Faculty Workshops
 

REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
Describe: The Edufolio Basics workshop is a series of faculty development workshops that I designed and taught during the rollout phase of Sherman College’s new course management system (CMS), Edufolio. I developed the workshops to teach Sherman faculty the basics of using the new course management system prior to the official launch of Edufolio. The workshops were also designed to assist them in rendering and moving their content online in preparation for the official launch of the system. The live workshops were taught in computer labs, where participants had working use of Edufolio.

Analyze: As instructional designer and technology leader, it is my responsibility to offer workshops that develop and enhance faculty knowledge, skills and attitudes toward modern technology. This artifact is representative of my framework because it illustrates my ability to design, instruct and motivate faculty in the use of a course management system which will allow twenty-first century pedagogy. This artifact is connected to my Edufolio proposal as well as the Edufolio student tutorials artifact.

Appraise: Introducing a course management system to faculty with the intent to utilize it within the instructional realm is not without its challenges. Since I was the sole instructor for these workshops, each workshop was limited to a small number of faculty. A factor in the effectiveness of the workshops was directly related to the technological abilities of the workshops attendees. I consciously made an effort to group same-skilled faculty together whenever possible to ensure a richer learning experience for the participants. The strength of these workshops lies in the buy-in factor from the faculty prior to and during these workshops. Their eagerness to move forward with modern technology made the workshop experiences worthwhile. The weakness of these workshops is that I feel they were rushed; I would have liked to schedule more workshops and take more time with the faculty prior to the rollout of the CMS. Overall, these initial workshops were a great success. These workshops were representative of my efforts to integrate modern technology into the Sherman instructional experience .

Transform: The development and subsequent success of these workshops has given me confidence in my ability to single-handedly lead an initiative of this magnitude. However, if I were doing it again, I would lobby strongly for support staff before beginning a project of this nature. The Edufolio Basics workshops are still given to new faculty and those who need a refresher. I intentionally keep the numbers of participants to a minimum for each workshop and my presentation of the material is a bit slower. If I undertake a rollout of this type again I will lengthen the time between instruction and actual implementation. I will also build in a scenario for faculty to experience Edufolio from a student perspective, since there are some variants in software interaction from the student end-user. An instructional technology department web site is currently in production, which will house all of the text versions of Edufolio instructions. I also plan to record streaming media tutorials to expand the Edufolio online tutorial library. Some streaming media tutorials which were initially designed for students are being used by faculty and staff. This has proven helpful as new faculty and staff are hired, since I can direct them to the online tutorials for reference after completing the face-to-face workshops.