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TLT Group consulting does not have to be
done on campus -- you can send us work to do,
work with us by phone and over the Internet -- but
it's common to begin the relationship with a visit. A first
visit is usually scheduled to last 1.5 - 2 days. For a
first visit, the institution often wants to accomplish
multiple goals and to familiarize more people with what the
subscription offers. You may well have a specific problem or
task on which you want your TLT Group consultant to work - a
keynote, a briefing, a planning effort, a training workshop.
(don't forget to budget money for the trip - travel expenses
aren't included in your subscription) It's also a good idea
to schedule other kinds of sessions while the consultant is
on campus. Here are just a few of the ways in which the
consultant's time has been scheduled:
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The resources that come
with your subscription are extraordinarily varied. It's
a good idea to schedule one or more meetings between the
consultant and the people who ought to know about each
of those groups of resources: assessment specialists,
the provost's office, faculty development, distance
learning, chair of the faculty, and so on. The goal of
these meetings: let people know what's been purchased
for their use, answer questions, and perhaps do a little
planning. The consultant is likely to learn as much as
your colleagues do from these meetings, and that should
help plan work for the coming year.
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A second important
benefit of such meetings is to have an occasion for
those people at your institution to talk with each
other, and hear each other, on these issues. One thing
we've learned over the years is that, if a project,
department, or institution is to make real progress at
improving teaching and learning with technology, people
need to collaborate across organizational lines. No
matter whether the immediate need appears to just about
faculty support process, assessment, information
literacy, a grant, renovating classrooms, strategic
planning, etc. almost all those other people/units need
to be involved sooner or later. So the work with The TLT
Group ought to be helping those offices and faculty talk
with each other about the issues that most concern you.
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Brigham Young University
has a major institutional commitment to using technology
to improve learning. The first day's work on campus for
the consultant included a briefing for an assistant vice
president on the cost analysis materials; a 90 minute
meeting with the president of the university, a 2 hour
session with the chief academic officer and his cabinet,
and a meeting with staff associated with the
institution's virtual teaching learning and technology
center (a coalition of campus units with
responsibilities for supporting educational uses of
technology)
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The University of South
Carolina had the consultant do a series of four events:
1) a talk on 'the seven principles and beyond' about
strategies for using technology to improve learning, 2)
a talk on the scholarship of teaching (relation of
assessment and research), 3) a hands-on workshop (deans
were advised that they could invite a maximum of two
faculty members each; the turnout was great!), and 4) a
wide-ranging roundtable discussion with senior
administrators.
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For a public talk, the
University of Minnesota selected a topic of wide
interest and publicized the occasion several months in
advance. Almost 200 people attended. On the same visit,
the consultant also ran a workshop on evaluation for
faculty who'd received mini-grants from the University
to use technology in innovative ways in teaching; the
terms of the mini-grant required that the faculty member
evaluate the innovation; the workshop was packed. The
rest of the visit was devoted to small group meetings
and briefings.
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A number of institutions
have used a consultant's visit as the occasion for a TLT
Group webcast, publicized internationally. The
consultant, sometimes assisted by outside experts
talking online, often working with the institution's
staff, present on a topic to an on-campus audience while
also webcasting the discussion.
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Valencia Community
College had been working on assessment for some time so
much of the first visit was devoted to well-attended
hands-on workshops. Because the participants had been
lined up well in advance, they responded well in advance
with preparatory work that helped the consultant plan
the workshops.
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Auburn University used
its first visit for a series of focus groups to talk
about how the institution was supporting faculty use of
technology in instruction. After the focus groups, the
host (a senior administrator in academic computing) and
the consultants met with the provost to discuss plans
for the future.
If your institution has a
Network subscription, you have already prepurchased two days
of consulting time. We urge you to schedule a visit with
your consultant soon; in our experience you're much more
likely to get value from your subscription if you meet, and
talk with, your consultant frequently. The consultant is not
the only TLT Group person who can help you; we have other
staff and a set of excellent Senior Associates. The lead
consultant can help you work with these other experts as
needed. If you don't know who your consultant is, or have
questions, please e-mail
online@tltgroup.org or call Sally Gilbert at 301-270-8312.
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