Virtual Community and Collaboration: The Cornerstone of Professional Development at Purdue University Global

The Purdue Global Center for Teaching and Learning’s (CTL) mission is to provide effective, innovative, and collaborative professional development opportunities for faculty, administrators, and staff as well as both on-boarding and professional development tracking services, all in support of Purdue Global's mission.

The CTL has crafted a virtual communication network that connects faculty, administrators, and staff to vital academic information including professional development opportunities, operational updates, required training tasks, and much more. CTL staff are one of the first contacts for new faculty through the onboarding and orientation process allowing for connection and relationship building from the start. Regular communication and outreach with academic administration supports ongoing collaboration and cross-department connections. The communication network consists of a variety of delivery methods including an internal website, weekly electronic newsletter, asynchronous learning opportunities, facilitated training, virtual live events, and an annual online conference.

1. Internal Website: The CTL site is a hub of information and resources. It is frequently used as a first point of contact when looking for academic resources. The homepage features quick links to important resources and university information. The page features an embedded presentation that rotates through important information and announcements that are updated regularly. Subpages include information on training, scholarly activity, plagiarism, and community. There are also areas dedicated to faculty and academic leadership needs and resources.

2. Weekly Electronic Newsletter: Our Monday Minute email newsletter is an excellent way to keep faculty, administration, and staff across the university up to date. This email is visually appealing and provides succinct updates with links to resources as needed. All faculty are automatically added to the distribution upon completion of orientation and can opt out at any time. Since updating our distribution process in 2017, we have not had any opt out requests and often get responses from faculty sharing how the email is helpful and appreciated.

3. Asynchronous Learning Opportunities: In our professional development menu, we offer 35 workshops that faculty can complete on their own or be assigned as needed. Faculty are introduced to these asynchronous learning opportunities through the hiring process as a handful of them are required components for successful completion of orientation. Topics range from classroom basics to organization and time management.

4. Facilitated Training Events: In 2017, the university changed to a new learning management system. The CTL designed and executed the training of all new and existing faculty on the new LMS. The collaboration across departments and centralized training effort allowed for successful training of well over 2,000 faculty in less than a year. This training model can be utilized as a framework for a variety of training initiatives including our upcoming seminar platform change. Supporting the university with consistent training facilitation allows CTL to continue to meet and exceed needs.

5. Live Events: Our faculty developers plan, prepare, and execute 50-75 virtual live events hosted in Adobe Connect each year. These events support the CTL Professional Development plan and provide an opportunity for faculty and administrators to present to their colleagues. Presentations support the key components of our professional development plan including classroom foundations, leadership and organization, next generation learning, scholarship, and student focus. The events bring together peers across the university to share research and collaborate. This outlet also serves as a resource for faculty looking to  expand their presentation experience and often leads to presenting at external conferences.

6. Annual Online Conference: 2018 marks the eleventh year of the CTL’s annual online conference. The conference includes live presentations and virtual poster sharing.   T CTL staff host each live session and use pre-session time to connect and build relationships with attendees. In recent years, the conference has grown to include presentations from students on research in their area of study as well as sessions that invite community partners from our ground campus locations.

In summary, CTL has built a solid and sustainable professional development program through a virtual communication network that works to proactively meet faculty, staff, and administration needs in a manner that is convenient and meaningful to them.

Outcomes:

1. Define the foundational structure of the CTL’s virtual communication network.

2. Discuss the variety of information delivery methods and their importance in building community and fostering collaboration across the university.

3. Explain the importance of providing training and development opportunities that foster collaboration and connect faculty and staff across departments and time zones.