The Educational Technology Front in 2011

Today\u27s K-20 educators are more adept at using technology resources than at any time in the past. Simultaneously, educators are ever more wary about technology resources because of the risk that the technology may fail at some critical moment in class, the risk that privacy issues may cause problems for their students, and the risk of unintended consequences for teachers who experiment with new technologies. For example, asking students to use some of the many new free or low-cost applications means that educators must be aware of advertisements for products that may be misleading, and malware that may compromise school or student computers. Further, part of the reason educators are able to enjoy so many of these resources is because they have been available free or low-cost, but the promise of continued availability of these resources is tenuous at best

An Examination of Faculty Experiences with Hybrid Formats

This phenomenological study investigated the experiences of a set of faculty who taught classes in hybrid format at a small liberal arts university in Salem, Oregon. For this study, a hybrid format course was defined as a course that includes elements of both traditional face-to-face and technology-enhanced (often Internet) course components. The study consisted of a set of heuristic interviews with faculty members identified through an empirical survey I conducted in Fall 2002 as part of my duties as Director of Instructional Design and Development for the university\u27s technical services department. Higher education leaders have consistently identified technology integration as an important priority for their faculty. Since in many cases faculty have proven reluctant to do so, it is clear that there has been some dissonance between leadership expectations and faculty experiences. An extensive review of relevant literature indicates that little research has been conducted specifically on the faculty experience with educational technology, although much evidence has been gathered on the student experience and on learning outcomes. The goal of this study was to discover if there were any common elements that faculty experience in working with hybrid formats, and to try to distill these elements into a set of recommendations to higher education leaders for improving faculty experiences with educational technology. The broader goal was to help develop practices that might improve ways faculty use educational technology to enhance teaching and learning