Best Practices for Engaging the Faculty:Transforming the
Perception of the Role of Instructional Support in Undergraduate
Teaching and Learning
Please sit with people you don’t
work with regularly.
Best Practices for Engaging the Faculty:
Transforming the Perception of the
Role of Instructional Support in
Undergraduate Teaching and Learning
Deborah Helman, Ryan Kershner, Amy Kindschi,
Diana Wheeler, Paul Oliphant, Lia Vellardita
UW-Madison,Teaching & Learning Symposium, May 25, 2011
In this session:
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Background and Introduction
Team Discussions
Large Group Discussion
What Next?
Background & Opportunity
• Transforming undergraduate engineering education
 Engineering Beyond Boundaries (EB2)
• Building on successful initiatives
 Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) Projects
• Harnessing new and emerging trends
• Capitalizing on personnel changes
• Leveraging the physical infrastructure
Image source: National Academies Press
Wendt Commons
• One “common” place to find support
• Expanded support for teaching and technology-enhanced
learning
• A place for new collaborations & partnerships
New Support Model to Engage Faculty
Guiding Principles:
•It’s all about the students
•Create synergy, improve efficiency
•Partner with faculty & instructors to
foster innovation based on best
pedagogical practices
•Leverage support locally and globally
Early Successes
• Improved access to support
• Continued to drive innovation
• Streamlined the service model
• Increased agility and responsiveness
• Coordinated exploration efforts
Desired Outcomes
• Increase & support faculty engagement in innovation in engineering
education
• Support application of sound pedagogical practices informed by
education research
• Facilitate knowledge transfer of best practices and peer to peer
interaction
• Foster a community of practice
• Adopt evidence-based quality measures to guide course design and
delivery
• Sustain and scale initiatives to impact as broad a cross-section of
the CoE as possible
Types of Faculty & Instructors
1. “Entrepreneurs” or “early adopters”
2. “Second wave” or “risk aversives”
3. “Careerists” or “reward seekers”
4. “Reluctants”
Hagner, P.R. and Schneebeck, C.A. (2001) Engaging the faculty, p. 1-12 In: Barone, C. A., & Hagner, P.
R. Technology-enhanced teaching and learning: Leading and supporting the transformation on your
campus EDUCAUSE leadership strategies, no. 5. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass.
Hagner, P.R. (2001) Interesting practices and best systems in faculty engagement and
support. Educause NLII White Paper. Final Report. 31 pages.
Rogers, E.M. (1995) Diffusion of Innovations (4th Ed.), Free Press.
Engagement methods to date
• Involved faculty in setting directions
• Proactively contacted faculty
• Use existing forums to communicate
• Integrated Wendt Commons services into RFP process for
Engineering Beyond Boundaries
• Prototyping a method for knowledge transfer via short videos
of faculty and instructors
• Developing marketing materials
Challenges with faculty engagement
Image: University Communications, UW Madison
• Engaging faculty and instructors as collaborators / partners
• Establishing a new identity
• Marketing
• Developing an effective feedback mechanism
Your Turn
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Background and Introduction
Team Discussions
Large Group Discussion
What Next?
Question:
Within your team, what success-stories or
strategies can you share with each other
for engaging with faculty to improve
teaching & learning support for a class?