Teachers College, Columbia University empowers faculty to teach synchronous class sessions that fit each faculty member’s unique teaching style. Through the flexible use of technology, space, building of support systems, and partnering with faculty, creative models have been developed that could be replicated at other institutions.
Session Goal
Presenters will share the evolution and milestones reached in their quest for improving synchronous sessions at Teachers College. We will outline some of the infrastructure put in place and the various models employed, while illustrating the IT group’s role as a thought partner with faculty.
Context
With a student population of 3,500 students, Teachers College (TC) offers graduate programs in the areas of education, health, leadership, and psychology. The College has been offering asynchronous degree programs for the past 10 years. Recent changes made to encourage innovation have rapidly increased the demand for new online programs. In addition to asynchronous courses, there has been a growing interest in teaching synchronous class sessions for online programs. This has presented a challenge because, like many higher education institutions, there are a wide range of teaching styles and faculty comfort levels with technology. Additionally, while web conferencing programs are readily available for faculty and students for administrative and social purposes, there is limited background using these tools to create engaging teaching and learning experiences. The objectives of this presentation are to share:
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specific examples that identify common challenges
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replicable solutions and models for synchronous sessions
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the framework developed through collaborative thought partnerships between departments within Computing and Information Services (CIS) and TC faculty.
Approach
As basic systems were put in place to support the growing interest in synchronous sessions, it was quickly realized that one size does not fit all. It took experiencing some failures to learn that additional infrastructure and faculty support were needed if synchronous sessions were going to be consistent and part of TC’s course offerings. We began to recognize that to find lasting solutions, we needed to better understand the specific goals and challenges of our faculty and respond creatively to their needs. We also learned that ongoing collaboration between our own CIS departments was crucial for strategizing practical solutions. Good relations between our Academic Technology and Media Services Departments have been foundational in our approach.
Some of the specific challenges we faced include:
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Professors who create demonstrations in the classroom, move around during class, and want to simulate a performance stage and lighting changes during a synchronous session
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“Popular” professors who are asked to teach online but don’t want to “teach to a webcam”
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Professors who value “old fashioned” face-to-face connection with students and want to maintain those connections outside the classroom
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Professors who couldn’t be heard over fire sirens, barking dogs, construction noise, and horn honks
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Professors with limited technology experience
Over time, TC’s CIS has built a flexible framework that supports the unique teaching styles of faculty by:
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Acting as thought partners with faculty by understanding each instructor’s concerns, needs, and teaching style
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Providing versatile places for synchronous teaching that allow faculty to retain teaching practices that are important to them
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Offering a variety of specialized assistance within the synchronous session, improving overall flow of the classroom
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Empowering users with a web conferencing tool separate from the learning management system, providing faculty and students with the ability to have an "instant" session and to do it on their own at anytime
The basic support services provided by CIS now include:
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Specialized on-campus classrooms and mobile equipment that provide high quality video and audio connections
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Individualized faculty training
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Course tech assistants who provide technical assistance during the synchronous sessions
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Web conferencing orientation sessions for students
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Web conferencing training for teaching assistants that includes classroom moderation techniques specific to the scenario that they’ll be working in
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Technology training for teaching assistants who will be working in our Enhanced Technology (ET) Classrooms
Building on these basic services, CIS also meets individually with faculty to learn about their teaching practices, their limitations and fears, and expectations for a synchronous session. Through the resourceful use of place, space, and technology, the technology team and faculty work collaboratively to vision an on or off campus environment that meets the needs of the instructor’s teaching style and content area.
Results
These challenges and their solutions have have brought about changes to the way we work and provide examples of how the creative use of place, space, and technology can help form engaging synchronous teaching and learning opportunities. We will share how our work has lead to new partnerships, job descriptions, training programs, flexible frameworks, and creative models for synchronous teaching and learning that capture the unique essence of our staff. Some of the solutions we have developed as thought partners with our faculty will be shared in the presentation, placing particular attention on how we have utilized various combinations of space and technology to meet faculty teaching needs and styles.
TC’s IT staff has developed a rich menu of options for faculty to select from. We expect that the menu will continue to grow as our online offerings expand and we consult with more faculty. It is our hope that the strides made will improve the overall satisfaction of both the synchronous teaching and learning experience.