Project 1
October 2019
CU Boulder’s Academic Futures Initiative and the Teaching & Learning Center
Overview
One of my first questions when I started work at CU Boulder in 2014 was, why did this large university not have more of an online and distance learning presence? CU Boulder is thought of as an innovative front-runner in so many ways, and yet they are so far behind other universities in the online, blended and hybrid learning arena that I thought was the wave of the future. I was, quite frankly, shocked . The move to use of new technology and online, blended, or hybrid learning does require a mindset shift, however all I had noticed was work in isolated pockets on campus and I couldn’t help but think how far behind “we” were!
CU Boulder’s Academic Futures
In the fall of 2017, the university began an Academic Futures initiative entitled “Rethinking the university – the futures of learning and discovery.” The goal with the initial town hall meetings was to gather faculty and staff insight as to which direction they thought the university should move in. Why ask faculty and staff? My best guess is that the best way to gain momentum and support when you are looking into a major shift is to have buy-in , especially from within an entity the size of CU Boulder! My interest peaked as this was just about the time I was looking for, and applying to, master’s programs. I started to follow this initiative as closely as I could between work and classes, my interest in adult and online learning may have a future, I thought. Over the next couple of years I saw the program move through a number of phases as new ideas and programs were born.
Projected Timeline
- September 2017 –September 2018 – Phase 1: Visioning – Discussions with Faculty and Staff.
- Phase 2: Reflection and Proposals. Committee discussions were held and a draft proposal was written in October 2018, rising to the top were a Center for Teaching and Learning, Online & Distance Education, and Interdisciplinary Education.
- After reflecting on the Academic Futures committee’s proposal, Provost Russ Moore announced the establishment of a Center for Teaching & Learning in December 2018.
- The Online Distance and Education Working Group made their recommendations in August of 2019, Provost Moore accepted them and as a first step announced the creation of an organization to oversee teaching and technology, online and distance learning. In September 2019 Robert McDonald, the Dean of the University Libraries, was announced as the administrative leader.
- On October 1, 2019 the Academic Futures Committee on Interdisciplinary Teaching, Research and Creative Works released its draft report to campus for a 30-day comment period as this initiative continues to evolve.
Read more about the Academic Futures initiative here: www.Colorado.edu/academicfutures
The three year path: Investigate to Implement
When they announced the first town halls in 2017, I found my way to the one that focused on online, blended & hybrid learning. I sat in a room with people who were far more informed about the university than I was, however I had one up on many of them, I had already been teaching online for about three years. Was I good at it? Not necessarily. Did I know what I was doing? I didn’t think so. But I had passion, I wanted my students to engage and learn, and I had found a way to make that happen. I had also seen my own children thrive in online school, and my online students were keeping pace with, or outdoing those in the classroom . I saw where I thought the future of education might be headed, and I wanted to be a part of it .
In that first town hall we broke up into groups with a task to make a sticky wall of the things we thought the university would need to focus on to make a shift to supporting online learning. Each group presented their sticky wall adding only previously unmentioned ideas to the great wall of online learning that would be the initial take away from this first town hall. Some of the things that surfaced in mass on the wall were:
- A centralized help area
- Incentives for instructors to spend time creating or moving a course online in an effective and engaging way
- Using technology to promote equity and accessibility
- Creating a culture of teaching innovation
I continued to follow the town halls, discussions, white papers and trajectory of the project as I enrolled in the Information Technology master’s program at CU Denver in January 2019. When I could fit it into my schedule I’d go check out what was happening, or attend one of the workshops or discussions. As we head into year three of Academic Futures the focus is shifting to the implementation phase, and the Career Inquiry project gave me an avenue to look further into the progress, visions, and goals of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). My quest was to visit with those already acting in teaching and learning support roles, as well as with Professor Kirk Ambrose who was named the Founding Director for the CTL in February 2019. I wanted to find out more about the vision for the center, progress made to date, and what their focus was for the future. On September 13, 2019, right as I was arranging interviews, Provost Moore announced that the decision had been made “to create a single coherent online and distance organization to deliver online education and better serve the state of Colorado.” I moved forward with the hope of also talking to the Dean of Libraries, Robert McDonald, who had just taken leadership of the creation of the new online & distance learning organization.
CU Boulder’s Center for Teaching & Learning
I met with Professor Kirk Ambrose about a week later and learned that there are many types of teaching and learning centers being born across the U.S. and likely about as many models for them. I had briefly been exposed to Colorado State University’s TILT ( The Institute for Teaching and Learning) this past summer when I attended their Framework for Developing Teaching Efficiencies workshop at the COLTT Conference in August, however I hadn’t been aware of a significant move in this direction as a whole. As we spoke, Professor Ambrose explained that the CLT’s focus will be to dive in and make any resources needed available to instructors by pointing faculty to become more effective in both teaching and learning and supporting them in every way. Dr. Ambrose explained that his job is one of support, not to tell anyone what to do or how to teach. He noted that some instructors are better lecturers and others better at active engagement , they are looking to do what they can to support in any arena. He explained that the baseline for the center stems from discussions and ideas from the Academic Futures and Financial Futures Town Halls, from workshops and talks, as well as things put forth from the IDEA program, Foundations of Excellence, and areas surrounding assessment.
The CTL is sensitive to the ideas, white papers, and causes that have not always resulted in action so they are taking their path seriously. Their first focus will be on putting the right people in place in the department and building a learning community mindset on campus. When asked how big he thought the center would be he noted that the average center is about 8.3 people, although he did smile and say that he wasn’t sure where the .3 came from. I thought to myself maybe that’s the dog under someone’s desk?? In the end, demand for the center will determine staffing needs, however currently their plan is to have some key lead folks in place within the year. The positions they have determined a need for include a Communications Lead, an Inclusive Pedagogy Lead, an Assessments Lead, two people to focus on professional development, two people from information technology, and a business/office manager. When I asked what type of experience they would be looking for he noted that they would seek folks with a PhD in a field and a minimum of two years teaching experience, but ideally five years of teaching experience, for those hired into the key lead positions. I’ll be honest at that point I figured the best trail for me on this career path might be to continue to pursue an interview with the Dean of Libraries who will oversee the newly announced Online Teaching and Learning Center.
When asked for a bit more detail on the positions they would be posting he noted that the Inclusive Pedagogy Lead position would be the first one they hired for, he expected it to be posted that week. This position will focus on supporting the center’ s activities and building resources related to inclusive teaching with diversity as a focus. He noted that the Communications position would likely be a Spring hire as they will be looking for a staff member to focus on events, communications and work with strategic relations to market the center and create a website with a calendar to highlight pedagogy related events across campus. The Assessment Lead will continue work started by the office of data analytics to offer a service to help instructors assess how effective their curriculum is in assessing their teaching and student’s learning. The aim will be to move from primarily using students’ evaluations to other options to give faculty a more robust suite of measures, including midterm reviews.
Takeaway
Unfortunately I don’t have the background to join the CTL. However, as I write this, I am still waiting to hear back from Dean McDonald. If no response comes to my email requesting a short interview with him, I’ll continue to watch for any type of Town Halls, Workshops , etc. to attend and introduce myself personally. I have a great job here on campus; it would be hard to leave the position I recently landed in. However my heart will always be in teaching and learning, adult education, and online technology. So as I approach the last few classes in my program I will continue to search for opportunities to remain tapped into this new world wherein my passions lie.
For more information on the Academic Futures Initiative, the Teaching and Learning Center, and to follow the Online and Distance Learning Organization as it unfolds book mark the CU Boulder Academic Futures website, located here.
I think traditional 4-year institutions that attract primarily students straight out of high school are slower to adopt online learning. As the nontraditional population grows (adults, transfer students…), sometimes that is a catalyst for schools to offer more and more online learning. I think UCB is an example of that.
Instructor Feedback
Great work Shauna- Has a candid and immediate feel to it that draws you in! Could you share this in our Careers page? I placed your earlier description under News; see: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_iFOFWhnHH-WC5ZhsiTfi3suDF4VTmG5Pgvl6L4h9YA/edit#heading=h.6i9q9drtubuq You could place your project under the individual projects. Whatever works for you! The tone of your report is a little critical. Give it a fresh read to make sure you’re not offending anyone. You could revise or even hold it back if needed.
Peer Responses
Susan Laws with regard to why did this large university not have more of an online and distance learning presence?: I think traditional 4-year institutions that attract primarily students straight out of high school are slower to adopt online learning. As the nontraditional population grows (adults, transfer students…), sometimes that is a catalyst for schools to offer more and more online learning. I think UCB is an example of that.
Vicki K with regard to CU Boulder being behind the curve with regard to Online, Blended & Hybrid Learning: I have always wondered about this myself.
Jenn S with regard to Isolated pockets of work being done within a large campus: I feel like this is true across all professions, industries, etc., because I see this in corporate settings as well.
Vicki K with regard to : Initial town hall meetings being used to gather faculty and staff insights and my guess that it was a way to gain momentum and support when considering a major shift in mindset or policy: no one likes surprises! better to understand what the resistance points are as soon as possible – and and what the low hanging fruit is!
Vicki K with regard to: my online students were keeping pace with, or outdoing, those in the classroom: Wow! great to have first hand experience (and data) with this!
K Mo with regard to: I saw where I thought the future of education might be headed, and I wanted to be part of it: I like your sense of purpose!
K Mo with regard to: Streamline technology use so students didn’t have to “learn to learn” by learning new tech for every course: This is interesting to me, as different courses seem to take a different stance on whether this is a good thing.
Vicki K with regard to: Streamline technology use so students didn’t have to “learn to learn” by learning new tech for every course: Even though our LDT program is all about “learning about learning”, even I can get frustrated w/ all the various tech and ways Canvas is organized and used.
Jenn S with regard to: Agreed! Add to that those that add in other non-Canvas tools instead of Canvas and every semester is a new adventure 😉
Vicki K with regard to: the CLT’s focus will be to dive in and make any resources needed available to instructors by pointing faculty to become more effective in both teaching and learning and supporting them in every way. Dr. Ambrose explained that this job is one of support, not to tell anyone what to do or how to teach: A good place to start!!
Jen S with regard to: some instructors are better lecturers and others better at active engagment,: This is really interesting! I sometimes feel like I’m not a great facilitator because I’m better at some aspects than others, and this makes me feel like I’m not so out of the ordinary there.
Vicki K with regard to: The Assessment Lead will continue work started by the office of data analytics to offer a service to help instructors asses how effective their curriculum is in assessing their teaching and student’s learning: So important!
This module is about different forms of scholarship and ways to frame your inquiry. In the 1990s Ernest Boyer developed a model meant to broaden the range of what counts in evaluating faculty scholarship. The Boyer model works surprising well for our purposes.
Tip