Online Education Workshop Planned for Nov. 28
November 15, 2012
Guilford is holding an online education workshop for faculty, staff and students on Wednesday, Nov. 28, in the East Gallery of Founders Hall.
President Kent Chabotar is working with faculty development to organize and host the workshop as an education session and not a decision-making meeting. We need to know more about what is occurring in American higher education, especially about a range of online uses in undergraduate liberal arts colleges.
One of these uses is “hybrid” online education, which will be described by our keynote speaker, Phillip Knutel, assistant professor of information design and corporate communication and executive director of academic technology, the library and online learning at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. Phil will outline the experience at Bentley and other institutions and engage (via live web conference) Bentley faculty who have recently taught using this method.
Essentially, hybrid online courses enable off-campus/distance students to use web conferencing technology to actively participate in live, traditional on-campus classes and discussions (imagine a Skype session between a class and online students). Classes are recorded on a server so all students can learn asynchronously or review material they didn’t understand.
Rita Serotkin, associate vice president and dean for continuing education, and Chad Phillips, visiting assistant professor of theatre studies, will describe the results of a pilot last summer in theatre studies involving two sections of the same course (Masterpieces of Cinema, both taught by Chad), one hybrid and one not.
Rob Whitnell, professor of chemistry and faculty clerk, and Kyle Dell, associate professor of political science, will explain how members of the Guilford faculty are exploring MOOCs (massive open on line courses) this semester with a view to evaluating how MOOCs might be incorporated into teaching at Guilford. An evaluation report will be available in April 2013. MOOCs have been developed by Stanford, Harvard, MIT and other institutions.
A general discussion among all participants will occur throughout the workshop.
Any future online education options will be consistent with the Information Technology Plan, which is in development and will be reviewed in early 2013. The purpose of technology is to complement teaching and learning and serve Guilford’s overall mission.
Next steps, if any, from this meeting will be the subject of future discussions among the faculty, administration and others at Guilford, and subject to standard governance procedures.
