Faculty Enthusiasm for Technology

DevelopingFaculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

CultivatingFaculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

Praying forFaculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

Finding meaning in life while working inan environment that appears to lack

Faculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

RestrainingFaculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

Reining inFaculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

ControllingFaculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

ManagingFaculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

Faculty Enthusiasmfor TechnologyERIC M. LARSON / 2014 MINIT SYMPOSIUM / JULY 10, 2014 / UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS

Goal / Outcome for this session

Practical tips

“We did training sessions on _____ !”

“We gave away free _____ !”

Philosophical stances

“We partnered with _____ ”

“We encouraged them to think about _____ ”

Two questions…BECAUSE WE CAN LOOK AT THIS IN TWO WAYS

“

”

How do wepromote technology?

This is the easy question. “Did you know that technology can help you?” “No, I did not! Tell me more!”

“

”

How do we promote someone’s intrinsic motivation to more deeply engage in a community or activity that they already profess to value?

That’s a much harder question.

Faculty as (a) People vs.Faculty as Persons

(archaic grammatical distinction, irrelevant nowadays)

For our purposes… are we talking about “faculty” as a broad category? Or are we talking about individual faculty members?

Answer: Yes.

Faculty are individuals…and, we need to be able to generalize.

Your hands-on task for today…

Grab your index card!

Grab a pen!

On one side, write what you do.

(“I _______.”)

On the other side, write what your faculty do.

(“My faculty ________”)

Eric’s Personal Issue

I love my wife.

I hate that she describes me as“a computer guy”

But if not that… what am I?

(And, what are our faculty?)

“The Identity Question”IF YOU HAVEN’T GUESSED ALREADY, THIS IS GOING TO BE A BIG THEME

Question: What do you do?

Hint: Look at your index card.

What does Eric do?

I support learning.

I explore solutions.

I explain reality.

I battle entropy.

I empower faculty.

This last point is loaded with meaning

What do our faculty do?

Teach

Research

What else?

Who are our faculty?

“Personal Brand”

“Identity”

? ? ?

“

”

Does Mike Rowe know what accomplishment looks like?

There’s a sense of accomplishment in “Dirty Jobs”

Q: How do we measure accomplishment?

How do we measure accomplishment?

Is this a “tenure, promotion, etc.” question?

Is this a “metrics” question?

Navigate the differences between “Today, I got that septic tank pumped out” and “Today, I wisely and skillfully used technology to support the Academy”

Burnout warning:You distain “WIIFM”

“What’s In It For Me (or Them)?”

Does it have value?

Then articulate that value!

Does it lack value?

Then why are you making your faculty do it?

“If there’s no benefit to it,then it’s not a mandate.

It’s not a vision.

It’s a hobby.”

~ ERIC M. LARSON, 2014

“I Tried It and It Didn’t Work!”

Someone sought me out recently to say that she’d tried something I had recommended and it didn’t work. “You need to stop recommending that to people,” she told me. “How many times did you try it?” I asked. “Once……and the students hated it,” she responded.

~ Dr. Maryellen Weimer

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-professor-blog/tried-didnt-work/

Closing thematic bow…

Closing thematic bow…

“Faculty Enthusiasm for Technology” can’t and shouldn’t come from/for/within the technology itself.

Technology is a tool that can help us, and our faculty, to grow into a role/identity/”brand”/purpose.

So… what do you think?

Discussion