Faculty Initiative in Creating an e-Learning Newsletter

1. Faculty Initiative in Creating an e-Learning Newsletter A Story about Community Elaine McCullough, Ph.D. Ferris State University Big Rapids, Michigan LandLonLine

4. The Precipitating Incident What to make of a committee that is only the second of its kind on campus and that has no precedent in Languages and Literature? We are free to create the story of The Online Teaching Committee…

6. I do know we need to gather and disseminate information about online issues.

7. Jody, Katherine, and I are on other online learning committees around campus, so we are in a good position to gather information.

9. Hummm… Not everyone in L&L is fully onboard with the idea of fully online teaching.

10. So to appeal to everyone, the committee should choose a familiar, somewhat conservative medium, I decide.

11. I am almost to the meeting room before I put it all together.

12. The newsletter has such a format.

14. As the committee and department members begin writing newsletter articles, we soon realize we are also writing a story of community… At the bottom of this and the next few slides, you may click on the link to see the five editions of the newsletter the OTC has published so far. http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/administration/academicaffairs/online/OTC

16. In two peer-review sessions attended by over 500 participants from 19 states, she uses LandLon Line as an example of what HLC teams should look for in terms of good university practices. http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/administration/academicaffairs/online/OTC

19. The OTC’s interest in increased campus-wide communication among faculty who teach online leads to the OTC’s initiative, Let’s Get It Together, a series of workshops in which faculty help each other go through Ferris’ Online Instructor Certification process. http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/administration/academicaffairs/online/OTC

20. The OTC advertises Let’s Get It Together in the newsletter and across campus. http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/administration/academicaffairs/online/OTC

22. At Let’s Get It Together (back to front) Rebecca Sammel, PhD from Languages and Literature, David Aiken, PhD from Humanities Department, and Bill Smith, PhD from the College of Business http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/administration/academicaffairs/online/OTC

25. The committee’s charge reads, in part: “Any faculty interested in teaching online should approach the committee as a means to ask for advice about any questions concerning instructors’ workload, online pedagogy, Best Practices, as well as asking for mentoring advice while they develop their online course. “ http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/administration/academicaffairs/online/OTC

29. But for us in L&L, a lot of the story is about the writing….

30. Please read on for excerpts from the newsletter.http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/administration/academicaffairs/online/OTC

31. Douglas Haneline, PhD As I see it, the Internet provides us teachers with a great opportunity to extend our teaching skills and expand the learning experience of our students. No medium is perfect, or always faultlessly reliable. But we know that anyway—it’s why we take handouts to class along with our memory sticks. By starting with mixed delivery courses and constantly experimenting, I was able to develop an Internet pedagogy. I learned to use multiple and complementary instructional media, and not just for back-up purposes. And finally, learning to use new instructional technology has been fun as well as useful. At whatever stage you are in your teaching career, it’s worthwhile to expand your teaching repertoire.