Using Virtual Mentoring & Online Resources for Adjunct Training and Support Philip Pecorino Professor, CUNY Online Baccalaureate & Queensborough Community

Using Virtual Mentoring & Online Using Virtual Mentoring & Online Resources for Resources for

Adjunct Training and SupportAdjunct Training and Support

Philip Pecorino Philip Pecorino Professor, CUNY Online Baccalaureate & Queensborough Community CollegeProfessor, CUNY Online Baccalaureate & Queensborough Community College

Ellen Smiley Ellen Smiley Academic Director, CUNY Online Baccalaureate & Associate Professor, Academic Director, CUNY Online Baccalaureate & Associate Professor,

The City CollegeThe City College

Wendy Williams, Wendy Williams, Instructor, CUNY Online BaccalaureateInstructor, CUNY Online Baccalaureate

Tina Meyerhoff, Tina Meyerhoff, Instructor, CUNY Online BaccalaureateInstructor, CUNY Online Baccalaureate

Opportunities & ChallengesOpportunities & Challenges Adjuncts have extraordinarily important roles in Adjuncts have extraordinarily important roles in

the delivery of undergraduate courses at CUNY the delivery of undergraduate courses at CUNY Their adequate training and supervision are Their adequate training and supervision are

major challengesmajor challenges Adjuncts teaching at more than one institution Adjuncts teaching at more than one institution

with busy schedules make organizing face-to-with busy schedules make organizing face-to-face training difficult. face training difficult.

Introduction to the CUNY Online Introduction to the CUNY Online BaccalaureateBaccalaureate

Began enrolling students in Fall 2006Began enrolling students in Fall 2006 Program for college leaversProgram for college leavers One interdisciplinary major; second added One interdisciplinary major; second added

January 2008January 2008 700+ students700+ students Demographic profile similar to that at other Demographic profile similar to that at other

CUNY schools, except students are older (50% CUNY schools, except students are older (50% 30-44 yrs. old)30-44 yrs. old)

Introduction to the CUNY Online Introduction to the CUNY Online BaccalaureateBaccalaureate

No fulltime faculty; 100% adjunct teaching staffNo fulltime faculty; 100% adjunct teaching staff Instructors are drawn from across the NYC area Instructors are drawn from across the NYC area

as well as from out-of-town locationsas well as from out-of-town locations At least 5-10 new instructors added each At least 5-10 new instructors added each

semestersemester Many new instructors have limited online Many new instructors have limited online

teaching experienceteaching experience

Basic Goals of Basic Goals of Faculty DevelopmentFaculty Development

Produce a community of learners and teachers in which Produce a community of learners and teachers in which continual improvement is a shared value. continual improvement is a shared value.

Create a community ethos incorporating a dedication to Create a community ethos incorporating a dedication to furthering pedagogy and assisting colleagues in the furthering pedagogy and assisting colleagues in the perfection of our craft. perfection of our craft.

Faculty who understand that we can teach and learn from Faculty who understand that we can teach and learn from one another. one another.

All members of the community participate in the sharing of All members of the community participate in the sharing of knowledge and in the success of their colleagues and knowledge and in the success of their colleagues and students. students.

Challenges of Training Challenges of Training & Supervision& Supervision

Ensuring instructors highly skilled in Ensuring instructors highly skilled in teaching in the online environmentteaching in the online environment

Creating a sense of community & Creating a sense of community & commitment among instructors who commitment among instructors who rarely if ever see one anotherrarely if ever see one another

CUE Innovation Grant 2009CUE Innovation Grant 2009

Building Better Courses: Training & Mentoring Adjunct Instructors Online

Florida Community College at Florida Community College at Jacksonville ModelJacksonville Model

Orientation & training programOrientation & training program Structure of faculty mentors for new Structure of faculty mentors for new

instructors, including:instructors, including:– Virtual MentorsVirtual Mentors– Lead MentorsLead Mentors– Faculty CoordinatorFaculty Coordinator

Elements of the Faculty Elements of the Faculty Development ProgramDevelopment Program

Elements of the Faculty Development ProgramElements of the Faculty Development Program

INTRODUCTION

“to teach, to teach well, and to teach even better”-the resolve of professional educators


Program GoalBasic Characteristics for an Effective Faculty Development Program1) TRAINING Sessions and Workshops on pedagogy and on the Hardware and Software 2) ANNOUNCEMENTS and COMMUNICATIONS 3) WEBSITE in CUNY Academic Commons for Faculty Development 4) NEWSLETTER –at least once/semester 5) TEACHING HANDBOOK-distributed and located online 6) INFORMATION on ALTERNATIVES to BB (as backup) in the event of loss of access to BB 7) FACULTY DEVELOPMENT DAYS- –at least once/semester 8) MENTOR PROGRAM9) ASSESSMENT


Program Goal

The goal of the Faculty Development effort is to produce a community of learners and teachersin which the continual improvement of the effectiveness of instruction is a shared value.

The effort is to produce a community ethos incorporating a dedication to furthering pedagogy and assisting colleagues in the perfection of our craft.

As instructors come to see what they do with their students as involving both the teaching and the learning so too faculty in these programs should understand that we can teach andlearn from one another. The Faculty Development Program is offered to facilitate that teaching and learning.

All members of the community are encouraged and expected to participate in the sharing of knowledge and in the success of their colleagues and students.


Basic Characteristics for an Effective Faculty Development Program

To insure an effective faculty development program that supports the development of effective online instruction there are several important elements that must be present.

The program needs to insure that all faculty will eventually produce courses that meet the standards of the program and then continue to revise them in an effort to improve on the efficacy of instruction. In other words and the basic point is that there needs to be a continuous quality improvement process. The program should make use of national standards of best practice, the research literature, and instructional design principles. Student learning should be the central focus of the faculty development program and all instruction.The expectations for faculty and for students are set clearly and set above the merely satisfactory. Continual improvement is the standard and not perfection.The faculty development program and its elements are to be faculty driven and subject to the review of faculty participants in an effort to continually improve upon the program as do faculty improve upon their instruction. The faculty development program employs observations and collegial assessments that are intended to assist the continual improvement of instruction and so they are not designed to be judgmental. Assessments of the instructional designs and course content and course management are not to be based on the personal preferences of mentors but on the evidence found in the course and the standards of the program. Mentors and observers working with faculty understand that the standards and criteria for observations are to be used in a manner that is not prescriptive understanding that there are many ways for a standard to be met.

1. Training Sessions & Workshops1. Training Sessions & Workshops Sessions and Workshops on pedagogy and on the Hardware and Software

Several times throughout the year face to face workshops may be offered as well as one on one meetings of faculty with the

support staff to receive instruction or to practice with the hardware and software available to faculty in the program.

These meetings are supplemental to the information that will be available to faculty be means of website resources, most

likely located in the CUNY Academic Commons. Pedagogy, Instructional Design and Class Management will be distinguished from sessions and

resources that deal with the hardware and software. There will be a mandatory participation in a full-day orientation and training program that will (1) give prospective instructors a working familiarity with the standards for online pedagogy that are

expected in all courses and (2) provide hands-on, computer-based experience with the course management system (Blackboard)

as well as specialized software tools available to all instructors, our e-portfolio system, and assessment tools. A library of online podcasts is under development, with modules focused on each of the skills covered in training.

These are not designed to substitute for face-to-face training, that serves an important community-building function, but to function as reminders of key elements.

2. Announcements & 2. Announcements & CommunicationsCommunications

Be means of distribution lists and postings in the CUNY Academic Commons all faculty will be kept current on developments and resources. Issues of pedagogy and mechanics can be raised and the community can respond with best practices and possible solutions.

3. Website in CUNY 3. Website in CUNY Academic CommonsAcademic Commons

The new CUNY resource will be utilized to archive and make accessible the resources developed by the faculty of the CUNY Online BA/BS Programs.

It is possible that there will be separate areas for the Consortial Faculty and another for all faculty. Some areas will be open to the public and others

open only to members of the group. Once faculty are entered into the Commons they may participate in and contribute to the other resources and group discussions found there.

Initial Draft of the site to be developed and relocated http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/SocialSciences/ppecorino/CUNY-OLBA-BS-Fac-

Dev-Program.html

4. Newsletter4. Newsletter Distributed by email to all faculty and

archived at the Academic Commons Focus is on development. Possible features include: Q&A, Did you know, Latest developments, hardware and software availability notices

5. Teaching Handbook5. Teaching Handbook As written materials related to the program

and to effective teaching practices are produced they

will be gathered and arranged into a handbook that will be disseminated to all faculty ,

particularly to new faculty, and located on the website.

6. Course Development Days6. Course Development DaysThe current practice of a faculty development day each semestercontinue. New features will include: the written expectation that new faculty are expected to attend mentors will identify what they think are best practices whose practitioners will be invited to present them scheduling at least 3 weeks before the start of the Fall and Spring semesters reports on what the post semester course assessments have

disclosed as needing attention as commendable or remediable reports on the student post semester assessments reports from the academic directors and faculty development coordinator student panel

7. Virtual Mentor Program7. Virtual Mentor Program In Fall of 2009 there were Virtual Mentors appointed, each having one to three new

faculty to mentor. In time Consortial Faculty will serve as Lead Mentors who will oversee several Virtual

Mentors who will assist from one to five new adjuncts. There are stipends for this work. There is a Lead Mentor for the first cohort of four Virtual

Mentors. There will be a coordinator of the Lead Mentors. By 2011 all faculty will serve or be served by the mentoring. Adjuncts with fewer than

four semesters of teaching online will be mentored. Faculty with more than three semesters may be called upon to be Virtual Mentors. From the ranks of the Consortial Faculty who have been Virtual Mentors will come the

Lead Mentors. There will be the one coordinator of faculty development who will oversee the Lead

Mentors. ALL FACULTY ARE INVOLVED

Consortial Faculty provide the Lead Mentors Experienced Faculty (more than three semesters online) may serve as Virtual

Mentors New Faculty (less than four semesters online) will be mentored

7. Virtual Mentor Program7. Virtual Mentor Program Lead Mentors

These are members of the Online Baccalaureate Consortial Faculty for each concentration, most of whom have served in teaching and administrative roles in the program for 18 months or more, will coordinate the work of the Virtual Mentors

Responsibilities

1) Work with Faculty Development Coordinator in support of faculty development 2) Organize and chair meetings of their assigned Virtual Mentors, either in person or using online

conferencing capabilities (such as Go-To-Meeting) and oversee the activities of their Virtual Mentors 3) Organize all components of the mandated course/teaching observations; 4) Assist with the planning of Faculty Development Day 5) Participate in the Faculty Development Resource Site in the CUNY Academic Commons 6) Make recommendations to the Academic Directors and Associate Deans with regard to relative success of training and teaching and needed modifications in processes, including

assessment; 7) Orient and train new Virtual Mentors, developing their capacity to interact with new adjuncts in a

positive and supportive way, in part by modeling this style; 8) Collaborate with assessment staff in the collection and analysis of data about the virtual mentoring

program.

7. Virtual Mentor Program7. Virtual Mentor Program Virtual Mentors

These are experienced, successful instructors in the Online program, who receive specialized training anda stipend for actively mentoring up to five new online adjuncts each semester.

Responsibilities:

1) Develop positive professional relationships with new adjuncts and provide assistance, suggestions, ideas and regular feedback on course web site structure and teaching practices;2) Meet those whom they mentor at Initial Orientation and Training Day3) Be available as a resource and as support for those that they mentor4) Serve as a liaison between each adjunct and the program administration5) Work with adjuncts as they build their sites and teach their first or second semester6) Conduct early informal observation (in first three weeks) to assist faculty member7) Conduct required course/teaching observations once each term8) Conduct post semester follow up assessment including review of :

faculty member's self assessmentstudent assessment of the course for the faculty member as invited by the faculty memberformal student assessment of the course submitted for the program

9) Attend Faculty Development Day10) Participate in the Faculty Development Resource Site in the CUNY Academic Commons11) Monitor each adjunct’s compliance with program-wide policies and procedures

7. Virtual Mentor Program7. Virtual Mentor Program New Faculty

Responsibilities

1) Participate in Orientation and Training 2) Work with Mentor in the development/revision of the class site 3) Work with Mentor throughout the first semester(s) on class

design and management 4) Work with Mentor on course assessment 5) Cooperate with Formal Observation 6) Conduct an assessment of your course- self assessment and

student assessment 7) Make revisions in instructional design and course management

techniques as result of assessments

7. Virtual Mentor Program7. Virtual Mentor Program ASSESSMENT

For improving the quality of instruction, especially in general education courses:

1) Improve the ratings of specific dimensions of teaching and course design, assessed using the rating scaledeveloped during the 2008-09 academic year and used in course observationsData Collection: Analysis of formal written teaching observation reports for all instructors

2) Achieve more positive student ratings of their courses, measured by the evaluation survey distributed each term

Data Collection: Ratings of students on twenty different measures of their course and program experience (eachterm); comparison of ratings from baseline period and after implementation of proposed activities

3) Achieve positive reports by adjunct instructors and their mentors concerning the guided teaching experienceData Collection: All new adjuncts, along with Virtual and Lead Mentors will complete written questionnaires thatinclude both open-ended and rating questions; all mentors will maintain logs of their interactions with newadjuncts

4) Increase positive self-reports by adjunct instructors concerning their online teaching experience and their sense of attachment and commitment to the online program.Data Collection: All new adjuncts, along with Virtual and Lead Mentors will complete written questionnaires that include both open-ended and rating questions; all mentors will maintain logs of their interactions with newadjuncts

The Mentor ExperienceThe Mentor Experience

Wendy WilliamsWendy Williams,, Instructor, Online Instructor, Online BaccalaureateBaccalaureate

Virtual MentorVirtual Mentor

Flurry of emails to set up an online chat

Using Wimba Pronto for Virtual Mentoring Using Wimba Pronto for Virtual Mentoring

Two instructors in virtual mentor chat on ProntoTwo instructors in virtual mentor chat on Pronto

Only two at a time on screen in four-way mentor chat on ProntoOnly two at a time on screen in four-way mentor chat on Pronto

Sharing goes both ways in virtual mentor relationshipSharing goes both ways in virtual mentor relationship

The Experience of Being The Experience of Being MentoredMentored

Tina MeyerhoffTina Meyerhoff,,

New Instructor, New Instructor,

Online BaccalaureateOnline Baccalaureate

Contact Information

Philip Pecorino, Professor, Online Baccalaureate (SPS) & Queensborough Community College [email protected]

Ellen Smiley, Academic Director, Online Baccalaureate; Associate Professor, City [email protected]

Wendy Williams, Instructor, Online Baccalaureate [email protected]

Tina Meyerhoff, Instructor, Online Baccalaureate [email protected]

“to teach, to teach well, and to teach even better”



Documents

Using Virtual Mentoring & Online Resources for Adjunct Training and Support Philip Pecorino Professor, CUNY Online Baccalaureate & Queensborough Community