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Campus-Wide Faculty Development: No "Mission Impossible." Results from Implementation of Intensive Summer Workshops Program
Abstract
Faculty development is the key enabling strategy for the successful introduction of technology in the classroom and at a distance, required as universities strive towards achieving campus-wide technology competencies. Motivating the entire faculty to acquire new technology skills and to experiment with applications in their area of competence has been regarded by many as “mission impossible.” Technology training and its curriculum implementation often require a time investment that may discourage faculty commitment. To foster technological innovation, the Instructional Technology Laboratory (the center which provides pedagogical and technological support to faculty at the George Washington University) created an intensive development program supported by partnerships across several university departments. Faculty participating in the summer development institute and undertaking new projects (as a result thereof) receive incentives and rewards (release time, student assistance, monetary and resource support). The paper will present the success of the institute evaluated on a series of criteria: faculty needs and satisfaction, ability to meet faculty time-constraints with an intensive program format, and short-term and long-term benefits in terms of new initiatives implementation. It also highlights lessons learned on successful, and less successful, incentives. The paper does not address how faculty development programs impact students’ learning and satisfaction. Effectiveness questions on classroom technology initiatives are elaborated in several other studies, and are out of the scope of this review.
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