ATS EdTech Conference

1
ATS EdTech Conference

• Western Seminary
• Portland, Oregon

2
Westerns Goal

• Increase the purposeful and effective use of
  educational technologies throughout the
  educational system to the mutual benefit of our
  students and the seminary.

3
Campus v. Distance Perspectives

• Traditional
• Face-to-face interaction
• Technology assist
• Value Community
• Dont do anythingit has worked well for a long
  time.

• Non-traditional
• Mediated interaction
• Technology driven
• Value Flexibility
• Do anythingjust dont cause trouble and dont do
  too much of it.

4
External Student Expectations

• More program control
• More flexibility in scheduling and access
• More stability in financing
• More integration of technology (their increasing
  experience to improve learning outcomes)
• More modeling of todays cultural reality

5
Two Critical Realities

• Student expectations concerning technologies have
  moved well beyond distance education into the
  traditional classroom experience.
• Increasing the purposeful and effective use of
  educational technologies is not really a question
  of technology that is easy. It is a faculty
  issue.

6
Faculty Foundations

• Many, if not most, faculty completed their formal
  training before the current technology wave.
• Many, if not most, have no formal education
  training providing the theoretical framework for
  technology integration.

7
Faculty Technology Attitudes Survey
Most Positive Responses - I

• Graduate students should understand the role
  technology plays in society and be competent in
  their use.
• Seminaries and ministry training schools should
  welcome new technology-mediated training options.

8
Faculty Technology Attitudes Survey
Most Positive Responses - II

• Computers do not intimidate or threaten me.
• Technology can play an important role in
  theological education.
• Teacher training should include instructional use
  of computers and technology.

9
Faculty Technology Attitudes Survey
Least Positive Responses - II

• Technology-mediated courses can be designed to
  achieve meaningful spiritual formation outcomes.
• I feel at ease when asked to use new technologies
  and when a conversation turns to technology.

10
Faculty Technology Attitudes Survey
Least Positive Responses - II

• Technology-mediated courses and programs can
  achieve real community.
• Students graduating from seminary programs
  delivered by distance education have received a
  comparable ministry training experience to campus
  students.

11
Note the Issues

• There is a gap between concept and personal
  application.
• Community and spiritual formation are critically
  important to faculty.
• While questions relate most directly to distance
  education, they are also the issues hindering the
  expanded use of technologies to replace seat time
  in the traditional classroom.

12
Necessary Responses

• Provide non-threatening opportunities for the use
  of new or expanded technologies in the classroom
• Provide regular in-service training options to
  establish the educational framework for
  technology integration
• Provide aggressive help systems, resources, and
  training to avoid unnecessary student /
  instructor frustration

13
Necessary Responses

• Address first the expressed needs of the faculty
• Connect key faculty to other faculty at other
  institutions who are effectively using
  technologies in teaching.
• Develop an accessible faculty database of
  research and best practices for the use of
  technologies