The Number 1 Issue in Teaching and Learning
Last week EDUCAUSE shared the results of their annual ELI survey, identifying the key issues in teaching and learning for 2019. In this post we take a look at our own customers in higher education, to explore their methods to tackle these issues in the area of educational technology.
From more than 1,400 participants, the top issues in teaching and learning of 2019 were identified and collected in the info-graphic below.
Source: Educause
Not surprisingly, Faculty Development & Engagement was found to be the number one issue for 2019:
The issue of faculty development reclaimed the top spot. Since 2014, this issue has consistently appeared in the top three, and so it has again for 2019. What is remarkable is not so much its #1 finish (it was #1 in 2017); rather, it's that faculty development received 25% more votes than the second-place issue, online and blended learning. This represents the largest margin between two adjacent issues that we've ever recorded for this survey, underscoring the importance of this issue to the community. Source: Educause
The importance of faculty development
It has been clear to us at EesySoft for quite some time now that Faculty Development is at the core of teaching and learning improvements. It's an issue that we actively help institutions around the world tackle with our LMS Adoption Solution.
In the domain of technology usage - many institutions view faculty development as online courses or in person training events with the goal of helping instructors learn to use the technology available to craft active learning engagements. We think there is an eesier way.
Instructors, professors, teachers - all of the above - are incredibly busy. Handling a large amount of courses, students and often research projects simultaneously, its no surprise that trying a new approach or redesigning course materials can slip through the cracks. At EesySoft, we promote a different approach to helping faculty learn about the technology available to them. Let's call it just in time learning.
The eesy way
With in-application messages, we put instructional and learning experience designers and LMS Admins in the drivers seat of faculty development. When a new tool or feature is discovered that could be used to create a more engaging learning experience, Faculty can be prompted with this new information - at the moment of need.
An example: San Diego State University
San Diego State University (SDSU) found that students were more actively engaged with their courses wehn they could view their grades consistently. However, faculty adoption of the Blackboard grade center was rather low. To tackle this issue, SDSU used EesySoft to place a message that targeted instructors who were not using the Grade Center yet with a hint, much like this example:
By placing a simple EesyMessage directly into Blackboard, the team at SDSU was able to promote the use of the grade center, effectively increasing the adoption of this feature by 264% in just two weeks.
Key Take-Away
Faculty Development and Engagement is obviously a teaching and learning issue that goes beyond the use of technology. But with the growing role of blended learning in higher education, technology usage is fast becoming a key factor and is a great place to start addressing the faculty development problem. At EesySoft, we firmly believe that simple steps, like proactively communicating with faculty members about tools and methods available at the moment of need, can make a strong impact on long term faculty development and engagement efforts.
If you have any questions about EesySoft or want to learn more about how we help institutions improve LMS adoption and support, please do not hesitate to book a meeting with us: Meet with EesySoft or reach out at info@eesysoft.com
Also, a special thanks to the team at EDUCAUSE for putting together such extremely well thought out and informative studies every year.