Professional Development Activities

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Synergy Conference, July 2008
http://www.synergy2008.org

The National Science Foundation has a section called ATE, for Advanced Technological Education, which funds research in community colleges. I have been involved for two years with such a grant called “Scenario-Based Learning in Technical Education.” All of these ATE grants require dissemination, the promotion of our work across the country. The Synergy conference is a working conference where we learn how to disseminate our work successfully.

We met for four days in Phoenix, where we heard some great keynote speakers and worked in our group to devise a plan for disseminating our work next year, which is the final year of our three-year grant. The following list contains the powerful ideas I picked up that will facilitate the adoption of scenario-based learning:

• Enable instructors to take ownership for the methodology in their classroom. Practically speaking, we need to allow them to easily modify the materials we give them.

• Identify problems that instructors are having, and tell them how our methodology can help them solve them. Look at the project from the outside and say “Here’s how we can help you.”

• Have instructors, especially those from Foothill and De Anza, sit in on my classes to see how the students are learning.

• Videotape my class and put the video on the web.

• Research shows that the reasons people adopt change, in order, are: cost, simplicity and compatibility.

• Inform top administrators at Foothill about this work. They talk to many other colleges and can help spread the word.

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