HBCU Summit Welcome and "Peak" the Interest of Your Faculty with Rock-Solid OER Professional Development
Workshop Session 1
Brief Abstract
8:30am - 9:10am: Welcome to the HBCU AL$ Summit
Moustapha Diack, Southern University System
Robbie Melton, Tennessee State University
Gerry Hanley, California State University, MERLOT, SkillsCommons
As we begin the 3rd Annual HBCU Affordable Learning Solutions Summit, our focus will be on sharing the pioneering efforts of HBCU’s implementing their AL$ programs. Sharing lessons learned and enabling colleagues to incorporate exemplary practices into their own programs will help advance the HBCU communities goals. We will also share the innovations being explored and provide the social support for the campus leaders to be successful on their campus.
9:10am - 9:50am: “Peak” the Interest of Your Faculty with Rock-Solid OER Professional Development
Tracy Barley, North Carolina Central
Jean-Jacques Medastin, Central State University
Karen Nichols, Xavier of Louisiana
Rona Tyger, Dillard University
Recipients of the Hewlett Affordable Solutions Grant will form a panel to discuss OER professional development on their respective campuses and solicit ideas and suggestions from audience participants. In addition to professional development for faculty, training opportunities for involved staff will also be included. Examples of OER professional development are national training programs, incentive-based initiatives, training in course development, and quality assurance.
9:50am - 10:05am: Questions, answers and reflections on applying lessons learned
Presenters
Professor Moustapha Diack is the Associate Vice President for Online Learning Services for the Southern University System (SUS) and Director of Professional Development Services for Southern University Baton Rouge (SUBR). He is Chair of the Practitioners Summit for Advancing Affordable Learning Solutions and Quality Online Education for HBCUs, integral part of the OLC/MERLOT International Conference. His research interests at Southern University are in the areas of Instructional Design, cognitive theory of multimedia learning and the strategic planning and deployment of online learning systems to enhance student learning outcomes. Diack has extensive experience in the areas of online learning design and delivery and has played a global leadership role in the areas of Open Education and Open Access. He is recipient of the International MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching) Innovation Award 2009. He is member of the MERLOT Faculty Development Editorial Board and Co-Founding Director of the MERLOT Africa Network (MAN), a network of African higher education institutions and digital scholars engaged in the research, development and implementation of open education. At the SUS, Diack oversees the development and implementation of integrated digital library services, the Southern University Online Library for Education (SUOL4ed), to facilitate quality online programs development and college affordability through the adoption of open education resources and open textbook. Diack is member of the Louisiana Board of Regents Task Force On Electronic Learning and Past President 2003-2006 of the Louisiana Academy of Science and also Member of the Quality Matters (QM) International Advisory.
Robbie K. Melton, Ph.D. is a full tenured professor at Tennessee State University. Major research studies include Strategic Planning for Emerging IOE (Internet of Everything) Smart Connected Mobile Devices for Education and Workforce Development. She has published and presented around the nation on the impact and value of mobilization for education and the workforce and has acquired a new distinction as an “App-ologist” due to her study of the pedagogy and best teaching practices with mobilization, quality standards for the utilization of mobile apps, and for her creation of the Mobile App Education and Workforce Resource Center (50,000 + Apps that have been aligned with over ninety-five subject areas from Pre-K to Ph.D., including workforce careers, professional development and lifelong learning, according to one’s mobile device of choice). Melton is the winner of numerous awards; the latest being the 2016 Online Learning Consortium Fellow, 2016 Richard Jonsen Educational Technologies top honor for her lifetime work in educational technology, 2015 MERLOT Leadership Visionary Award, CDE Top 30 2014 Technologists, Transformers and Trailblazers, 2013 Apple Distinguished Educator, 2012, Technology WOW Award, 2013 eAfrica Innovator Education Award.
Gerard L. Hanley Ph.D. is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Technology Services and the Executive Director of MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, www.merlot.org) for the California State University, Office of the Chancellor. At the CSU, Gerry oversees the management of systemwide academic technology initiatives including digital library services, course redesign with technology, affordable learning solutions, accessible technology, and Cal State Online, serving CSU’s 23 campuses and 479,000 students. At MERLOT, he directs the development and sustainability of the international consortium and technology strategy to provide open educational services to improve teaching and learning. He is the Director of SkillsCommons, the US Department of Labor’s open repository of educational resources for workforce development. Gerry’s previous positions include professor of psychology, director of faculty development, and director of strategy planning at CSU, Long Beach.
Karen N. Nichols is the Distance Education Coordinator at Xavier University of Louisiana. She holds a doctorate in Romance Languages from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been involved in distance education for over twenty years at the secondary and post-secondary levels. She has developed and taught online courses in French and Spanish and has conducted numerous workshops and mentoring training sessions for online instructors on such diverse topics as accessibility, providing excellent student feedback and using avatars. Of particular importance, is OER (Online Educational Resources) and she is a member of the steering committee of HBCU-Innovate. Xavier has just partnered with MERLOT to bring AL$ (Affordable Learning Solutions) to the campus. Dr. Nichols holds memberships in POD (Professional and Organizational Network of Higher Education), and Francophonie des Amériques. She is part of Xavier’s Center for Continuing Studies and Distance Education (http://xula.edu/ccsde/) and assists the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development (http://cat.xula.edu/). She is training faculty in using Brightspace and is the lead on implementing SLATE for Graduate Admissions.
Rona Tyger, EdD, Director of Academic Technology at Dillard University (New Orleans), continues to make strides in improving learner-centered teaching and learning through the harmonious integration of academic technology, content and pedagogical knowledge, learning theory and learning management and quality assurance systems, appropriate research, learner-centered pedagogy and faculty-centered andragogy (faculty development) and a daily commitment to excellence.
Dr. Tyger’s current focus is on the adoption of open educational resources combined with the aforementioned strategies to improve student success and educational equity.
Dr. Tyger has been teaching hybrid and fully online courses since 2002 and knows the importance of the instructional design process that accompanies each course delivered in nontraditional ways. Rona has taught Graduate students instructional technology theory and practice. Most recently, she is working with faculty on “open educational resources,” optimizing the use of both free and our licensed software, "flipping" their courses and re-designing traditional courses into hybrid or online courses. She is a lifelong learner whose research interests lie in the area of educational equity specifically focusing on learner-centered curriculum, distance education pedagogy, digital literacy, digital participation, building digital learning capacity and 21st Century Teaching and Learning.
Rona was an Assistant Professor in Adult and Adolescent Education at Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Georgia 2009 - 2012; an Assistant Professor at Waycross College from 2003 – 2009; and an Instructor in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at Savannah State University from 2001 - 2003. Rona completed her EdD in Curriculum Theory and Instructional Technology at Georgia Southern University in 2011.
Rona also serves as the Canvas LMS Administrator, the Quality Matters coordinator for distance learning instructors and the Jenzabar Ex Advising Administrator at DU.
Extended Abstract