When I began CEP-810, my goal was to better connect my practice as a higher ed IT leader with teaching and learning.
This course helped me learn to deliberately reflect on my practice using a variety of tools. Examples include developing and reflecting on my PLN and learning a new skill using only YouTube and help forums. The structure of the class also practiced what it preached: using blogs, twitter, multimedia, and discussion boards to reflect on our learning. The introspection helped me unpack valuable unconscious learning processes.
The 21st Century Lesson Plan was, hands down, my greatest challenge. It also represented the largest shift in my practice. I’ve never built a lesson plan before. I’d never before understood my departmental leadership as a sort of pedagogy. Last week, I actually taught that lesson to my entire staff. I’ve spent a decade running meetings, giving major conference presentations, and speaking in public. But I’ve never been so nervous. I led a technology-integrated workshop rooted in active learning to a group of busy professionals. Would they participate? Would it be a waste of their time? I was afraid my lesson might be subject to some serious trolling.
My goal was to help our team embrace the practice of change leadership. I think we all needed to norm around a concept of change leadership and explore opportunities for each team member to lead. Almost by definition, you can’t tell somebody to lead. I needed to figure out a pedagogical and technological approach that surrendered the lesson to the learners, to give up control, to allow them to lead. I had just a bit of insight into how instructors must feel every day.
I’m happy to report that it turned out great! The staff worked in small teams, generating five fantastic project ideas that all immediately benefit our university. The winning project is pitching their idea to our Directors tomorrow.
Questions remain
I want to learn more about implementing theoretical ideas in practice. For example, if you think about IT as an organizational structure within the university, technology may be seen as structurally separate from teaching and learning. We’ve tried to address that problem by building an IT organization that’s as close to the faculty as possible. Our Learning Tech staff are huge fans of TPACK already and we’ve been talking about how to design faculty development experiences for TPACK. We are exploring ideas such as asking faculty from the various schools to act as liaisons to advise IT and mentor other instructors.
These are practical questions. As technology transforms education, how do we help preserve the best values and practices of our universities while incorporating the best innovations from modern learning science and technology? How do folks in support jobs, like myself, define our roles to be most helpful to our institutions? This all adds up to figuring out the sort of future we want to create. I turn often to the work of Anya Kamenetz for a glimpse into one exciting future for education with technology:
I also want to learn more about pursuing our social justice values with educational technology. How can we support diverse learners? First generation students? English Language Learners? How can 21st century teaching and learning with technology invite more women into computer science? More men into K12 teaching? Offering different modes of learning, knowing, and presenting knowledge may help make many disciplines more diverse.
CEP-810 has provided a strong foundation and excellent network of colleagues. I very much look forward to the next step.