By Design: Grassroots Development for Strategic Gains Anne H. Moore, John F. Moore, and Shelli B. Fowler WINNER: 2005 EDUCAUSE Award for Systemic Progress in Teaching & Learning

Virginia Tech Faculty Development Institute

Faculty Development Overview Faculty are scheduled to attend FDI summer workshops every four years Link professional development with computer & software replacement Supports curriculum initiatives Approximately 400 faculty attend each summer (25% of Teaching Faculty) Year-round programming

FDI Aims for All Faculty Motivate faculty to rethink teaching and learning –Explore specific instructional technology applications –Investigate, create, and use alternative instructional strategies –Hear from faculty who have transformed their teaching practice Recurring voluntary participation to update knowledge, skills, and technology

FDI Workshop Design Faculty centered Structured for immediate practice Project oriented Faculty presenters Lab TAs Frequent evaluations Follow-up sessions all year

Recent FDI Innovations Peer mentor initiative FDI/NMC production support initiative FDI internships Independent project track Spring track option: –Currently a subset of summer tracks –Participants take online or two-hour workshops (usually seven) with a thematic focus –Fulfills the summer requirement –Participants receive computers early

Challenges (1) Balance workshop topics against Increasing diversity of interests and needs Keep the focus on teaching and learning, not technology Build and reinforce top-level endorsement, advocacy and commitment

Challenges (2) Link course development resources to strategic goals Retain scalability and accessibility in all programming Leverage the unleashing of enthusiasm for teaching Respond to late adopters’ special concerns and needs

GEDI The Graduate Education Development Institute

Expanding Professional Development Part of a new nine-credit “Future Professoriate” graduate certificate For-credit, 16-week graduate course Combining theory and practice with discussion-based seminar and hands- on technology workshops

Transforming the traditional teaching and learning paradigm Engaging our current graduate student teachers and future faculty in rethinking traditional pedagogy

GRAD 5114 “Pedagogical Practices in Contemporary Contexts”

Discover how Problem- /Inquiry- based Learning engages 21 st - century learners and achieves course objectives

Creating a syllabus, a teaching philosophy statement, and developing a PBL case study for a current or future course Building an electronic teaching portfolio with VTeP

GEDI Participants: Have the opportunity to work in a multidisciplinary setting with peer colleagues Are encouraged to think beyond their disciplinary boundaries and explore learner-centered pedagogy

Critically examine traditional power dynamics in the classroom and redefine how to work with contemporary learners

Discover their own teaching style and gain confidence in their pedagogical choices in various teaching sites – on-campus classrooms, labs, and hybrid courses Have access to and instruction in the critically engaged and creative use of innovative technologies for teaching in the 21 st -century University