Consulting Portfolio
Consulting Portfolio
Campus San Juan Pablo II of the Católica Universidad de Temuco
Universidad Católica de Temuco, Temuco, Chile — Preparing Faculty to Teach with Technologies
Background
In 2016, the Center for Development and Innovation of Teaching (CeDID) of the Universidad Católica de Temuco (UCT) in Chile wanted advice on how to prepare their faculty to teach with technologies. They had a program that employed undergraduate students as learning assistants (LA), and they wanted best practices for integrating the LAs into their faculty assistance efforts.
Action
My consultation with them was in three phases:
I conducted a literature review into best practices in the areas of teaching with technologies.
I traveled to Temuco, Chile in July of 2016 to meet with student LAs, CeDID staff, and faculty members. I delivered a workshop along with Laura Border to the faculty on teaching with technologies.
Based on my visit and on my previous research, I developed and shared a model for how to effectively integrate technologies into teaching situations. This included descriptions of technologies CeDID might effectively employ when working with faculty members such as videoconferencing systems, social networks, polling applications, electronic textbooks, and instructional videos. I also included a plan for validating the recommendations I suggested.
Results
18 faculty members attended our workshop. The CeDID staff and LAs received the recommendations and planned to validate them in their setting. All of the training programs the CeDID staff developed for LAs were based on the suggestions made by Laura Border and by me during our visit.
Image by Megan Rexazin from Pixabay.
University of Colorado School of Nursing — Improving Online Education
Background
In 2001, Pat Moritz, the Dean of the University of Colorado’s School of Nursing wanted to know if the processes and methods used by the school’s instructional design team to create online course content could be improved.
Action
I along with Robert Tolsma and Suzanne Schneider, interviewed the instructional design team, the Dean, and the faculty who taught courses with an online component. Based on our experience teaching online, supporting faculty who taught online, and administering online programs, we made recommendations for changes to the support provided by the instructional design team. Our recommendations encouraged the instructional designers to follow a flexible, partnership model for working with the faculty.
Results
The dean received our report and was satisfied with the recommendations. She indicated that she planned to implement them.
Image of a Computer Lab from commons.wikimedia.org.
University of Colorado Denver Department of Communication — Setting Up a Student Computer Lab
Background
In 2000 the University of Colorado Denver’s (UCD) Department of Communication acquired a space for a student computer lab that could be used for teaching and for student work. They had acquired some computer equipment, but lacked the expertise to set up a functioning lab. The department chair asked me to assess the equipment they had, to ensure that the equipment met security standards, to recommend more equipment to purchase and to suggest a layout for the lab.
Action
Based on my previous experience as a professor in the department, and in running a technology experimentation center at the University of Colorado Boulder; I took an inventory of the existing computer equipment and furniture, checked each computer’s security settings, and made recommendations for arranging the computers and for additional equipment to purchase.
Results
The recommendations were given to an employee of the information technology unit at the UCD, and the lab was opened up for use in the following semester.