Flipped classroom using Homework Help

The flipped classroom model is a student-centred approach to learning. Students can be introduced to learning content at home with the use of products like screencast-o-matic or camtasia. Students can come to class and apply the lessons they reviewed at home and work through problems. The teacher provides assistance as needed.

Last week my colleague Mike Mastragostino and his team created a video showcasing Math Homework Help and how it can be used in a Flipped Classroom Model, 3 Part Lesson and Reciprocal Learning (windows media format, 5 min).

"Grade 7 & 8 students were asked to work in groups of 4 and each group received a math question on a topic not yet covered by a teacher. Each student in the group had to go into Math Homework Help and ask a tutor “each had to use a different tutor” for help on a specified math problem. The next day they met within their groups and reviewed and assimilated the different sessions, which are now stored in their lockers, into one best practise. Next they were asked to work together to create and design a 3 Part Lesson which they would present to their peers."

click on image to start video

TED-Ed Customized Learning Web Initiative

I had a chance to examine the Customized Learning Web Initiative by TED-Ed. So far, the content seems to be targeted at post-secondary students but the one video I looked at on How Folding Paper Can Get You to the Moon could easily be shown to elementary or secondary students studying exponents. By watching the video students would get a very good idea as to how exponential growth occurs. I also like the ability to do a comprehension check in the form of the 'quick quiz' and to promote higher level critical thinking skills through the questions posed in 'dig deeper'. The ability to flip the video and customize the content to create your own lesson is a very valuable feature. Therefore, teachers could customize the video, the quizzes and the dig deeper questions to include examples and content relevant to their particular students. I will be interested to see if and how this gets adopted by teachers in our board due to the increased popularity of You Tube videos to support classroom instruction.

Facilitating eLearning with "bring your own device"

Our board has recently opened up WiFi access to our students and teachers so they are able to use their personal devices to facilitate eLearning. It has also been interesting to hear about what other educators are experiencing with this initiative, BYOD in primary. This opens up some very exciting possibilities for engaging students. Of course there are some challenges for schools wishing to implement these kinds of initiatives. Below are but a few;

1) Equity - what does one do about students that do not have/ can't afford mobile devices? Perhaps it would be possible for school council to purchase some inexpensive tablets so these students could participate in the collaborative activities. Schools with more fund raising capability could donate some devices to other schools. Combined with computers that already exist in the class/ computer lab it may be possible to have at least one device for every two students.

2) Inappropriate use - yes, with mobile devices in classes there is potential for abuse, but where better to learn about how to use the technology appropriately and effectively than in school. Students need to be given specific instruction about how to use social media to communicate in constructive and cooperative ways to achieve educational outcomes. Students who are distracted by the technology (i.e. surfing websites, playing games) can be told to put the device away and to do the low tech version of the task.

3) Theft - teachers can lock away devices in cabinets when they are not being used in class, but students may still become targets to/ from school. I'm not sure there is an easy solution to that issue.

We will see what other challenges present themselves when I actually engage in a BYOD eLearning activity with a group of students. Below are some technical and pedagogical issues I am working through. I would like to base the activity on one of the resources in the Ontario Educational Resource Bank.

As an example, there is a learning object called the Confederation Challenge in which students review politics, personalities and events that led to the creation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. It's in the format of a game show hosted by Sir John A Macdonald.

        Students could use the computers in the library to access the learning object (this is not possible on the mobile devices because of the complications with Flash and iPad/ iPhone (extremely popular with younger students). In a subsequent class they could bring their mobile devices and work in small groups to co-edit a document that would provide additional questions and answers for the game show, or do a mini-presentation on a significant event or key personality they learned about in the Confederation Challenge. I am thinking about using google docs for the co-editing/ presenting which means the student would need to install an app on their device to access google docs (variety of different apps depending on their device). More to come as I work through the details and their implications.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome....

Improving Student Success Online

The recent announcement that Desire2Learn will partner with IBM and use 'predictive analytics' to improve educational outcomes in e-learning is interesting on a few fronts. Tony Bates would like to know, "who is designing the algorithims and the questions they are intended to answer, what assumptions are driving the design, who has access to the data, what rights students and instructors will have, and how institutions plan to use analytics from online teaching".

I am interested in the announcement for the following reasons. Currently Desire2Learn is the platform that we use for our online and blended learning course delivery as part of eLearning Ontario. They also provide the platform which houses the Ontario Educational Resource Bank. Therefore, we stand to benefit directly from this relationship and the tools that will be developed to improve student success. The Smarter Education Solution, will, "offer early-warning systems for at-risk students, instructional intervention plans, insights on teaching effectiveness and other features."

Currently, when we discuss work with students we identify 'success criteria' - what strategies need to be employed, what tasks need to be completed, what resources need to be utilized, in order to achieve high levels of success in a specific task. It is intended to be explicit so that students become better at understanding the process of learning and improving their ability to learn. At staff meetings we also discuss specific instructional interventions in order to help students move from lower levels of achievement to higher levels of success on a more consistent basis. We also attempt to measure the effectiveness of our interventions with the hope of identifying which ones are more likely to produce the desired results.

So, the Smarter Education Solution is replicating a process that is already in place, but applying it to the online environment. Hopefully, it will provide the means of improving meta-cognition among students and providing educators with more precise means of evaluating instructional methods. Here is a thought, will the new solution afford us the means of prescribing a more individualized learning experience for students based on their 'learning profile' which would enable them to be more successful?

Des succès de l’intégration de l’apprentissage électronique dans les salles de classe

Le mois passé j’ai lu an article qui a parlé des obstacles de l’intégration de l’apprentissage électronique dans les salles de classe. Je suis d’accord qu’il y a beaucoup d’obstacles – les enseignants sont très occupés avec les initiatives du ministère et du conseil, ils font plusieurs activités avec les élèves à l’extérieur de la classe (les clubs, les sports…), ils n’ont pas beaucoup de temps à évaluer les ressources électroniques et de trouver une façon de les intégrer dans leurs classes.

J’ai travaillé dans le domaine de l’apprentissage électronique depuis 16 ans et j’ai trouvé que beaucoup a changé pendant ce temps. Oui, il y a toujours les enseignants qui vont continuer à utiliser les méthodes traditionnelles et qui ne sont pas intéressés à adopter les nouvelles techniques d’apprentissage – mais je trouve parmi mes collègues plus de personnes qui voient que l’apprentissage électronique est une autre façon efficace de différencier l’instruction.

Notre conseil et ministère ont réalisé des initiatives pour améliorer l’accès aux ordinateurs et offrir la formation et l’assistance aux profs qui sont intéressés à utiliser l’apprentissage électronique.

On a installé les projeteurs avec le logiciel interactif dans chaque salle de classe et ils sont branchés aux ordinateurs avec l’accès de l’internet. Les élèves et les enseignants peuvent apporter leurs dispositifs électroniques aux écoles et les brancher aux réseaux sans fil pour faire les activités collaboratives.

Mon rôle est de visiter chaque école et de montrer aux enseignants les ressources électroniques que le ministère a développées et d’aider les enseignants à choisir les bonnes stratégies pour en faire la mise en œuvre. La Banque de Ressources Éducatives de l’Ontario (BRÉO) (en anglais) contient plusieurs exercices interactifs pour une variété de sujets et niveaux que les enseignants peuvent utiliser avec leurs élèves. Par exemple, dans la Banque il y a une unité pour le sujet de vol en sixième année. Par les interactions avec les éléments multimédias et les activités de manipulation les élèves peuvent apprendre les propriétés d'air et les forces de vol. En collaboration avec leurs pairs les élèves entreprennent des enquêtes, font des observations et créent des designs de machines volantes qui montrent les propriétés d'air et les forces de vol. Quand j’ai montré les ressources aux enseignants, ils ont commencé de les utiliser dans leurs classes le lendemain.

J’ai plusieurs autres exemples des profs qui sont intéressés à utiliser l’apprentissage électronique et les medias sociaux parce qu’ils savent que c’est une compétence critique pour les élèves (consulte l’édition de Pour parler profession).

Notre ministère de l’Éducation offre un service où les étudiants reçoivent gratuitement de l'aide aux devoirs de mathématiques en ligne (en anglais). Le site Web fournit gratuit, en direct tête-à-tête le tutorat de professeurs de l'Ontario. C’est une partie de leur stratégie pour l’apprentissage électronique.

Alors, on a encore des obstacles à l’intégration de l’apprentissage électronique mais, la situation s'est énormément améliorée.

Successful Online Learning

I came across the following survey which does a very good job of helping students to determine if they have the requisite learning preferences, attitudes and work habits to be successful online learners. Some of the important considerations were;


The flexibility afforded by online learning means students can set their own schedule, but they need to have the self-discipline to complete assigned tasks on time, participate in online discussions and monitor their progress to make sure they meet all of the academic requirements.

Students need to be independent, effective problem-solvers in the event that the teacher is not online to provide clarification or feedback to a question or an assignment. What strategies will they be able to employ in order to identify possible resources that could help them to find the answers to their questions.

Strong reading comprehension skills will enable students to follow written instructions for course activities, and to make sense of contributions by classmates in the discussion board. The ability to articulate oneself clearly using text is also an important skill since it is the primary form of communication for an online course.

Technology also serves as a distraction. Students need to be able to remain focused on their academic tasks while they are online as opposed to surfing the web, chatting or texting with friends, playing video games or listening to and downloading music.

Apprentissage électronique

Aujourd'hui je fais ma première entrée de mon blog en Français. J'ai enseigné le Français pendant les quatre dernières années. Dans une édition de Pour parler profession j'ai lu un article sur l'apprentissage électronique où l'enseignante Rebecca Lupton a parlé de ses expériences avec son cours et ses élèves en ligne. Selon elle, toutes les formes d'enseignement ont les mêmes objectifs, 'aider les élèves à réussir'.

Alison Slack, du ministère de l'Éducation a confirmé, 'que la relation enseignant-élève est au centre du processus d'apprentissage.' Je ne suis pas surpris que beaucoup d'enseignants en ligne disent qu'ils connaissent leurs élèves mieux que des élèves en salle de classe. On est limité au temps et l'endroit dans une salle de classe traditionnelle. C'est vrai qu'on peut utiliser les stratégies comme penser et partager de paire pour évaluer la compréhension des élèves en classe mais souvent on n'a pas assez de temps à parler avec tous les élèves et de demander les questions plus élevées.

En ligne les élèves ont plus de temps à réfléchir sur les questions et les contributions des autres élèves et de composer leurs réponses. Aussi, on peut bien voir le processus de leurs pensées et comment ils sont arrivées à leurs conclusions parce que la conversation est documentée dans le tableau de discussion. C'est un outil important parce qu'on peut explicitement montrer aux élèves comment ils peuvent améliorer d'exprimer leurs idées en faisant référence à des domaines spécifiques dans leurs commentaires. Cette stratégie aussi aide les élèves à mieux comprendre comment ils peuvent améliorer leur travail. On peut aussi garder les exemples des contributions pour chaque niveau pour clairement indiquer aux élèves ce qu'ils doivent faire pour réaliser les niveaux plus hauts de succès (quelles sont les différences entre une contribution de niveau 2, 3 et 4).

Instructional Technology in the Classroom

The March issue of professionally speaking has an article on The High-Tech Class. What I really like is the format of the profile they provide on the 4 teachers that are using technology in their classroom. Each profile begins by identifying the instructional challenge that prompted them to re-examine their teaching practice in order to select a teaching strategy and technology which would help to address the challenge.

An excellent example is that of the grade 6 teacher, Kent Manning, who used a project of stop-motion animated movies to address the difficulty of inspiring boys to want to write. An examination of existing data revealed a tremendous gender gap in writing. Previously unmotivated students became engaged in the process of writing through storyboarding. The project required students to improve their understanding of story-telling structures and to apply this knowledge to make animated movies.

Did the technology enhance the learning all on its own? Absolutely not. It was the forethought and analysis required by the teacher that made this instructional technology effective in addressing the challenge that was identified. Selecting the correct teaching strategies to employ in concert with the technology was what made this project a success with students. The re-examination and reflection of one's teaching practice is a critical piece, otherwise mapping one's existing teaching practice onto new technology is not likely to lead to improved outcomes for students. As Danika Barker in the article suggested, "don't make the mistake of implementing 21st century teaching tools while hanging on to 19th century teacher-centric pedagogy."

A comment in the editorial section referred to the previous article on Using Social Media in the Classroom and suggested that, "we need to ask ourselves whether this type of learning is really better?" I think we need to move beyond the debate about which method of learning is better. There is no doubt that reading books and interacting with other people in person is an effective way to learn. Technology is not the panacea of teaching and learning. If used correctly instructional technology can become one of the many ways in which teachers can effectively differentiate instruction for students. Tony Bates has a great quote at his website.

"Good teaching may overcome a poor choice of technology but technology will never save bad teaching".


I couldn't agree more.

Using Social Media in the Classroom

In a  recent edition of Professionally Speaking, I read an article about Using Social Media in the Classroom. I agree with OCT registrar Michael Salvatori when he says that social networking sites can be essential instructional tools and that we should be encouraging their use.

Some of the interesting examples sited were;

Using Ning (customized social networking site) so that students could interact and role-play the characters of a Shakespeare play online. The teacher indicated that it was an immersive experience for students which allowed them to grasp the meaning of the play and the characters.

Twiducate (secure social networking site for schools) to facilitate communication between students and teachers and to establish communities of practice.

Using blogs to connect with teams of scientists that are researching the topics students are studying in their classrooms. Students are able to expand the boundaries of their classroom to incorporate a more global perspective because they are exposed to a variety of view points and cultural practices.

French students used Skype to connect with other students in France to talk about activities in their community and classrooms. Students are engaged in authenticate conversations about topics that are relevant to their lives and they improve their aural comprehension skills by listening to other people speaking French.

Sometimes there is reluctance to adopt these kinds of instructional tools for fears of encountering improper online conduct or protecting student privacy. However, as the article points out , "there is no safer place than school itself to discuss the proper use of tools like social media, privacy, digital identity and respectful language."

A New Direction

I have decided to change the location of my blog. It was a laborious process because I was unable to find software capable of converting the export file (.txt) from the previous blog to an .xml file that the blogger software was capable of rendering properly. Given the comments I received on my previous posts it appears that readers found the insights informative and that's why I thought it was worth it to move everything over. The focus of this blog will be shifting from eLearning in post-secondary education to what is happening in the K-12 sector. I hope you continue to find this information useful, as I will be reflecting on my experiences implementing the Ontario Ministry of Education's eLearning strategy.

Technology Skills Competition - Constructivist Approach

For the past two days I have had an opportunity to observe our students competing in the Technology Skills Competition. Students work in teams of 4 in the areas of Lego Mechanics, Robotics, Technology and Video Editing to design, and create projects that can overcome specific challenges. For example, using software they program a robot that is capable of using environmental stimuli to determine the correct course of action to achieve a task (i.e. the robot travels along a specified path and determines if the wall in front of it is a particular color, depending on the color it needs to turn either left of right to continue along the path until it reaches the final destination.) Using legos they construct a vehicule that is capable of climbing three different stages on a ramp and knocking over a final target.

The students have an opportunity to create an initial design, test it and then make modifications before they submit their project for final evaluation. The entire process is student driven and is a good example of a constructivist approach to learning which enagages students in authentic problem solving and critical thinking. It was very rewarding to listen to the dialogue of the teams as they tested their designs and discussed how they could be improved in order to overcome the challenge. Not only is this a fantastic and fun way for the kids to learn, but it helps to build their confidence. The students were so proud and had such a sense of achievement when they got their projects to work.

eLearning Ontario

I have returned to my previous role as an eLearning consultant after being an elementary classroom teacher for the past five years. As a result of my experiences in the classroom I think I have become a better educator, especially in the area of literacy instruction. I have gained a new appreciation for the realities and challenges classroom teachers face (i.e. access to technology, differentiating instruction, inclusivity, equity..,). I think it is important for me to keep those realities and challenges in mind whenever I consult with educators.

Prior to working as an eLearning consultant at the University of Toronto and the University of Guelph, I began my secondary teaching career in the late 90's as part of a distance education consortium (6 school boards in Ontario) that developed and delivered courses via the internet. Eventually the consortium folded because we did not have the financial resources to sustain the technical infrastructure and personnel required to support such a large project.

It is very encouraging to see the degree of support and coordination that is now in place with the Ministry of Education's elearning strategy. In addition to providing a province wide Learning Management System (Waterloo's Desire 2 Learn) to deliver the courses there is an Ontario Education Resource Bank that teachers can use to access materials aligned with specific learning strands and expectations. Both of these resources also help to facilitate a blended learning delivery model which seeks to help teachers to integrate instructional technology and elearning as part of regular classroom instruction. Homework Help is a service that allows students to receive real-time math tutoring by certified teachers using chat and whiteboard functions. A critical piece is providing the funding for a District eLearning consultant in each school board to facilitate and support educators that wish to use these resources.

The questions that come to mind are what metrics will be used to determine if this strategy is successful? Adoption and utilizations rates? Learning impact studies or evaluating the actual resources themselves? Some type of testing? Given the amount of investment that has taken place it will be critical to continue to evaluate the outcomes in order that the strategy continues to evolve to meet the needs of educators and learners.

A Framework for the Pedagogical Evaluation of eLearning Environments

I came across the following resource which provides a, "A Framework for the Pedagogical Evaluation of eLearning Environments".

The paper uses Chickering & Gamson's (1987) 'Seven Principles of Effective Teaching' as the framework for examining the potential of Virtual Learning Environments to enhance learning. It also includes a questionnaire based on the viable system and conversational models articulated by Britain and Liber (2004).

The document is made available from Eduforge, "an open access collaborative learning and exploratory environment designed for the sharing of ideas, research outcomes, open source educational software, and tools within a community of educators, researchers and developers."

Reviewing Synchronous Learning Objects

In response to Christy's comments regarding the use of LORI in sychronous environments.

The creators of the LORI describe using a convergent participation evaluation model in conjunction with the rating instrument.  Please see;
Nesbit, J., Belfer, K., & Vargo, J. (2002). A convergent participant model for evaluation of learning ob-jects. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 28 (3). Retrieved  from http://www.cjlt.ca/content/vol28.3/nesbit_etal.html

I believe that both could be applicable for digital objects available synchronously as many of the criteria in the LORI would be relevant; feedback adaptation; learning goal alignment, content quality, presentation design.

You might want to adapt the criteria in the LORI to address some of the dynamics that are present during real-time activities, i.e. ability to guage understanding and respond to the needs of learners.

Learner motivations in a business and academic environment may not be the same, but there needs to be a formal reward system in place to recognize those who take part in the review process.  Recognition also makes the activity more credible, because in effect the organization/ insitution is reinforcing the idea that this activity is a valuable undertaking.  In academia, the idea behind engaging in a rigorous evaluation of the quality of learning materials is to promote it as a scholarly activity similar to articles being peer reviewed for a journal.  Having someone use your LO would be equivalent to a citation in an article which may indicate that your resource is of some value in that particular discipline. One way of recognizing people who engage in these activities in a corporate environment would be to provide them with the training and time to develop/ evaluate these materials.

Learning Object Articles

A number of articles relating to Learning Objects have just been published online in the Interdisciplinary Journal of Knowledge and Learning Objects, including:

Interoperability and Learning Objects: An Overview of E-Learning Standardization, by Norm Friesen.

Interactive QuickTime: Developing and Evaluating Multimedia Learning Objects to Enhance Both Face-To-Face and Distance E-Learning Environments, by Thomas Cochrane.

Learning Objects: Using Language Structures to Understand the Transition from Affordance Systems to Intelligent Systems, by Jacques du Plessis.

A Study of the Design and Evaluation of a Learning Object and Implications for Content Development, by Ferdinand Krauss & Mohamed Ally.

Project Open Source Open Access

The Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI) at the University of Toronto is part of a graduate studies program that conducts research in all areas of knowledge media design.

KMDI has just announced the launching of Project Open Source Open Access. It is a "cross-divisional, tri-campus initiative to develop a networked community to share knowledge, enhance coordination, increase awareness, and to encourage research and knowledge mobilisation in this area".

As part of this initiative they will be hosting a lecture series beginning February 10th, 2005. The first speaker will be Michael Geist (Canadian Research Chair in Internet and e-Commerce Law). The series will be webcast live and archived using epresence interactive media (a research project of KMDI). The platform includes, "support for video, audio, and slide broadcasting; slide browsing and review; submitting questions, integrated moderated chat, live software demos and the automated creation of event archives". They are working towards an open source release of this system.

Elearning Planning and Management

As part of the graduate course I am taking on Planning and Management in Distance Education and Training I am reading Marc Rosenberg's book on Elearning Strategies for Delivering Knowledge in the Digital Age. In the first few chapters there were two critical points which spoke to me. First, that technology in and of itself will not enhance learning. The case that illustrates that point well, was the adoption of cable TV in the classroom. As a tool, technology has the potential to enhance learning if it is accompanied by the appropriate instructional strategies which are designed to achieve the learning outcome. I am inclined to endorse Elliot Masie's position that the technological implementation is the easy part of the equation and that the most challenging aspect is developing the new models of interaction that will allow us to truly realize the full potential of elearning.

Rosenberg also contends that "without a comprehensive strategic foundation" elearning implementations are prone to failure. I have seen many elearning projects that were not sustainable because the decision-makers did not set out realistic, long-term objectives that were achievable given the environment they were operating in. That's why over the next few months I will be working with our Dept. of Health Policy Management to develop a comprehensive, multi-year strategic plan for their Online Master of Health Sciences in Health Administration program. The plan will include the costing structure and operational requirements for their program as well as evaluation and performance indicators and methodologies. We are hoping this process will become a template for other programs on campus wishing to adopt similar delivery strategies. Stay tuned on this front, as I will post the materials regarding this plan at this site.

So far the book is a good read, but I do take issue with some of the items Rosenberg lists in his "Benefits of Elearning". Keep in mind that he is coming from a corporate training perspective.

1) "Despite outward appearances elearning is often the most cost-effective way to deliver instruction (training) or information."

From a University perspective this is not necessarily the case. While it may reduce the need for classroom/ instructor infrastructure, the following items can dramatically increase the cost of course development and delivery; software license, hardware, maintenance of course and hardware, expertise (technical/ instructional design), opportunity cost of faculty time (subject matter expert), copyright, multimedia production. There is a potential to become cost effective, but only once the initial startup costs are absorbed and the number of students increase beyond a certain point.

2) Universality. "Concern over differences in platforms and operating systems is rapidly fading".

The increasingly proprietary nature of learning management systems and content is a major barrier to the concept of universality. The consulting fees required to enable the type of exchange to occur between different hardware and software systems is prohibitive. Until open standards/ source are more widely adopted we will not be able to easily exchange information between systems and individuals.

3) Scalability. "Programs can move from 10 participants to 100 or even 100,000 participants with little effort or incremental cost (as long as the infrastructure is in place)."

That last part is the key. Few Universities or colleges have the resources to put the infrastructure in place for such a dramatic increase in participants.

Take our costs for example. We are a small unit supporting about 2500 users.

Software (LMS/ OS) $60, 000

Hardware $50, 000

To increase our capacity beyond 6 000 users would require $150, 000!

I firmly believe that institutions need to employ a costing methodology that reflects the true cost of adopting elearning delivery strategies. Bates's presentation, "The impact of e-learning on the university campus: measuring the costs and benefits"" (windows media version) is an excellent reference. Link for alternate formats (search for Tony Bates).

Benefits of Learning Online

Faculty I consult with often want to know how the learner benefits from online instruction. I respond by saying that web-based education has the potential to change the way students learn. Sociology professor Mark Kassop, does a good job of outlining 10 ways in which he believes online learning excels.


Reference:
Mark Kassop "Ten Ways Online Education Matches, or Surpasses, Face-to-Face Learning." The Technology Source, May/June 2003. Available online at http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1059

Introduction: Empowering Online Teaching through Faculty Development

Rogers (1995) defined innovation as, “an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption.” The articles in this collection have been selected to address the question, how can we promote innovation in teaching? The important distinction for the context of our discussion is that ‘perceived as new’ is relative to the traditional educational practices of a University which consist largely of face to face, lecture style classes. If web-based delivery is adopted and used with the existing instructional paradigms, the effect on learning will be negligible and will therefore not represent an innovation in teaching. Ultimately, it is not the technology that matters, but how we design the learning through the technology (Miller, 1996). Advances in teaching may result when technology is used as an opportunity discover new ways for achieving learning outcomes. Web-based education can represent both a pedagogical innovation and a channel of communication capable of engaging the learner. Technology enables the instructor to create a different kind of curriculum and to establish a different relationship with the student. The virtual classroom provides a new environment for human interaction and allows the teacher to design learning which can be more student-centred and collaborative.


According to Rogers (1995), innovation is adopted by members within society at different times and at different rates. A steep learning curve is overcome quickly by early adopters who absorb the new skills and instructional paradigms quickly while late adopters acquire this knowledge over a longer time span. Information seems to flow easily from innovators to early adopters. The barrier for diffusion is identified by the gap that occurs between early adopters and early main-stream faculty. The size of this gap can be attributed to the level of the interconnectedness between departments at a university. Often faculty have connections that do not extend beyond their department. This limits the reciprocal exchange of teaching methods and content. The number of nodes and connections between departments determines the complexity and richness of the network (Rueter, 1997).

Faculty development is often seen as a key enabler of innovation in teaching as it may serve to link successful teaching initiatives and the broad expertise available throughout a university. Such a network would facilitate the sharing of innovative teaching strategies and encourage the exchange of best practices in the development and delivery of online education. These types of initiatives also help to raise the profile of innovative teaching practices, and foster communication and collaboration between developers and programs.

Each of the following article summaries will examine a different aspect of faculty development and outline the strategies or considerations for promoting innovation in teaching. Together they provide the foundation for the design of the teaching online workshop I deliver at the University of Toronto.

Chapter 1: Online Course Design and Faculty Development

Brown, G., Meyers, C.B., Roy, S. (2003). Formal course design and the student experience. JALN 7(3), 66-77. http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v7n3/v7n3_myers.asp


The authors examine the collaboration between faculty and professional course designers at Washington State University and the impact that this work had on the student learning experience. The purpose of this study was to examine whether instructors exposed to the faculty development process were more likely to create technology-mediated learning environments which reflected effective teaching principles. Brown et al. (2003) go on to outline which principles of teaching have the greatest impact on learning. Based on their research they determined that the most important quality of good teaching practice is faculty-student interaction. This type of communication is also the basis for employing other principles of good practice. It is essential in facilitating the exchange of diverse points of view, for providing feedback on performance and for communicating high expectations. Regular interaction also provides the structure necessary so that students’ continue to focus their efforts on required tasks. A series of faculty and student surveys focusing on teaching and learning goals, activities and processes was used to systematically evaluate the use and impact of innovative teaching practices. The research findings suggest that faculty development programs which include pedagogical and technology training enhances the opportunities for interactions which lead to improved student learning outcomes.

This article was chosen because it demonstrates that systematic course design improves students’ opportunities for faculty-student interaction, student-student interaction, and other elements associated with best practice. It provides the rationale for why we employ an instructional design template to help faculty clearly articulate the strategies and technologies for online instruction. Engaging in this exercise gives them an opportunity to identify the types and frequency of communication they would like to occur and how these activities help them to achieve the learning outcomes.