What are they thinking????

This has been a frustrating week. Technology and I haven’t been getting along at all and while I’m not one to give in to any piece of software, I’m ready to say “uncle” and give up the fight. I am having a bad case of spring fever which I get every year about this time when the hint of spring is in the air and the sun and warm weather are calling me outside. But what really put me over the top this week are the students, my students and my program’s students. What are they thinking? Or are they????

From the “You just can’t make this stuff up” file:

• An email from a student who is enrolled in a spring 2 course who hasn’t been in class yet “Oh…I didn’t realize I was in this class (now three weeks into it). Can I make up all the work?” And you've been where all this time???


• A student grousing about test questions: “I want you to speak with your boss and have them hire me to QA the test questions.” Yea, right…let me get my checkbook.


• From a student who turned in a six sentence file for an assignment requiring a thoughtful one page observation: “How come I don’t get any points for my assignments? You don’t help me. I’m going to speak with your dean!” This is in spite of the fact the instructor gives extensive feedback and an opportunity to resend revised homework for a week after due date.


• From one of my students who contacted the Help Desk the afternoon of the day the assignment was due: “The Help Desk wasn’t helpful. They didn’t explain the homework to me.” Yes, we'll work on their customer service skills.


• Another of my students who has not submitted any assignments (spring2) yet…her explanation as to why: “My first computer broke. The screen went black so I bought another computer. It doesn’t work either.” Sure hope you saved the receipt!

One of the unwritten duties in the chair job description is to be a virtual therapist for your faculty. I encourage my instructors to alert me to any potential student problem along the way, big or small, whether it turns into an issue or not. I tell my faculty to document any issues throughout the semester just in case we need it later. Usually we don’t but those times we’ve needed documentation, it was handy.

I think we need to advocate for a Spring Break for CCCOnline! I sure could use one about now.

Connected

Do you assume that your faculty group, especially your rookies and sophomore faculty feel connected to your program group?

I subscribe to various e-newsletters on online teaching and learning and the latest Faculty Focus caught my eye. Best Practices for Keeping Online Faculty Engaged http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/best-practices-for-keeping-online-adjuncts-engaged/?c=FF&t=F100224-FF

The article discussed practices to more fully connect adjunct faculty to their institution. How often do we, as faculty groups, see each other face to face and make a connection? I know with my faculty group, not often enough. Yes, I do keep weekly contact with my group on various topics and issues, but we don’t see each other very often. I even have a couple instructors whom I have not met in person yet. But I worry about my new faculty feeling "out there" by themselves. I know when I first started here as an instructor, I didn't even know who the chair was and never heard from her. So how can we foster the sense of connection and commitment within our online faculty?

The article suggested these practices:

1. Mandatory orientation to the program, institution and technology. This is one area where CCCOnline does an excellent job through our initial faculty training. As chairs, how do we pick after this session and bring our new faculty into our own program? Are we available to explain policies and procedures and offer guidance to our newbies for the entire semester or do you leave that to a mentor faculty?
2. Provide program expectations. CCCOnline has overall faculty expectations but do you have further expectations for your faculty? Do you send out reminders, especially to new faculty, of what to do when (such as sending out a welcoming email prior to class and where to find the faculty gateway)? Helpful reminders go a long way in providing support to nervous rookie faculty. Don’t wait for them to ask because they may not know what to ask.
3. Another way to connect with your faculty is to recognize their efforts, time, energy and ideas. Do you send out a “welcome to our group” email to your all your faculty to welcome new instructors? Have you made sure that your newbies know who to turn to with questions and problems? Do you value the seasoned veteran for their continued hard work and recognize them publically to the rest of your faculty?
4. Encourage continued professional development in your content area and in online teaching and learning. Our training program offers a wide range of topics to enhance online teaching, but look outside of our group and identify other sources of professional development. There are local and national conferences, online webinars (and a lot for free), online classes some for small fees and a variety of other sources. Even though we may not be able to pay for faculty to attend these types of events, it should be part of the chair’s communication to alert our faculty to these possibilities.
5. Get faculty involved with other faculty by encouraging them to attend system 2:2 conferences to meet and network with other faculty. At most 2:2 conferences, adjunct faculty are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

So don’t assume that your faculty (new and veterans) feel a part of your program and CCCOnline in general. It takes work on the part of the chair to get faculty engaged and keep them committed to doing a good job.

Chairs, Do you have a voice?

I don’t. Seriously, I don’t. I’ve had this nagging cold for a couple of weeks now and it has settled in my throat causing me to alternate between sounding like Lauren Bacall or a raspy whisper. My husband, while sympathetic, I’m sure is secretly happy that I am a lot quieter these days.

When I first started as Chair of the ECE-EDU program, I was told I should attend various meetings but not say anything. Just go and be quiet! Ten years ago, the online program was not looked upon as a fad. However, now, online learning has become an accepted part of education.

So where’s your voice at faculty meetings? Do you attend? We’ve been invited to become more involved at faculty meetings such as the upcoming 2:2 meeting on Feb 19th. These meetings are an excellent opportunity to meet other faculty in your discipline and network with other Program Chairs. I feel we should work in cooperation with our campus programs to provide courses that fill a need and that will be supported by campus faculty. For example, the EDU program provides courses that our sister campuses can’t fill because of lack of faculty or minimal students. When we aggregate students from all around the system, we have enough to run a class and therefore provide this class to students who wouldn’t normally have it available. I’ve also helped my colleagues understand online learning and technology. Over the last decade, I’ve made it a point to get to know each campus chair and as a bonus, I’ve made a lot of very nice friends in the process.

What are you waiting for? An invitation? We did receive a personal invite to the 2:2 conference from Lisa, Donna and the System Office. Are you going? Use your voice for promoting your program. It will probably be a lot louder than mine these days.