COLT - Collaborative Online Learning and Teaching Program
The Collaborative Online Learning & Teaching program
(COLT) supports efforts to develop, implement, and assess
online instruction at Cal Poly Pomona. COLT's goal is to
encourage and support faculty who develop online courses.
(For the purposes of this faculty support program, an online
course is one that meets a maximum of four times per quarter
in a classroom on campus.)
Because faculty can learn from each other's experiences
and benefit from sharing strengths, COLT supports twelve
faculty members to work collaboratively over a one-year
period, beginning Summer 2002. The program's objective is
to increase the number of online courses by providing training
in online pedagogy, an arena for collaboration with colleagues,
financial support, and time.
COLT's year-long development program includes the following
components:
Summer 2002
Faculty develop their understanding of online pedagogy
as students in a totally-online WebCT course, CPP
Online Teaching & Learning, developed and taught
by Susan Kullmann Puz, Director, I&IT Learning.
This course provides the theoretical and practical experience
to develop an online course. Participants create online
PowerPoint and streaming video reviews
of online learning books. By the end of this course,
faculty develop the pedagogical foundations for an online
course that will be taught during the Winter or Spring
2003 quarters, including learning objectives, online
tools and teaching methods, and ways to assess the impact
of the course on student learning. Participants are
awarded a $500 stipend at the completion of this online
course.
During the last week of Summer quarter, faculty participate
in a one-week, on-campus SWIM (Summer Web Institute)
workshop devoted to using
WebCT for Online Instruction, scheduled for August.
If appropriate, program faculty also participate in
a two-week SWIM introductory web development program
or a one-week SWIM Dreamweaver workshop. In the SWIM
sessions, faculty develop course web sites, online
syllabi, sample assignments, and plans for using a variety
of online course tools for a course that they will be
teaching during the academic year. Participants receive
an additional SWIM stipend at the completion of any
SWIM workshop.
Fall 2002
Faculty begin to develop the online course they will
teach during Winter or Spring quarter, including plans
to evaluate the impact of online course delivery on
student learning. Additionally, faculty implement and
evaluate some web-based teaching tools and techniques
on a small scale in a course they are teaching during
the Fall quarter. Faculty communicate electronically
and periodically meet face-to-face during this developmental
phase. Many participated in a campus discussion, "Learning
by doing - faculty reflections on participating in a
totally online course as students", available as
streaming video [medium
bandwidth | low
bandwidth]. Participants are awarded $500 professional
development funds for use during the Fall or Winter
quarter (for hardware, software, books, media, etc.).
Winter/Spring 2003
Faculty teach one online course. Faculty are awarded
four WTUs release time (one course) to reduce their
workload as they implement their online course for the
first time. The course selected for this program is
one previously taught by the faculty member in a traditional
classroom or hybrid (partially-mediated) format.
Additional program information
Faculty participants submit a progress report at the
end of Fall quarter, and a final report, including student
responses and a faculty self-assessment, by July 2003.
All reports are submitted to the Vice President of Instructional
and Information Technology, Vice President for Academic
Affairs, and the Faculty Computing Support Center Director.
Reports will be posted on Cal Poly Pomona's web site.
Faculty participants are expected to share their
experience and expertise with department and college
colleagues via appropriate forums, including an on-campus
colloquium. Participants are encouraged to share their
experiences with colleagues within the CSU system and
may be asked to participate in colloquia and workshops.
Because of the nature of online courses, many faculty
members find that using a laptop computer facilitates
online teaching. COLT participants are eligible to request
a laptop computer to support their online teaching during
the academic year.
COLT participants work closely with the Faculty Computing
Support Center staff in the implementation of their
course. FCSC support programs and services are available
to all participants (IT_Fits
one-on-one student instructional technology assistants,
high-end computer hardware and software including a
multimedia workstation and other digital equipment,
workshops,
etc.) as well as other Instructional and Information
Technology resources from MediaVision
and the Instructional
Design Studio.
