15 Mar / 2017

“Untethered” Faculty Development

This Edsurge article talks about how Professional Development at California University, Channel Islands, is being ‘untethered.’  My first thought as a faculty member was, oh, you mean you want to make it easier for me to do this on my own time, rather than when I am “at work,” but that was ungenerous; after all, my main complaint about our own Professional Development offerings is that they are held at times when I am in class and thus unable to attend.

“Untethering” apparently refers to changing face-to-face meetings to virtual and, whenever possible, asynchronous ones.  As someone who loves email over phone calls simply because it means the two participants don’t have to be available at the same moment, something that seems to happen all too infrequently during the school day, I appreciate that.  However, I also feel like, many days, I barely see my colleagues, let alone exchange words with them; an excuse to be face-to-face with them is usually welcome.

CSU Channel islands asks these four questions to determine whether untethering might be right for you:

  1. We struggle with low faculty engagement.
  2. We are seeking a way to build digital literacy among faculty.
  3. Our faculty want more just-in-time resources.
  4. We employ remote faculty who currently are unable to attend our faculty development opportunities.

Those things certainly seem to apply at Kirkwood Community College; do they at your school?  What do you think?

 

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