Staff Profile: Sunay
Development for Instructional Support Services at UT El Paso.
How long have you been with UTEP? When did you get involved with assisting faculty to prepare their courses for delivery via the UT TeleCampus?
I am a UTEP graduate and have been with UTEP for a long time. I first got involved in online teaching and learning when I helped develop an online nursing course in 1996. Since then I have had a growing interest in larger issues of teaching and integrating technology in the process. I worked for the University College for a number of years helping to incorporate technology into teaching and designing and building modules to help freshman students develop academic skills. I also taught online and hybrid courses. I moved into my current job three years ago and have been involved in the development of online and technology enhanced courses ever since.
How does your work with faculty support the requirements of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) accreditation?
All the work we do is in support of improving instructional design and the quality of instruction at UTEP. We are also involved with providing UTEP instructors with opportunities and ideas for instructional and curriculum development consistent with UTEP's mission. This focus supports our quality enhancement plan (QEP). We also follow SACS guidelines when we help faculty develop new or improve old courses. All these approaches together help meet SACS requirements.
What are the most common issues faculty need your help with, and how are you helping them?
Most of the issues that our faculty come to us with can be classified into two broad categories. One group has questions about using technology for achieving pedagogical goals in classroom or hybrid settings. The second group of issues relates to design, scalability and engagement issues in online courses. In each case we see if it would be worthwhile for us to develop a structured series of workshops to address larger issues that we can then lead five or more faculty through. If not, we do individualized consultation to provide solutions that will work for each problem.
What is the most pressing need you see in technology mediated education today?
The biggest and most pressing need I see currently is the need for some kind of standards-based design. By this I by no means am saying that we do a one-size-fits-all approach, but I really think we need to have some kind of standardization for accessibility (ADA and Digital Divide) to broaden the reach of technology-mediated education. We also need to think deeply about technology implementation. All too often there is a tendency to jump on the newest and best thing that people are talking about without really thinking of long range assessments to see the impact on student learning outcomes. If we have large infrastructure or time loads associated with incorporating new technologies, we must be able to measure the impact of this extra load on our bottom line: which is student learning and success.
What do you see as the value in online education?
The greatest value of online education, in my opinion, is that it increases accessibility to education for people who may not have this access. I also think it helps build self motivation in online learners. I also think it levels the playing field. For example, if you are taking a UT TeleCampus course, it doesn’t matter what kind of computer you have or what your income is. As long as you have enough technology to access the courses and the will to work on them, everyone has equal access to all the services that the UT TeleCampus provides and to all the content that is related to the class. So in a way I think it mitigates any effects of the Digital Divide.
What advice would you offer faculty preparing to teach their first class online?
My main advice is really to rethink your course to make learner-learner and learner-instructor interactions with reflective discussions central to your course. That is the true power of online learning. I also tell people to really watch their time carefully. The level of interaction you can get in an online course is tremendous, and it can be very addicting to be responding to every discussion board post and e-mail and stay connected all times of the day.
How do you interface with the staff at UTTC and what challenges or benefits does that create for you.
I work with all the staff at UTTC from course design and delivery to dealing with faculty issues before, during and after the course. The biggest benefit I get from dealing with the staff at UTTC is the gaining of information and knowledge from individuals who have been involved in the online teaching and learning field for a while.
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