Deep Impact: The Changing Educational Landscape and Faculty Support Teams

Concurrent Session 7
Leadership

Brief Abstract

An explosion of interest in online and blended learning provides opportunities for rethinking  models for faculty support and for partnerships for collaboration with faculty support teams.  This session will discuss possibilities for developing, sustaining, and growing a dynamic team that meets the goals and mission of your organization.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Dina Kurzweil, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Dr. Kurzweil is the Director of the ETI and has worked at USU since 2006. In this capacity, she provides strategic direction for the ETI, instructional and educational technology support for faculty, supervision of ETI personnel, and management of the ETI office. Prior to that, she worked at the National Defense University providing direction and vision of the instructional team supporting the Center for Educational Technology. She also is a faculty member in the Health Professions Education program at USU. She has served on numerous committees and task forces examining a wide range of topics including educational technologies, inter-professional education, professional development for K12 and higher education faculty, learning management systems, program assessment and evaluation, instructional design, and teaching/faculty support paradigms. Dr. Kurzweil has presented at international, national, and regional conferences, including American Educational Research Association (AERA), multiple conferences offered by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education, The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation & Education Conference (I/ITSEC), the Open Apereo (Sakai) Conference and AAMC.

Co-presenter: Linda Macaulay, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Dr. Linda Macaulay is an instructional designer with HJF in support of the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences (Bethesda, MD). She has over 15 years of experience teaching in online, blended, and traditional higher education programs. Before coming to the university, she was an Assistant Director of Instructional Technology, she taught graduate and undergraduate educational technology courses and was also an elementary teacher for eleven years. Her background in leadership for change, technology, and learning theory provides a broad base of knowledge to support faculty as they work to enhance their face-to-face, blended, and online courses with innovative teaching strategies and technology. She states that she is a "teacher first, techie second" because it is good teaching and course design that makes all the difference for student success. She lives in Landisville, PA with her son and pets and enjoys listening to Kenny Roger's music and spending time with her family to unplug and recharge. Look for her around the OLC Conference buzzing about in her red mobility scooter!

Co-presenter: Karen Marcellas, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Dr. Marcellas has more than fifteen years of experience in designing instruction for classroom-based, DL and blended learning environments. Her main role at the ETI is ensuring that the team understands faculty members’ needs, and that the team designs and develops products that meet those needs. Her work at the ETI has included front-end analysis, content design, course evaluation, and conducting research on instructional interventions. She has led professional development sessions at USU on topics including the development of effective learning objectives, the use of Bloom’s Taxonomy to guide assessment, and techniques for creating an effective learning environment. Dr. Marcellas has been involved with many instructional and educational technology initiatives at National Defense University (NDU) as well as USUHS. Dr. Marcellas is the co-author of "Instructional Designers and Learning Engineers", a chapter in the book "Modernizing Learning: Building the Future Learning Ecosystem." She has made presentations at numerous national and international conferences, including the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, the Association of American Medical Colleges Annual Meeting, the Online Learning Consortium Accelerate Conference, the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference, the Open Apereo (Sakai) Conference, Educause, the IC Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering Conference (ICICLE), and the Association for Advancement of Computing in Education's E-Learn and EdMedia Conferences.

Extended Abstract

As the educational landscape changes, more and more faculty are being asked to use innovative teaching techniques incorporating novel technologies, new paradigms, research, data, etc.  Many faculty support centers are now conceptualized to combine several support features, such as curriculum, technology, and evaluation, in one place (Kamin, Souza, Heestand, and O'Sullivan, 2006; Sonnino, et al., 2013; Anderson, Love, and Haggar; 2019, Intentional Futures, 2018). 

 

The foundation for members of the team that support faculty with curriculum, technology and teaching lies in their academic preparation, which introduces them to theories, models, and the systematic approaches unique to their specialty. Varying models and roles exist for support of faculty and partnerships for collaboration with faculty support teams.  How you think about developing, sustaining, hiring and growing your support teams requires an understanding of both the organizational needs and the organizational structure. Organizational structure matters especially when considering the roles, functions, and outcomes of  work, but organizations are vastly different in how they deploy faculty support, and this can impact both hiring and retention.  Laying the groundwork for proper development and retention of a faculty support team can save the institution time and money.   

This presentation will be interactive and allow for discussions about developing, sustaining, and growing a dynamic team that meets the goals and mission of your organization.  We will discuss how to go about getting to an ideal state, exploring the roles for faculty support teams, the mindset of team members, PD for the team, hiring principles, and bringing new members to the team.  The audience will be asked to share personal experiences and work together on developing an ideal end state for their own organization that they can carry to their leadership for discussion.

 

References

Anderson, M.C., Love, L.M. & Haggar, F.L. Looking Beyond the Physician Educator: the Evolving Roles of Instructional Designers in Medical Education. Med.Sci.Educ. 29, 507–513 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-019-00720-6

Intentional Futures. Instructional design in higher education. https://intentionalfutures.com/insights/portfolio/instructional-design/. Accessed September 27, 2018.

Kamin, C., Souza, K. H., O’sullivan, P., Heestand, D., & Moses, A. (2006). Educational technology infrastructure and services in North American medical schools. Academic Medicine, 81(7), 632–637. doi:10.1097/01.ACM.0000232413.43142.8b

Kim, J. and Maloney, E. J. (2020). Learning Innovation and the Future of Higher Education. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Koszalka, T. A. (2013). Instructional Designer Competencies: The Standards (Fourth Edition): 4th ed. Information Age Publishing.

Lowenthal, P., & Wilson, B. G. (2010). Labels do matter! A critique of AECT’s redefinition of the field. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 54(1), 38–46. doi:10.1007/s11528-009-0362-y

Segal, K., Jethwani, M. M., Marquart, M., Curtain, M. and Lowe, K. (2021, September 24). The power of faculty support spaces. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2021/09/24/importance-support-spaces-faculty-well-being-opinion

Sonnino, Roberta E. MD; Reznik, Vivian MD, MPH; Thorndyke, Luanne A. MD; Chatterjee, Archana MD, PhD; Ríos-Bedoya, Carlos F. MPH, ScD; Mylona, Elza PhD; Nelson, Kathleen G. MD; Weisman, Carol S. PhD; Morahan, Page S. PhD; Wadland, William C. MD Evolution of Faculty Affairs and Faculty Development Offices in U.S. Medical Schools, Academic Medicine: September 2013 - Volume 88 - Issue 9 - p 1368-1375 doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e31829ed496

Surry, D. W., & Robinson, M. A. (2001). A taxonomy of instructional technology service positions in higher education. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 38(3), 231–238. https://doi-org.proxy-tu.researchport.umd.edu/10.1080/14703290110051406