Reflections: Standard Eight

 

Other than the act of teaching, faculty have but one responsibility that is more important than most others are; Always be current and pertinent in what they know and practice. I have learned in this series that the need to continue to practicing the old adage of, “always be a learned, not a learned” is never as true as in the art of instruction.  

 

The artifacts you will experience in this standard include:

 

Faculty Development and networking: I am involved in many organizations and networking opportunities outside of our campus. I have a unique opportunity to network with other peers in Community Colleges all over the state of California and the nation.  This artifact demonstrates the standard nine point of networking with others involved with online education. 

 

Learning Plan: There are experts in every facet of DE and in my opinion, a college or university has a prima fascia responsibility to contribute and become a positive force of change and evolution in its future.  I strive to do this every moment I am actively involved in DE, no matter the location or circumstance.

 

 

Faculty have responsibilities to perform professional development in their respective colleges to meet requirements each year for professional growth. To interact with colleagues, become involved in state instructional issues, academic senates and other professional groups to increase their awareness and their understanding how these issues affect their teaching pathways.

 

I enjoy the learning I receive from collaborations with others, especially in the @ONE series of workshops and trainings. In this class, the cohort has been widely varied and show continuous support for each other.

 

I am also a proponent in being involved with more state functions as well. I and a judge for educational software SIIA/CODIE that is developed by educational vendors such as Adobe, turnitin, Ucertify, National Geographic Society, Schoology, Blackboard, Tutor.com and hundreds of others.

My state participation has been very satisfying with the leadership it demands. I was selected to membership on the California Community Colleges (CCC) Online Education Initiative steering committee, Co- Chair for the CCC Distance Education Coordinators (DEC)Organization, instructional designer for the Chancellor’s office DEC online course that instructs new Distance education Coordinators in how to prepare and execute their new responsibilities according to what the Chancellor’s office needs.

 

Pertaining to the specific art of teaching I was selected to be a member of the Blackboard MVP program where skills, practice, extraordinary results,, ability to help others translates into a world-wide program of very public distance education mentors who are available for consultations for any institutions, public and private, K-12 through graduate universities and everything in between.

 

The information from these interactions is available and I send the bulleted version to stake holders at SWC and integrate it into the training and other workshops I do. The judging project allows me to evaluate new and innovative software that in some instances can add considerable value to distance learning.

 

All information and learned material I share with interested parties within SWC and am able to report on any item(s) at any time.  Whenever faculty come to the Online Learning Center for training I will impart to them pertinent information and best practices I have learned.  I organized and SWC hosted the Blackboard "Never Stop Learning World Tour" stop at Southwestern California.  This was a teaching and learning conference where speakers and other distance education professionals and experts presented their expertise in workshops and individual consultations.