aware of every technology resource
available to us.
What change to teaching
practices should an instructor try
just once in their courses?
While there are many useful tools that
can be leveraged to enhance or
improve instruction, as educators, we
should always start with a careful
examination of our desired learning
outcomes and learning objectives.
The particular technologies that would
improve our instructional practices are
informed by our learning goals. CAT
has made “Quality Matters”
workshops available to Santa Fe
College faculty. I see these workshops
as a wonderful starting point for
advancing our collective goal of
continuous improvement. All that
said, I can’t help but to note that
mobile technologies are nearly
ubiquitous. We should be mindful of
the potential of these devices as we
reflect on our instruction and consider
appropriate opportunities to
incorporate mobile technology to
improve instruction.
Tell us one area of the online
teaching and learning process
that you think needs
improvement?
Online courses provide many benefits
to learners. A multitude of studies
have found
that online
instruction
is often
comparable
to - or better
than traditional
instruction,
with respect
to learning
outcomes. One area that may be
overlooked at times, though, is the
need for social presence within an
online course. Instructor-student and
peer-to-peer interaction are essential
to providing students with a quality
online experience. Fortunately, we
have many tools at our disposal to
ensure that online courses promote
these types of interaction.
Any last thoughts?
Would you believe that the iPad turns
five years old this year? The near
ubiquity of mobile technologies
combined with major improvements to
Internet and networking infrastructure
has resulted in amazing tools that are
literally at our fingertips! This is an
exciting time to be involved in
supporting education. I am looking
forward to working with the Santa Fe
College community in the days ahead!