Nine Months In Successes, Shortcomings & Future Plans Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Ph.D. Associate Director, Academic Technology 2008 Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning
About Simmons 100+ years old Private college located in Boston 5,000 students (1/2 grad, 1/2 undergrad) Women’s undergrad college and five co- educational grad schools Small university
A Bit of History: SATV: Shared Academic Technology Vision May - Aug -Planning -Briefing Document Development Jan - April -SATV Set as Priority Sept - Dec -1 st College Meeting -School Meetings -2 nd College Meeting -3 rd College Meeting Implementation Strategy: Macro/Micro: College-wide Working Groups in Conjunction with School- based Decision-Making Processes Informed Decision-Making: Lots of Examples and Briefing Documents Creative Voting Exercises (3 stickers, $10 to spend, clickers, etc.)
Potential Priorities Discipline- specific technologies Emerging technologies Blended learning Learning environments LMS enhancement
Faculty Interest Group: Peter Sands Presentation UW-M Facilitated Simmons Faculty Institute Developed Sloan Localness Proposal (12/07 award notice) A Bit of History:
See Executive Summary Highlights Mandated faculty professional development 1:17-20 Teacher/Student ratio Blended “counts” in P&T and for sabbatical leave Start-Up incentives Blended Learning Successes: Institution-Wide Policies
See Handout Highlights Guiding Questions Document Curriculum Committee and Faculty Retreats Blended Learning Successes Curriculum Committees
Include Video Interview Course Tour Sample Course Materials (Modules, Assignments) Recommended Exercises for Blended Course Redesign Glossary of Terms Designed to also be used as learning modules Blended Learning Successes Ethnographic Case Studies
Ethnographic Case Studies Use Scenarios Face-to-face institutes or blended institutes Fully online professional development (especially for adjuncts) Scheduled asynchronous (faculty available online as discussants) Self-paced independent Ten faculty cases planned for 08-09, eight are “in the can”
Blended Learning Successes Institutes and Assessments Twice Annual Faculty Institute 37 Simmons faculty and staff have participated 20 courses have been blended “High Touch” assessment instruments created (one pre/post attitudes, another based on CLASSE) SEE ALSO CLASSE EXAMPLE
Blended Learning Successes Expansion Other Schools Coming on Board CAS Education (blended faculty model) SSW Partnership with Lyndon College in VT SOM Project to Provide Business Management Education to Women in Underserved Communities
We Live in Interesting Times The Economy!!! Change in College Leadership Pushback on 50% Uneven Quality of Courses (Concerned that Blended Will Take the Fall) Anxiety About Where This Is Heading (We Know Who Our Students Are Now …) Blended Learning Challenges