Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference
Teaching, Learning, & Technology
The Connected Classroom
April 7-9, 2002
Warning: Technology Can Be Hazardous To Your Health
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By: Larry Easley, Steven Hoffman, Joel Rhodes |
Abstract
This panel of history faculty from Southeast Missouri State University addresses the timely issue of how departments and institutions are negotiating the relative value and appropriateness of technology-related activities in relation to the tenure and promotion process. Representing the perspectives of both junior and senior faculty, Mr. Larry Easley, Dr. Steve Hoffman, and Dr. Joel Rhodes provide practical examples of how technology-related activities can, and should, be integrated into the traditional evaluation criteria of teaching, research, and service.
Description
This proposed panel addresses the timely issue of how departments and institutions are negotiating the status of technology-related activities in relation to the tenure and promotion process. As part of Track 1: Effective Integration of Technology into Teaching and Learning, the panel consists of three case studies from history faculty at Southeast Missouri State University who represent various stages along the course toward tenure and promotion. During what has been described as a "transitional period" in academia regarding the relative value and appropriateness of technology in this process, the perspectives of Larry Easley, Steve Hoffman, and Joel Rhodes provide practical, concrete examples of how technology-related activities can, and should, be integrated into the traditional evaluation criteria of teaching, research, and service.
As the most senior member on the panel, Mr. Larry Easley will examine initiatives of tenured faculty to change the culture-of-resistance to technology in the department and institution. Toward this end, both he and Dr. Steve Hoffman will discuss efforts to promote the integration of technology in the scholarly activities of their colleagues in the history department, including mentoring junior faculty in the uses of technology in the classroom. Moreover, they will present what is currently being done within the history department at Southeast Missouri to minimize the negative impact the use of technology-related activities can have on a new faculty member's evaluation for tenure and promotion. Their focus is on ensuring that junior faculty are not penalized for placing too much emphasis on their technology-related activities, but instead fairly evaluated and rewarded for the time and effort invested in these non-traditional activities.
Dr. Hoffman, a recently promoted and tenured faculty member, addresses not only his own experience with this process, but also speaks to the work of those at Southeast who are taking a lead nationally to develop written guidelines which will recognize technology as an area of scholarly activity whose integration must be institutionalized in the tenure and promotion process. As the untenured member of the panel, Dr. Rhodes presents the perspective of the junior faculty beginning to integrate technology in the classroom to enhance teaching, yet anxious and unsure as to its ultimate effects on tenure and promotion.
In light of recent initiatives by the American Association for History and Computing (AAHC) to create appropriate guidelines for integrating technology into the tenure, promotion, and review process, this panel presents concrete examples of how the collaborative efforts of both junior and senior faculty in the history department at Southeast Missouri State University are working toward that goal.