Special Initiatives/Incentives in Teaching (a Few Specific Examples)

Program development & leadership initiatives| Pedagogical and technological initiatives

Program development & leadership initiatives

In Spring of 2004, I teamed up with two of my colleagues (Drs. Murdock and Fischetti) to apply for a grant on designing and developing an online certificate program for the educators who want to become Technology Facilitators in public schools. In addition to participating in the grant writing process, I took the responsibility of developing the program and its components. The grant was awarded at the end of Spring 2004 ($83,000). My responsibilities now are to help faculty design (or re-design) and develop courses for the new program for online delivery and make sure that the program is ready to be delivered online in Fall 2005.

As of Fall of 1999, when we began offering the instructional technology master's program for the first time, I have led and coordinated the program. My role as a program coordinator has been multifaceted. My responsibilities have ranged from developing the curriculum, courses, activities and materials to collaborating with other programs (both on campus and off campus), local organizations and businesses and helping department chairs in scheduling and identifying individuals to teach the specialized courses in the program to admission, advising, recruiting, leading students internships and chairing other related activities (comprehensive exam, thesis, portfolio development, etc.).

In Fall of 2000, I was asked by the Dean and Associate Dean to participate in a grant writing team to apply for a Federal Grant on Preparing Tomorrow Teachers to Use Technology (PT3). In addition to participating in the grant writing process, I took the responsibility of serving as the evaluator for the grant. The grant was awarded in Fall of 2001 ($963,815), and since then I have been serving as the evaluator for the grant. My responsibilities as an internal evaluator have been multifaceted. The most important part of my job has been to respond to an ongoing demand for formative evaluation on the implementation of the project as well as summative annual evaluation on the extend to which the project has met the goals set for it by the funding sources and the original grant proposal.

During summer of 2002, I took the leadership of helping PT3 Implementation Team for secondary education to plan the summer institute workshops for secondary faculty and partnership teachers. During Fall of 2002, again I took the leadership of helping the PT3 Implementation Team for elementary education to brainstorm and then team up with the Computer Science Department to design and develop database software that seemed to be needed for the implementation of PT3 grant at the elementary level.
In Summer and Spring of 2001, I participated in an initiative with five other universities in the NC system to form an educational technology consortium (Educational Technology Consortium of North Carolina). The goal of the initiative has been to establish an online collaborative statewide master's program linking existing master's programs in instructional technology. The Office of the President has approved the proposal for such consortium.

In Fall of 2001, I took the leadership of initiating a collaborative certificate program with the department of Computer Science and School of Business (Information Technology System). The deans of the school of Arts and Sciences, Cameron School of Business and Watson School of Education, chair of the department of Computer Science, and the program coordinator for the new program in Information Technology have supported this initiative. We are now in the process of starting dialogue to proceed with planning. We hope to propose the certificate program along with the new Information Technology Program.

In preparation for the State of North Carolina authorization to establish an advanced master's degree program leading to advanced teaching licensure and an instructional technology/computer specialist degree, in Spring and Fall of 2001 I took the leadership of writing two reports and gathering supporting documents and materials for the reviewers and then preparing for the review process. The program was reviewed in Dec. 2001 with positive comments. The authorization of the program was issued subsequently.

In Fall of 2000, I was given the responsibility of chairing a committee to discuss Watson School of Education (WSE) online courses and to develop a document that describes the WSE policy, procedures and standards for online courses. The document was generated and discussed extensively in the committee, and later it was approved by the committee and both departments in the WSE. Presently, the document is part of the Watson School of Education Procedural Manual.

In Fall of 1995, I initiated and then took the leadership of designing and developing a master's program in instructional technology. Following extensive needs assessment research and review of more than fifteen exemplary programs, I took the leadership of drafting a proposal for planning the program, which was forwarded for consideration in the Spring of 1997, and approved accordingly in Fall of 1997. Upon authorization to plan, I again took the leadership of drafting and then revising the proposal for establishing the program, which was approved in Spring of 1999.

In Spring and Fall 1994, I was invited by the dean to participate in redesigning the master's program in educational administration. My involvement was to participate in re-conceptualizing the theoretical framework of the program and joining the Task Force Committee in drafting the proposal and defending it before different evaluating parties. The resulting proposal was forwarded for consideration and was approved with acclaim during the Spring 1995.

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Pedagogical and technological initiatives

As a faculty member who has specialized in instructional design and instructional technology and teaches in these areas, it is imperative that I initiate and embrace pedagogical and technological innovations. Since my arrival in UNCW I have done so by developing, applying, and disseminating pedagogical and technological innovations in my teaching and by leading and encouraging my colleagues to do the same. The following section summarizes some of my efforts in these areas.

• I was one of the very first faculty members in the WSE who began integrating handheld computers in the design, development and implementation of courses in higher education setting. I have worked with other faculty members in our school and other schools (through several workshops and tutorials) to also adopt such an innovation. I have not only used this new technology in my instruction, but also developed an instructional design model (new methods and strategies) for such integration and disseminated my pedagogical innovation. As part of this dissemination effort, in Fall of 2003, I helped a high school teacher to integrate fully such technology into her instruction by using both the method and the technology.
• I was one of the very first faculty members in the WSE and on campus who initiated designing, developing, and implementing online courses for our undergraduate and graduate programs. As a result of these endeavors, I designed and developed one undergraduate level core course (EDN 301) and three graduate level core courses (MIT 500, MIT 510 and EDN 520) for online delivery. All three courses are being offered online on a regular basis.
  I was one of the very first faculty members in the WSE who supplemented all of my graduate and undergraduate courses with Web-based materials and innovative strategies. Beginning 1998, all my courses were enhanced by Web sites and Web-based materials and activities.
• I have served as a resource and often been called on to examine existing programs and instructional practices in WSE and elsewhere to analyze and propose innovative and futuristic instructional and technological solutions. My analyses and suggestions in most of the cases have resulted in pedagogical and technological changes in our practices.
  I have developed, used and evaluated instructional design models for online and technologically enhanced learning environment. My colleagues and scholars in the field have used my new models and prescriptions for designing instruction.
• I have developed and formatively evaluated an instructional model for customizing online instruction to the needs of different learners. I am now in the process of evaluating the model for improvement of learning (summative results). The model has already received a lot of attention in my field and by my colleagues both nationally and internationally.
• As a chair of a committee for one of our core undergraduate courses, EDN 301, I have led several development and change initiatives that are all in place at this time. The faculty members (several sections of this course are offered each semester) are currently using the materials that I have developed for this course. I am also in the process of writing a textbook for the course to better address the need for having common materials in different sections of the course.
  

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