Tools of Engagement Project: On-Demand Discovery Learning Professional Development

Abstract

Increasingly, the traditional professional development (PD) model at 4-year institutions fails to meet the evolving needs of faculty. The traditional model of PD faces unique implementation challenges, including developing offerings that appeal to a wide range of disciplines and topics, dealing with limited faculty availability, physical/campus location barriers, and limited training staff. This article discusses a collaborative initiative across five State University of New York (SUNY) colleges and universities to develop a web-based, on-demand, self-directed PD opportunity that can easily be shared and replicated throughout SUNY and the world under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 license. The Tools of Engagement Project: On-demand Discovery Learning Professional Development (hereafter referred to as TOEP) allows faculty to explore emerging technologies and Web 2.0 tools at their own pace through a variety of rich media and textual tutorials. As a part of the grant research, the interactive community of TOEP learners also reflect on how they could incorporate emerging technologies and Web 2.0 tools into their pedagogy, thereby creating a knowledge base of technology implementation.