Purpose
Research Question:
How can the College's Graduate/Professional Studies programs be enhanced or reconfigured in order to meet the changing needs in Northeast Ohio?
This is an attempt to capture my research process and to share my research findings with as many people as possible. My project goal is to research workforce needs and economic development projections in Northeast Ohio in order to provide recommendations for program enhancement, particularly in Graduate and Professional Studies.
I chose to conduct my project in this public manner in order to explore one aspect of the type of technologically integrated learning for which I am advocating. I have not blogged before, so bear with me.
Early posts merely reflect information gathered. As I progress, my later posts will be more analytical and synthetic. I invite any and all comments, thoughts, musings, questions, and connections. The more personal input I receive, the more meaningful my recommendations will become.
If I have learned anything in the past few weeks, it is certainly that there are many important things that I just don't know, so help me out if you see the need.
Please click on the links that are in (almost) every post to get detailed information from the source itself.
Professional Development for 21st century Skills- technology
- The Partnership for 21st Century Skills published an e-paper outlining basic strategies and benchmarks for professional development . This paper refers to P16 educators, and often indicates a focus on teacher training. However, the basics are useful.
- From Digital Learning Environments : ideas on grant seeking and professional development planning
- Professional Development offered in Missouri by eMINTS (the instructional model focuses on connecting inquiry, community, high quality lesson design, technology and evaluation)
- Alan McCord offers the followng consideration: While formal training can improve faculty attitudes toward technology, it is most effective in practical terms when comprehensively delivered and accompanied by incentives (Gilmore 1998). For this reason an understanding of what motivates faculty to use online instruction as well as what inhibits such use should inform a training protocol. Maguire (2005) identifies three forms of motivation that influence faculty in their decisions regarding the use of online teaching resources:
- Intrinsic motivators involve personal attitudes affecting technology adoption.
- Extrinsic motivators incorporate incentives such as promotion, tenure, and opportunities for collaboration with other faculty.
- Institutional motivators appeal to potential users by means of the support, compensation, release time, and recognition made available by the university.
While Maguire (Maguire, L. 2005. Literature review—Faculty participation in online distance education: Barriers and motivators. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration 8) argues that positive extrinsic and institutional motivators may outweigh negative intrinsic motivators, she also notes that developers of online programs should understand that faculty may experience extrinsic and institutional motivation as a type of peer pressure. If reluctant faculty members feel compelled to incorporate technology, they might experience less satisfaction with their instructional experience and higher rates of burnout (Beam and Kim 2002). Special care should be taken to provide additional support to faculty who participate in online teaching because of a perceived pressure to participate(This article was originally published in Innovate (http://www.innovateonline.info/) as McCord, A. 2006. Staffing and supporting a new online initiative. Innovate 3 (2). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=406 (accessed October 13, 2008).
- 21st Century Connections has reconceptualized (in an exciting way!) what the role of the 21st century educator is, namely, a visonary, a leader, an adaptor, a learner, and a risk taker.
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