Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Astronomy, Sociology, Education, Nursing, Business and Theatre.

Through this interaction, faculty have also improved their teaching methods, assessment, and course design in traditional classroom environments. Technology has been the catalyst for many of us to re-evaluate and re-design our courses and instruction.

These partnerships have lead me to my current projects and research:

Identifying which aspects of courses are more effective and successful online than in person (Dissertation Topic)
Using quality standards and best practices in course design, whether online or face-to-face
Using rubrics to increase the effectiveness and assessment of learning
Creating sustainable orientation and mentoring programs for new faculty

Current Projects:

Using a wiki to increase communication and knowledge gathering in the POD Network organization. See notes....

Workshops:

Learner-centered Teaching, Topics in Pedagogy, Methodist College of Nursing, February 2010
Educative Assessment, Topics in Pedagogy, Methodist College of Nursing, November 2009
Using Classroom Response Systems to Increase Engagement in the Classroom,Methodist College of Nursing, 2008 - 2010
Diversity among Learners and Teachers:
Using Technology to Identify It, Respond to It, and Take Advantage of it, January 14, 21, and 28, 2009. TLT Group Online Workshop Series
Using Wikis to Encourage and Support Collaboration, Methodist College of Nursing, Sept 2008
Course Design Seminar, Methodist College of Nursing, June – July 2008
Creating Rubrics for Student Assessment, Berkeley College Online, June 2008
Using Rubrics in the Online Course Design Process, Northern Illinois University, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Online Faculty Institute, March & April 2008
CATs and WebCT, Effective Formative Assessment, Heartland Community College, Normal Illinois, Best Practices Faculty Forum, January 2008
The WWW and Life Long Learning, Bradley University, Institute for Learning in Retirement, January 2008
What Can Be Done Better Online?, TLT Group Friday Live! December 2007 - http://www.tltgroup.org/tlt-swg/FL!/FL!past.htm#2007
Building Interactivity Into Your Online Courses, October 2007, The Center for Instructional Innovation, Illinois Central College.
Online Design Seminar, Methodist College of Nursing, May-June 2007
Summer Institute for the 21st Century Educator, Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology, Illinois State University, 3 week series of intensive faculty development workshops, May 2006.
Enhancing Web-based Instruction using WebCT, instructor, Illinois State University, Faculty Technology Support Services. 4-day intensive workshop focused on helping faculty enhance their current WebCT courses through instructional design and planning processes, summer 2005.
Building Interactivity Into Your Online Courses, April 2005, The Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Illinois State University.
What’s It Like To Teach Online?, February 2005, The Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Illinois State University.
Instructional Design for the Online Environment, organizer and instructor, Pathways for Faculty Excellence, The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), Spring 2002.
Effective Online Instruction, guest lecturer, McClellan Community College, Waco, Texas. 2001 - Present. Participation in chat discussions.
Flash, Anyone?, instructor, workshop for ITDE 2001 conference, Austin, Texas. August 2001. Three-hour workshop on the basics of Flash and sound pedagogical reasons for using Flash in Online Instruction.
Instructional and Web Design for Online Courses, co-instructor, 5-week faculty development course, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas. Summer 2001.
How to Build Interactivity into your Online Courses, co-facilitator, workshop for ITDE 2001 conference, Austin, Texas. August 2001. Two-hour workshop on effective uses of asynchronous and synchronous tools to integrate interactivity into online courses.
How to Build Interactivity into your Online Courses, instructor, UT TeleCampus Faculty Training, Austin, Texas. October 2001. One-hour session discussing effective uses of asynchronous tools to add interactivity into online courses.
Going to School in Your Pajamas, instructor, Expanding Your Horizons, Math/Science Career Workshop for Girls, UT Arlington Women’s Studies, November 2001.
Web Planning and Design, author and instructor, Staff development course for HMHP Intranet web developers, Harris Methodist Health Plan, 1998 – 1999.