Building Faculty Competence in Multimedia Instruction

Abstract

This article describes a university-wide initiative to enhance undergraduate and graduate classroom instruction with multimedia technology and foster a collaborative approach to the learning process in higher education. The project promoted teamwork among faculty, students and computer center support staff to develop technology-enriched learning environments supported by multimedia-based instructional tools. In this model, the university faculty serve as facilitators of the learning process and architects of the teaching/learning environment. The teaching/learning environments developed varied by individual course and professor, as will be discussed in some detail. Each environment shared an emphasis on the creative, student-centered use of a range of multimedia to engage students in their own exploration and mastery of the course objectives. Some of the course objectives were realized within the technology-based learning activities created by the faculty members, while other course objectives were realized using more traditional approaches. Those activities designed to be technology-based actively engaged students in the learning process as they worked through the projects in collaborative groups.A select group of university faculty were recruited to revise their curriculum, course objectives, class activities, and pedagogy in ways that would include student involvement in technology-based projects. These projects included multimedia hardware and software such as full motion video, sound, graphics and CD-ROM based instructional tools. Also included were the application of the World Wide Web for instruction, simulations, instructional datasets, and software that encourage a collaborative and explorative approach to learning. The university asked faculty to take a risk, to abandon for a year the tried-and-true ways that they had taught their courses for, in some cases, decades. They were asked to “experiment” with new technologies and, for some, a new pedagogy based on constructivist principles. [Constructivism is a theory about learning and developing knowledge. Learning “is understood as a self-regulated process of resolving inner cognitive conflicts that often become apparent through concrete experience, collaborative discourse, and reflection” (Fosnot, 1993).1For a more complete discussion of constructivist principles, see Brooks, J.G. and Brooks, M.G. (1993). In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms.] While volunteer faculty were recruited from liberal arts and sciences, the School of Communication, and the School of Business, this article will concentrate on the five selected faculty members who were responsible for pivotal initial teacher preparation courses within the School of Education, which is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).The university, for its part, provided the faculty with resources and support which both motivated the faculty to take such a risk and enabled them to accomplish goals that they would not be able to attain alone. This support is seen as an important element of the initiative, permitting the faculty to accomplish demonstrable improvement in their own technology literacy, while enhancing their teaching.