Westminster College Small college transitions to ANGEL with different approach to training faculty

Westminster College Liberal Arts College in Salt Lake City Utah FTE of about 2200 students No official online courses or programs 140 Full-time faculty 100 Part-time faculty Website:

Faculty Technology Center Computer Lab 2 Staff positions Manage Course Management System Part of Information Technology Department Assist faculty with technology projects Encourage effective teaching and learning practices Host workshops about technology and pedagogy

Faculty Technology Center Motto(s) “We’ll teach you what to do, not do it for you.” “A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.”

Who Are We? Ben Neiswender –Faculty Technology Center Staff – Roksana Rezaei Dr. Peter Ingle –Faculty Liaison for FTC

WebCT History Training History: –Required Training to use WebCT –Week long summer session Full time faculty received stipend of $500 Adjunct faculty were not eligible to receive stipend

Why ANGEL Easy to use for our faculty Enterprise features that WebCT would charge us more than we could afford –ePortfolio –Learning Object Repository –Reporting features Still less expensive for us over 3 years- –we estimated approximately $90,000 cheaper

The Decision Making Process Demonstrated ANGEL to Faculty Faculty Pilot group set up Pilot group trained Pilot group use for 1 semester Pilot group recommendation given to Faculty Technology Committee More Faculty Demonstrations Technology Committee review and recommendation to faculty senate Faculty senate approval and Provost approval

ANGEL Pilot Group Started out as 5 faculty and grew to 10 quickly Some “CAVE-dwellers” –Colleagues Against Virtually Everything Some faculty who are tech savvy and buy- in to almost everything Mostly WebCT users Training Pilot group Tip: Be Prepared!

Success and Struggles of Pilot Group Success: –2 hour training session worked for most faculty –Most of them instantly fell in love with ANGEL –All of them started talking about ANGEL with other faculty Struggles: –Concepts that were difficult for me where twice as difficult for them File structure LOR Drag and Drop Assoc file manager

Transition Semester Goal: Have between faculty trained –Offered 12 workshops over Winter Break –Offered to meet one-on-one to meet with faculty to help them set up their class What happened: –Each workshop was near capacity –Helped approximately 2-3 faculty each day get set up in a one-on-one coaching environment –Had to offer 6 more workshops once the semester started

Results OVER 75 Faculty were trained in approximately 3 weeks by 1 person. Grand total of ANGEL users: 85 –Spring 2006 Total WebCT users: 90 Faculty Were not given a stipend at this time and were not promised one

Training Plan Faculty learn most of their skills by building something on their own Online Training 2 hour introductory session Stipends to be rewarded based on Levels of competency Goal: Receive as few support requests as possible.

Goals Level 1- Web Enhanced Instructor –80 Level 1 faculty by January 2008 Level 2- Hybrid Instructor –20 Level 2 faculty by January 2008 Level 3- Online Instructor –10 Level 3 faculty by January 2008

Level 1Goal Instructors will be able to: navigate around the ANGEL LMS as a student and as an instructor upload and organize files into ANGEL setup and use basic online communication tools such as the calendar, , and discussion boards describe the characteristics of a web-enhanced course, hybrid course, and an online course. successfully teach a web enhanced course

Level 1 Requirements To demonstrate competence faculty must: –ANGEL SCORM simulation Created using Captivate Located in Course –Multiple choice/True False policy and procedure

Level 2 Goal Each Instructor will be able to: determine how and if they will use the learning object repository use the HTML editor in ANGEL collaborate online by using discussions and teams assess student learning by using online quiz, survey, and polls create an online gradebook successfully teach a pedagogically sound hybrid course

Level 2 Requirements  Pass Level 1  Discussion  ANGEL  Syllabus  Survey/Quiz/Poll  Drop Box  Gradebook  Workshop 1  Workshop 2  Student Satisfaction Survey  Summary/Interview

Level 3 Faculty Certification Each Instructor will be able to: generate reports to monitor student activity and engagement create automated agents which maximize instructor impact on students find, develop and share learning objects determine which advanced course techniques could be most effectively used for their specific course successfully implement a pedagogically sound online course

Level 3 Requirements Complete Level 1 and 2 Semester long course using –3 or more of the level 3 concepts Automate Learning objects Chats Videos Attend 2 or more pedagogy workshops Participate in semester long discussion group –5 postings and 3 sessions Submit a Summary report

What we have learned: Start with Faculty buy-in If you are going to use a stipend make it based on competency- not just attending a training session. Training sessions need to be short Break training sessions into relevant areas Provide lots and lots of sessions about the basics.

Reflection on process Good: –Low amount of support calls –Many faculty transitioned early –Faculty love ANGEL Bad: –Lots of work and management –Too much success: server has struggled –Stipend plan should have been presented to faculty earlier

Summary The few hiccups don’t compare to the great overall success ANGEL has been Westminster Loves ANGEL!!!

Questions and Contact Info? Contact Information: Ben Neiswender: