Faculty Development Programs

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Project Update - July 2005

"I had no idea of the Library of Congress Web site and the American Memory collection, an awesome resource."

— National-Louis University pre-service teacher education student

Students introduced to the LOC Web site in their social studies methods classes at National-Louis University (NLU) generally agree with the above comment. Faculty responses have evoked similar praise. A presentation at an academic department meeting so impressed the chair of another department that she quickly asked if her faculty could be introduced to the LOC. Overwhelmingly, students and faculty grasp the value of the Web site and the opportunities it offers to improve the quality of education. Equally important, the above remark came from a student whose instructor was not part of the AAM project. The faculty member had been introduced to the LOC Web site and had integrated it into his classes. These examples show both the promise of the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities (FIICU) AAM project and the progress that has been made over the last two years on providing professional development to higher education faculty.

Introduction

This report covers the period from January 1-June 30, 2005, the second half of the implementation phase of the FIICU AAM project. The FIICU project has a three-year plan with the first year being devoted to planning and development, the second to implementation, and the third to dissemination and planning for the future. A more comprehensive report for the first two years will be developed in summer 2005.

During the period covered in this report, the five institutions participating in the FIICU AAM project ( National-Louis University, Bradley University, Dominican University, Greenville College, and McKendree College) completed the implementation of their activities. Currently, the project Web site is being developed to help disseminate the results of the first two years. In addition, following the scope of work for 2004-2005, two institutions were recruited as new partners in the project: Illinois Wesleyan University and Knox College.

Because the timelines of the AAM reporting period and the FIICU project were not totally compatible, the data presented here is tentative. Approximately 77 faculty were introduced to the LOC Web site in 20 presentations at the five institutions. It is also estimated that between 700-1200 teacher education students received instruction in using the LOC Web site over the last six months. In addition, the implementation phase has provided insight into issues the AAM confronts in faculty development efforts and some lessons learned about higher education faculty development.

The FIICU project strategy for higher education faculty development is collaboration among faculty to develop pertinent processes and products. An important aspect that relates to any effort is recognizing that each institution has to develop a faculty development program that is compatible with that institution’s environment and culture. As a result, faculty from each institution designed individualized programs that met their individual needs. This report includes general observations on issues and lessons learned as well as individual campus reports on activities.

Issues and Responses

As is true of educational projects generally, the major obstacle to success is capacity. A variety of external and internal forces have sorely taxed the capacity of faculty. While the idea of doing something that can improve their teaching is often welcome, other demands have overcrowded schedules to the point that little time or space is available for accommodating one more thing. And many faculty are unwilling to take on another responsibility if they feel they cannot give it their best.

Capacity is a complex issue related to the ongoing change in education at all levels. To address the strains on the resources and abilities of people and institutions, FIICU AAM faculty have developed the following strategies:

• Demonstrating how the LOC can fit into established routines as an enhancement rather than something new and different
• Emphasizing that the LOC allows for more efficient use of time by faculty and students
• Grafting the LOC onto other new initiatives and opportunities to achieve a synergy of effort
• Explaining that the LOC can be used to serve teaching, scholarly activity, and service functions

Most importantly, faculty have shown that the LOC can improve the quality of teaching and learning.

Another major issue present in Illinois concerns testing at the precollegiate level. There is no social studies test in Illinois and that has led some school districts to sharply reduce or even eliminate social studies instruction. Since conditions in the schools strongly influence teacher education programs, and since social studies has the most direct connection to the LOC Web site resources, the decline of social studies could potentially affect the reach of the AAM project at all levels of education. Obviously, this issue extends far beyond the AAM project. Interdisciplinary approaches and focusing on literacy may address the dilemma of social studies instruction in the schools.

What We Have Learned So Far

During the first two years of the FIICU project, we have learned that:

• Faculty quickly grasp the value of the LOC as a resource
• Many higher education faculty currently use the LOC in their courses
• A two-pronged strategy of small and large group introduction followed by collaboration to customize LOC use for individual faculty works best
• Collaboration is easily expanded by building networks of faculty in differing departments and colleges committed to integrating the LOC into the teacher education curriculum

The last two years have provided great insight into the ways and means of faculty development. There have been two phases of most faculty development programs: introduction via presentations at established venues and follow-up collaboration.

The most effective means of introducing faculty to the LOC Web site have been workshops and orientation presentations. These sessions not only provide an efficient method of reaching the maximum number of faculty, but also allow project faculty to gauge existing use of the LOC. Faculty already using the LOC in some capacity can act as champions of the AAM to interest their colleagues. At one presentation at a departmental meeting, one-third of the faculty attending said they already were using American Memory in their courses. Since few knew about “Thomas,” the presentation focused on that part of the LOC Web site. Assessing existing knowledge and use of the LOC is pivotal to all faculty development efforts and also helps project faculty gain ideas and insight into how their colleagues in the same or different fields have used the LOC. Existing use also facilitates acceptance by others and allows for creating a larger network of people and archive of resources.

Introducing faculty to the LOC is one thing, but moving to integration into courses is quite another and requires a very different approach. The most successful strategy in promoting faculty use of the LOC in their courses has been one-to-one collaboration. This process often has involved a brief but intensive time commitment to more fully introduce faculty to the LOC and then discuss how its use might fit into the courses of prospective faculty. In this way, the LOC can be customized to meet the needs of the individual faculty member. Equally important, faculty from differing disciplines have easily identified ways to effectively use the Web site and its resources.

An important consideration is that the number of teacher education faculty is small enough to make the one-to-one collaboration a viable strategy of faculty development that maximizes time and effort. In some cases, the collaboration has allowed project and other faculty to merge their interests to design new projects. It has also facilitated bringing in other faculty so that the LOC acts as a bonding force to join together a small, cohesive group to pursue common and separate interests. At NLU, the pairing of a project and another faculty led to the presentation of a workshop for approximately 15 faculty on a topic of common concern but having multiple avenues. The follow-up discussions involved more faculty and are continuing.

Equally important, the collaborative process has followed a natural progression of interest and need that has crossed departmental and college boundaries. At NLU, Bradley, and Dominican University, the LOC has offered the means for faculty of different departments in colleges of education to work together. The same has been true of faculty in colleges of education and colleges of arts sciences. As a result, the FIICU project has increased the prospect of involving faculty at all levels of the teacher education curriculum within an institution. Project faculty of differing colleges and universities have also cooperated on various efforts, creating an inter-institutional network of commitment and action.

Building on this progress, future planning has not yet been firmly set, but some activities for year three have been tentatively scheduled. The general thrust will be dissemination. Several initiatives are planned, including:

• Development, promotion, and linking of the Web site to maximize its potential as a resource
• Presentations at professional association and other conferences
• Electronic and paper publication of curricular resources and other materials
• A spring 2006 conference for FIICU members in Springfield, IL
• Internal institution presentations and collaboration to further embed the LOC within participating institutions

In addition, all faculty will continue their curriculum and professional development efforts. During the third year, future project planning will occur.

Institutional Reports

The following reports are from National-Louis University, Bradley University, and Dominican University. Reports from Greenville and McKendree Colleges have been delayed and will be provided at a later date. All materials referred to in these reports can be accessed at the FIICU AAM Web site at http:://aam.nl.edu.

National-Louis University
Mark Newman, Costas Spirou, and Donna Ogle

The faculty development process at NLU took multiple paths. The primary development activity was the testing and implementation of the collaboration strategy to develop visual literacy processes and products for use in a new History of Chicago undergraduate course. This path involved the AAM co-director and the two AAM faculty. The idea was to test this model in various venues and then determine if it could be applied elsewhere in the university. The results of the collaboration are evident in several ways. First, the student evaluations to the History of Chicago and social studies methods courses provide data on how students responded to the LOC Web site and the use of primary sources in instruction. Second, the History of Chicago course has been permanently set in the NLU curriculum and will be offered on an annual basis. Third, the use of the LOC Web site has been embedded into the syllabus of the social studies methods courses of the full-time social studies faculty (this includes a faculty member not connected to the AAM). The LOC and visual literacy have also been integrated into a reading course.

Another path of faculty development involved introducing faculty to the LOC through university, college, and departmental professional development venues.

In the winter 2004 quarter, Mark Newman presented an orientation to the LOC to the four faculty of the Technology in Education Department. The chair of the Educational Foundations and Inquiry Department was in attendance and requested an orientation for that department’s faculty. Approximately 20 faculty attended the second orientation where it was discovered that almost one-third already used the LOC in their classes. This finding identified an important aspect of the project, namely gaining a sense of current use of the LOC Web site outside AAM.

A collaboration at the 2004 Winter Retreat has led to discussions with various faculty regarding using the LOC in math methods courses and a project on media.

Equally important, the development of AAM materials has required testing with pre-service teacher candidates and classroom teachers. This testing is a necessary component of the development process since ultimately the LOC and the visual literacy curricular materials will be used in K-12 classrooms.

A related effort is a recently awarded National Endowment for the Humanities grant to develop curricular materials on using visual images to study the history of Chicago from the 1830s to 1917. This project grew out of the AAM effort. The project stresses the use of LOC materials and has the head of the LOC Geography and Maps department as a consultant. The co-directors of the NEH project are part of the NLU AAM initiative as is one of the consultants.

Another dimension of the development process concerns students in the methods courses. Beginning in winter 2004 and continuing to the present, students have been invited to use what they have learned about visual literacy and the LOC to develop learning activities in their practicum and student teaching. Three students pioneered this effort in spring 2004 and have formed the nucleus of this initiative. These students also collaborated on a presentation at the national meeting of the Association of Teacher Educators in February 2005, have been recruited for another, related grant project, and, in one case, one of these students was employed as an AAM project assistant. In this instance, the AAM experience has shown teacher education candidates that teaching offers numerous opportunities both within and outside the classroom. In addition, NLU is gaining a model for building alumni relations.

In the final analysis, the implementation year represented a culmination of the efforts of previous years as well as a transition to the following year that will build on past collaborations and continuing discussions. The integration of the LOC Web site into the teacher education curriculum.

Bradley University
Dave McMullen and Sherrie Pardieck

The activities at Bradley University between January 1 and June 30, 2005 focused on introducing faculty to the LOC, collaborating on various activities with other Bradley faculty and faculty from AAM partner institutions, and integration of the LOC into teacher education courses. The activities were as follows:

January 21, 2005 – Interactive video conference between LOC and Bradley University (faculty session)

January 28, 2005 – Interactive video conference between LOC and Bradley University (student session)

February 15, 2005 – AATE Conference presentation with Dominican University, Greenville College, McKendree College, and National-Louis University, in Chicago

April 2, 2005 – IEA/NEA student program presentation with Greenville College (Dr. John Wright & Dr. Kathy Taylor), Bloomington, IL

April 18, 2005 – Presentation of primary sources using the LOC Web site to Bradley University teacher education majors in ETE 205 Effective Teaching Strategies and ETE 260 Children’s Literature classes. Mr. Todd Niccum, a teacher education major presented his use of the Web site with constructed lesson plans to pre-service teachers.

Other Activities

• Integrated AAM into several teacher education courses. For example, in ETE 371 (Secondary Methods II) students used LOC resources to create interdisciplinary thematic WebQuest projects. These projects were sent to The WebQuest Page for publication.
• Introduced graduate students to AAM in ETE 551 Technology Application and Integration. Students explored the LOC Web site in class and brainstormed how the material might be used in their classrooms.
• Students have been using the primary sources through the LOC Web site. For example, in ETE 506 Reading in the Content Fields, graduate students constructed their technology lesson plans focusing on the LOC resources. In ETE 353 Language Arts Methods, ETE 325 Teaching Beginning Reading, and ETE 490 Professional Teaching Portfolio undergraduates created lesson plans using primary source materials. Also, in ETE 306 Novice Teaching course, pre-service teachers were introduced to the LOC Web site for use in their classrooms.
• Selected course syllabi have been revised to include the use of primary sources with the LOC Web site.
• Students in these classes were surveyed about their impression of the LOC Web site.

Dominican University
Colleen Reardon and Ben Freville

Embedded Workshops

During the 2004-2005 school year, a workshop orienting teacher candidates and practicing teachers to the primary sources at the LOC American Memory Web site was conducted in four graduate classes (one section of Reading in the Content Areas, three sections of Integrating Technology into the Curriculum). The 77 participants in these workshops were provided with an introduction to primary sources, their potential uses in the K-12 classroom, and a guided exploration of the primary sources available on the Web site.

In addition, a workshop was conducted in an undergraduate classroom for students who were completing a research paper that dealt with the general topic of diversity. As the focus of this workshop was determined by the instructor of the class (Education in a Diverse Society), time was not devoted to exploring the use of primary sources in the K-12 classroom.

During the spring 2005 semester and the first session of the summer 2005 semester, a workshop on the use of primary sources was embedded in a class titled History, Philosophy, and Legal Foundations of Special Education. Participants in these classes developed research reports on the history of a specific disability. Primary sources were incorporated into both their written reports and their presentations. In addition, selected primary sources were presented to support learning in other aspects of the course.

Faculty Development

Through embedded workshops in graduate and undergraduate classes, three additional faculty in the School of Education were introduced to the primary sources available on the LOC American Memory Web site.

Evaluation and Dissemination

A questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of the embedded workshops and to assess benefit to participants was developed in February. Data was collected from 77 participants.

A report on the project at Dominican University was shared at the Association of Teacher Educators Annual Meeting in February 2005.

Special Education Guide to the LOC American Memory Web Site

A guide to be used by special education and general education teachers to support the learning of students with disabilities in their study of primary sources available on the LOC American Memory Web site is currently being developed.

An Adventure of the American Mind is made available through a Library of Congress grant funded by the U.S. Congress. AAM is administered through the Education and Research Consortium of the Western Carolinas Inc.
For site-related problems, e-mail aam@ercwc.org..