Realize that becoming a 21st-century institution requires that faculty learn how to use 21st-century technology.
…Part Three in the series on “Becoming a University”
In order to make the transition from a college to a university……
There are people on campus who are very innovative in their teaching to be sure, but there are also a great many who have taught the same way for decades and believe that since hand-written monochrome slides on an overhead were fine for a community college, they will also be fine for an institution wishing to become a top-ranking undergraduate university.
This technique is not bad in and of itself (it is possible to do great and fascinating things on a blackboard with a piece of chalk), but if that is ALL you can do (or are willing to do), then that IS a problem. Teaching remains the primary focus at MRU and it is one of the things that attracted me to it, but in order to lead the pack (and I really believe it can) people must be helped to embrace modern technology.
As Vygotsky said, “The invention of new methods that are adequate to the new ways in which problems are posed requires far more than a simple modification of previously accepted methods.” ADC can play a key role here, but the faculty must also be encouraged to shift their attitudes into the current century.
