This is a reflection in response to Adrienne’s post on Community and Digital Literacy:
Adrienne had mentioned that the MA Lead program “has grown by 30% in the last year, [which presents] a challenge for instructors to keep quality standards and nurture community” (Castellon, 2018). I am wondering if it would be helpful to create a professional development (Pro-D) site for all of the MA Lead instructors. This site could be a mechanism to facilitate community among the directors and the part-time instructors (and doesn’t require travel) and it can also provide an opportunity for learning. For example, the Pro-D site could include topics such as an orientation to MA Lead’s Mission, Vision, Values, and Competencies (for new instructors). It could include professional standards with grading/evaluating student papers and best practices for online learning (for all of us to be on the same page). I know it is not always feasible for everyone to meet in the same place at the same time, but this may be one solution. I also know that I would greatly benefit from something like this as I continue to learn and grow as an online instructor. Perhaps we could also convince Colin to contribute to this with his experience and knowledge of resources on the topic of online instruction.
I am interested to hear everyone’s thoughts on this idea.
Heather