Becoming an Educational Change Agent

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By Josh Kim, Dartmouth College

Blended Librarian Webcast on Thursday, May 21, 2009 @ 3pm Eastern

by LearningTimes

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Review/EDUCAUSEReviewMagazineVolume43/BusinessCardsfortheFuture/163271

Polling Question:

Do you consider yourself an educational change agent?:

A)YesB)NoC)I wishD)Don’t believe in the concept

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Conversation

Barbara KnauffBarbara.Knauff@Dartmouth.EDU

Education: PhD in French Literature Yale University

Background:Senior Learning Technologist: DartmouthAdjunct Faculty Member : DartmouthFaculty: St. Mary's College of Maryland

Joshua KimJoshua.M.Kim@Dartmouth.edu

Education: PhD in Sociology (Demography) Brown University

Background:Senior Learning Technologist: DartmouthPart-Time Faculty: Dartmouth & Quinnipiac: Program Manager: Quinnipiac University OnlineProducer: Britannica.comFaculty: WVU

My first exposure to educational technology

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Polling Question:

Best describes your job title:

A)Academic LibrarianB)Educational TechnologistC)InstructorD)Other

Polling Question:

How long have you you worked in academe?

A)0 to 3 yearsB)4 to 7 yearsC)8 to 14 yearsD)15 years +

Polling Question:

How long have you had your current job title?:

A)0 to 3 yearsB)4 to 7 yearsC)8 or more years

Status Quo

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Status Quo

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change: from lecture to seminar

http://www.exeter.edu/admissions/147_harkness.aspx

Change: research based approach (how people learn)

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=9457&page=18How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice National Academies Press; June 2000)

Change: recognizing multiple intelligences

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Change: The brain and how the mind works

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Active Learning

Learner Centric Courses

Social Learning

Students as Knowledge Producers

Information Abundance

Communication and Collaboration

Constructivism

Change Agents

Change Agents•Change agents are marginalized

•Change agents exist between cultures

•Change agents are not fully part of the cultures they work in

Between Two Cultures

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Computing Faculty

Professor Charles Francis Xavier

Question:

How has the role of instructional technologist evolved over the past decade, and where is the job going?

Evolution of Our Jobs

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Question:

How much of our work is reactive, and how much of is advocacy for changes in instructional paradigms?

Polling Question:

Is an aspect of your work trying to move towards a more proactive stance with faculty colleagues as well?

A)YesB)NoC)Not Sure

Polling Question:

Would you characterize efforts to move to a more proactive relationship with faculty/instructor colleagues as successful?

A)YesB)NoC)Not Sure

Question:

How are the roles between instructional designers and librarians demarcated, and where are they beginning to shift or merge?

Polling Question:

Do you regularly work with learning technologists in your current role?

A)YesB)NoC)Does not apply

Polling Question:

Did the title of the position you are in now exist 5 years ago?:

A)YesB)NoC)Not Sure

Polling Question:

The tasks that you spend your time on now are:

A)Totally different from when I started this positionB)Have remained fairly constantC)I’m too new in my position to judge.

Challenge:Communicating what a learning technologist does.

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Challenge:

Claiming the role of colleague with faculty as opposed to support staff.

Polling Question:

Who would you characterize as your main clients – the people you work mostly with in your position?

A)FacultyB)StudentsC)About equal faculty and studentsD)Other

Polling Question:

Does your work involve significant interaction with a course management system such as Blackboard?

A)YesB)NoC)Not applicable

Polling Question:

In two sentences or less explain what a learning technologist does.

Polling Question:

Do you feel like you have the opportunity to play a significant role in the strategic direction of your campus?

A)YesB)NoC)Not sure

Polling Question:

Are learning technologist treated as colleagues by faculty at your institution?

a)Yesb)Noc)Depends on the Learning Technologist

Challenge:

Getting a seat at the strategic table.

Challenge:

Finding the right nudges to encourage instructors to partner with us in the course design and development process.

Discussion Question:

What aspect(s) of the status quo are you trying to change in your institution?

Discussion Question:

What do you see as the obstacles for catalyzing change?

Discussion Question:

What are some effective strategies that you have employed to bring about change? Can you give specific examples?