2A Summary and Evidence

2A

“Coach teachers in and model design and implementation of technology-enhanced learning experiences addressing content standards and student technology standards.”

untetheredgroup2014-2015
Untethered Community from 2014-2015 (image by Ryan Ingersoll)

2A Summary

  • During 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 I co-led communities of practice at Seattle Pacific University. We collaborated with 34 faculty members over the two years in four different communities.
  • Our communities focused on helping faculty with their iPad competency, which we called iPad elegance. While not an official technology standard per se, iPad elegance served as the key focal point as we worked together to build specific iPad and technological skills.
  • Our communities incorporated active learning strategies as the essential framework. We wanted our communities focused on teaching and learning and not technology devices.
  • Our goals, from our 2014-2015 report, capture our expectations for untethered teaching:

“Our experiment in the untethered classroom is not about the technology—it is not about using the latest, neatest gadgets. This is about facilitating deeper learning; learning that goes beyond rote memorization and surface recall. Our hypothesis is that we can increase student engagement by increasing faculty engagement. Rather than standing behind a lectern speaking for hours on end, or disrupting a great student insight to get up and advance a slide, faculty should be free to roam around the classroom, sit amongst the students and facilitate a community of inquiry from the position of a co­-learner.

Once instructors are free to move away from the podium, they will be encouraged and empowered to interact more with their students. Faculty will be able to more easily incorporate active learning strategies into their courses. Instructors who are mobile can listen in on student discussions, guide groups as they work through problems, catch common misconceptions and in general be free to participate in the learning community.”

2A Evidence

Untethered Teaching Communities of Practice Portfolio – Faculty Development

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