Section 5: Trends and Issues in Various Settings
When I went looking for additional definitions of ‘rapid prototyping’ (seeking inspiration) I found many more references to industrial design, not instructional design, but I would guess that in many ways the definition is almost the same. “Techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model,” would define either process, and in actuality one could easily lead to the need for the other.
Perhaps a new device is built to simplify the process for students or professional scientists who were taking samples for testing of blood samples. I would have to guess that as soon as a prototype for the device were built, there would be professionals within the company who would begin to build a prototype set of instructions for the items use. The selling point for this device is in the precision of the samples that can be taken, so the public will expect that their samples will be done with this device.
Rapid prototype training has to be created to train all the lab employees within a major chain of labs in the country. The training has to be deployed to all the labs at the same time, so a prototype for training would have to be built from the moment the company knows that the change will be made. A prototype is needed that includes the procedures for the new equipment that remains flexible enough to fit any of the labs in the country, and can be adapted to fit with the equipment and staffing that each of the individual labs have.
You can expand the same scenario to the need to create prototype training for education. If this new tool is all the rage and technicians who can use it are in demand, then instructors who train future lab technicians will need to be able to train students in the tool only after they have all learned to use it. A rapid prototype for training would need to be deployed that would help those students who are in the program or about to complete the program to learn to use this tool.
Pretend you are hired as a consultant for the military. They want to use technology in its training, but electronic access is not always available. Using the Full Spectrum diagram, what alternatives could you suggest for a successful program?
Pretend you are hired as a consultant for the military. They want to use technology in its training, but electronic access is not always available. Using the Full Spectrum diagram, what alternatives could you suggest for a successful program?
Materials could include training manuals, broken down into PowerPoint-style presentations. Depending on the locations the same materials could be carried in paper form, or on CD-ROM with online supplemental materials that are both static and dynamic. The majority of materials can be used wherever there is internet or computer support. Some online materials would even be accessible by smart phone if there is reception.
For beginning learners, focus on ensuring the base skills necessary to complete the task/training are in place before introducing new skills and building familiarity with new product or procedure. Hands-on practice would be best where available; modeled practice where not available. Rank and capability would limit some interaction of groups at this point.
For intermediate learners, hands-on practice or would be necessary with progressive skills or steps taken to ensure that learning is segmented for those who may be deployed and have other duties that would interrupt long-process instructional sections. Capability would have to be fairly standard if the personnel were going to be considered intermediate. Rank would likely limit which groups could work together for practice as I would imagine it is best for military discipline that officers and enlisted men be separated as well. If possible, group practice is an important learning component. For garrison or deployed troops, some mixing of officers and enlisted troops for practice may be needed so that groups can work together.
For advanced learners, practical, real-life situational use of the new policy or practice would be required so that full knowledge or expertise can be exercised. Classroom troops may be challenged more in this area as there may not be the same opportunities for practice as there would be in garrison or deployed areas as there are likely to be more troops at a base where classroom instruction would be available. Garrison or deployed troops will have time constraints, but more practical opportunities to practice.
• Review the Step-Up-To-Excellence methodology and the GSTE. Outline a staff development activity that will introduce both methodologies to your colleagues.
Within the district it is coming up on SACS time. Part of the accreditation process involves looking at procedures and outcomes to assess whether or not the college is achieving its mission, meeting standards established by the higher education community and providing adequate resources, programs and services to meet the needs of its community. The 2010 Principles of Accreditation focus on quality enhancement, or ensuring that an institution has an ongoing program for improvement with demonstrable goals. This provides the perfect opportunity to talk about systemic change and introduce the idea of an ecological systemic change.
ACTIVITY:
At a meeting with some opinion leaders I would ask, “If you could change how the college operates, what would you change?”
I would write some of the answers we shared on a white board so there is a visual reference to the topics and ask some of those who offered a narrow, process or program change why they choose that thing. I would also ask some who offered a broader topic why they chose what they chose. I would point out that no one said (because I am hoping that they won’t) “I would scrap the whole thing and start over from scratch.” I would ask them why they didn’t think of rebuilding from the ground up.
Next, I would define ecological systemic change and point out its differences from what they might normally think of as systemic change. “It’s not a dream of what would be different if you ran the school, but it is a deep evaluation that includes all the different groups involved and the values they hold.”
I’d start a conversation about values and ask small groups to list values they believe should relate to a systemic change of the entire district.
I would split the group into two groups and give each one of the two outlines for the Guidance System for Transforming Education and the Step-up to Excellence models, and ask each to use the models to tell the story of how they would change the district.
• Research three different university offices for faculty development. Answer the following questions for each office:
What are the different names used for faculty development?
What division is it under?
What services does it offer?
How often are programs given and what specifically are they?
Maricopa Community Colleges has the Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction (MCLI) within the Division of Academic and Student Affairs.
The most prominent piece on the center’s Web page is a logo for Quality Matters. The Quality Matters™ program was developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education and offers a peer-based approach to quality assurance and continuous improvement for online education. Maricopa is one of the largest and most prominent community college systems in the country.
The MCLI offers a calendar with professional development events, both within the colleges and within the area. Some training programs are immediate and online. Under a listing of resources, I found an online tutorial for learning HTML, lesson ideas for problem-based learning and a learning exchange that shares ideas and materials that were developed at the colleges. There are a number of online tutorials for learning technologies such as podcasting and for teaching strategies as well. It appears that in addition to online, there are opportunities for dialogues and training classes. It is hard to judge the frequency of when these are offered because of the term break I would guess.
There are some training classes this week, and then none again until late January after the start of the Spring semester. There is a blended learning institute that is offered in the spring that has several ‘learnshops’ for faculty who will be teaching hybrid courses (part online and part in-class). Maricopa has a yearly recognition program for innovation with an “innovation of the Year,” and sabbatical programs faculty members can apply for to offer professional growth as well.
The University of Texas at Austin
Center for Teaching and Learning is it’s own department though apparently it used to be under the Division of Instructional Innovation and Assessment. A news posting on the center’s website says that it is under the executive vice president and provost’s purview.
Through a very well-assembled website the CTL seems to offer direct resources for faculty members that range from speakers series and national forums to consulting services for teaching assistants. There are numerous things listed under “Teaching and Learning Resources” that include video and slideshow presentations where teachers can share materials being used in the classroom. A calendar lists upcoming speakers, but an archive of past speakers also has streaming videos of the presentations. A link for “Teaching with Technology” lists resources that are available from Balckboard to Wikis and provides a brief definition of each technology before telling faculty members how to request training in that medium.
UT obviously invests a great deal of time and energy into teacher development, but one of the most intriguing tools I found is “The Consultation Process at the Center for Teaching Effectiveness.” A link takes the instructor to a page that is titled “Teaching Assessment: Practices for Graduate Student Instructors,” which I believe would limit how many tenured or tenure-track professors would use this service. It would of course depend a great deal on the culture at the college, but I would imagine that listing this service as something for graduate students would make many practicing professors shy away from asking for this one-on-one consultation service. It’s a shame to frame this in this context since many instructors could and should be changing their teaching style as time and technology change. For Example: “If you are still using the overhead slides you wrote out at as grad student MANY years ago, you may need this service?”
I’ve only discussed a small portion of what I found online for the UT CTL, but it is clear that the university invests extensively in training and offering development opportunities to its faculty members.
Cornell University
I wanted to look at a university that was known as a research institution, so I chose Cornell. I was surprised a bit to find that resources for faculty development seem to be a bit fractured. Information Technologies handles, or at least lists services, for faculty support for teaching with technology as well as course website and audio and video capabilities. Their website lists training workshops for Blackboard, with several offered in January. Custom training programs are available for individuals or groups by request. They also offer online training for Qualitrics and several static “How to Guides” for using different technology programs. It appears that IT also maintains Academic Technology Centers where faculty can prepare their course materials with a variety of hardware and software that might not be available in their offices.
There also is a Center for Teaching Excellence that says it serves as a “a resource for the academic community by offering a wide array of research-based programs and services that support teaching and reflective practice.” The CTE provides faculty members with individualized or department training programs for course design, on request, and lists a variety of static resources such as checklists and rubrics for download or review. “Services for Faculty” appear to all be static or by-request training programs. The CTE website has pages for publications and presentations, and videos that have transcripts or video about a wide variety of teaching or educational topics.
A blog page reviews what seminars and training sessions have been offered in recent weeks, with just a brief synopsis of the topic addressed. There are professional development opportunities listed for most days in November, with some in the first week in December. It’s clear though that they have not loaded any of the Spring semester sessions as the calendar is empty past mid-December.
