Innovative Instruction Transformation Team

Innovative Instruction Transformation Team

Jeffrey Bartkovich, Monroe Community CollegeKim Scalzo, SUNY Center for Professional DevelopmentCarey Hatch, SUNY System Administration

SUNY Technology ConferenceJune 21, 2011

Innovative Instruction

• One of the Chancellor’s Transformation Teams– 34 Members from the campuses and System

Administration– Assessed current state– Envisioned an ideal state– Identified gaps – Proposed action


• Assessment– There are many innovative approaches to

teaching and learning within SUNY– There are obstacles that the System faces in

enhancing its coordination and coherence (including barriers to communication, restrictive policies and financial disincentives),


• Vision– SUNY as a collaborative network of networks

supporting campuses as they:• Enhance teaching and learning by providing

affordable, innovative, and flexible education in a full range of instructional formats (i.e., face-to-face, fully online, blended, and Web-enhanced);

• Develop instructional talent by creating and supporting communities of practice across disciplines and institutions;


• Vision• Support, monitor and embrace research on

pedagogical practices to continually improve the instructional practices of SUNY faculty; and

• Extend teaching and learning environments to provide new avenues for development and delivery of collaborative content, courses, and programs in New York and across the globe.


• Gap Analysis– We do not possess communication

mechanism for connecting individuals, institutions and communities of practice;

– We lack knowledge bases of current innovations;

– We have no easy way to share content;– We do not adequately connect our research

on teaching and learning with our practice.


• Proposal– A SUNY Learning Commons powered by the

SUNY Learning Network (SLN) – A SUNY Digital Concierge to augment the

Learning Commons– A SUNY Center for Applied Research in

Learning and Teaching (SCARLET)– An enhanced SUNY Center for Professional

Development


• SUNY Learning Commons will allow learners and educators to:– Find learning opportunities that are available

across campuses;– Track learning activities and progress toward

degree completion;– Form and join communities of interest and

communities of practice;


• SUNY Learning Commons will allow learners and educators to:– Share and access scholarly and instructional

materials through a Learning Object Repository;

– Operate collaborative tools that allow learners and educators to work together actively at a distance; and

– Experiment with new communication tools to enhance teaching and learning.


• The Digital Concierge will support users of the Learning Commons by providing:– Self help through knowledge bases of

frequently asked questions, University contacts, policies, procedures and web sites;

– Direct access to customer service representatives for additional assistance when necessary.


• The enhanced Center for Professional Development will:– Deliver a comprehensive program of

professional development;– Provide a catalog of professional development

opportunities available across the SUNY System;

– Serve as a central resource for the campuses to find information about professional development resources and opportunities


• The enhanced Center for Professional Development will:– Support teaching and learning communities of

practice; – Foster and support networking and

collaboration for the academic community to address teaching and learning challenges by leveraging the existing resources in the System;


• SUNY SCARLET will:– Help ensure that relevant research and

scholarship inform all aspects of teaching and learning;

– Support, monitor and produce research on innovative approaches to teaching and learning;

– Provide a forum for scholarly exchange and collaborative research;


• SUNY SCARLET will:– Act as an observatory on research and key

developments, including research breakthroughs, policy issues, conferences, research funding;

– Provide infrastructure to support competitive grantsmanship, including processes for IRB approval of SUNY-wide grant activities, contract support for grant submissions.


• Summer Activities– Learning Commons

• Development of use cases to define functionality• Activities for possible U-wide implementation of

DegreeWorks– SCARLET

• Meetings to identify composition of a team to help define structure, governance, funding, etc.


• Summer Activities– Enhanced SUNY Center for Professional

Development • Development of requirements for online

communities• Addition of the SUNY Leadership Institute• Development of new certificate programs


• Elluminate webinar service free to all campuses Sept 2011-June 2012– Instruction

• Virtual Classes, Guest Lectures, Academic Continuity

– Help/Support• Office hours, Tutoring, Mentoring, Student Study

Groups– Meetings

• Staff meetings, Collaboration, Training


Documents

Innovative Instruction Transformation Team