Scenarios Online

Faculty Development Goes Online

By David Hosman Valencia Community College

In October, 2001, Valencia Community College began offering faculty development opportunities online to various groups of faculty within the college. The seminar, entitled "Teaching in the Community College", was developed in conjunction with Houghton Mifflin Company and WisdomTools, Inc., a software company fostered by Indiana University. Patrick Nellis and David Hosman were members of the author group who created the story line. Aimed at adjunct faculty, new faculty, and veteran faculty who want to explore new ideas in more depth, the asynchronous format allows participants to move through the seminar at their own pace. It also provides participants the opportunity to interact with the story, excellent resources, collegial interaction, and the opportunity to examine their own thoughts at a deeper level and in a more leisurely fashion.

The online format solves one problem that has plagued faculty development historically as it attempts to reach out to adjunct faculty: faculty, especially adjuncts, often don't have the time to carve 3-4 hours from each week to attend a seminar. The asynchronous format, coupled with the individual's access to the Internet, allows the participant to choose when he or she will actually participate. Because the seminar takes place over a period of 6-8 weeks, it allows time for reflection on the topics, experimenting with them in class, and sharing results with colleagues.

Over 100 Valencia faculty and staff have participated in the seminar, and early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. In addition to reading and thinking about possible modifications to their own courses, faculty actually commit to several assignments which enable them to try different approaches that are designed to increase student performance and persistence. Closely aligned with the college's commitment to becoming more learning-centered, the seminar focuses on helping individual faculty members assist students to take charge of their own education. A full report is available from the office of the Faculty Development Coordinator at pnellis@valenciacc.edu and a detailed article will be published this year in the Jossey Bass publication series, New Directions for Teaching and Learning.

Scenarios™: Web-based Learning from Valencia Community College & WisdomTools, Inc.