[Web4lib] CMS (Content Management System)

Tue Oct 30 22:05:21 EDT 2007

>The only problem is that most
> (all?) of the library staff other than myself seem intimidated by
> anything web-related.  Thus, I still end up posting most of the 
> content.This may only demonstrate the need for more staff training.

If you are able to do more staff training on this, here are some 
excellent tips from an expert. He's talking about how to train faculty 
to teach online, but most of his recommendations could be applied to 
your situation as well.
Jean Hewlett
University of San Francisco

Online Training for Online Faculty
A checklist of the best strategies for designing and delivering online 
courses to train online faculty.
8/8/2007 By Ron Thomas
1. Train faculty on the same platform their students will use. Not 
only does this increase the faculty's familiarity with the system; it 
gives them an immersion from the student perspective. During the 
training, continually reinforce the faculty members' observations of 
phenomena they experience as analogous to what their students will see.

2. Provide multiple safety nets for faculty during and after their 
training. Because faculty will have varying levels of computer 
ability, collections of tip sheets and job aids are beneficial for 
reference during the training and afterwards. Vendor manuals can be 
obtuse and intimidating for neophyte users but locally produced 
material can be much more to the point.

3. Provide multiple ways of learning for multiple learning styles. 
Faculty going through training to teach online will come from a 
variety of academic disciplines and will have predilections in their 
thought processes reflective of their fields. So, have training 
modules produced as full text descriptions, narrated animations, step-
by-step graphics, and quick checklists so that learners can use 
whichever one resonates with them.

4. Stretch the faculty members' skills and challenge their 
preconceptions. For example, some faculty may believe that small group 
work can't be done online. Therefore, require an online small group 
activity during the training. Not only will this force them to 
confront the possibility that they were wrong but it can help them 
come up with ides on how to transfer that idea to their own teaching.

5. Be a role model of desired teaching behaviors for online faculty 
(but even more so). Every thing you do as a faculty trainer is an 
example of what you want your faculty to do themselves, and they will 
take note of what you do and how you do it. If you are not providing 
timely and robust feedback or stimulating the flow on the discussion 
board, they will not think those are important.

6. Your organization skills will be tested as an online faculty 
trainer. Most likely, teaching an online faculty development class 
will only be one of your duties. Set aside time every day to check 
your boards, answer e-mail from trainees, and solve their technical 
problems. Again, you will be role-modeling the self-discipline and 
time management abilities that you want new online faculty to have.

7. Remain open to feedback from your faculty trainees. Even if they 
are new to online instruction, your faculty trainees will still have 
good ideas based on their own experience. Don't be resistant to their 
suggestions on how to make the online training course better. This is 
also a trait you want to demonstrate so they can make that part of 
their own online teaching style.

8. Online instructor trainees must get practice with their writing 
skills. A great deal of communication in an online course happens via 
the written word (e-mail, discussion boards, chat, announcements, and 
online text readings). Be sure to include several small writing 
activities such as mandatory discussion or short reflective essays so 
your faculty trainees can keep their composition skills sharp. 
Encourage their writing to be tight, precise, and clear.

9. Be their instructor, not their colleague. For your faculty training 
course to be effective, especially if you are teaching it online 
instead of face-to-face, the faculty trainees must respect the fact 
that you are a "real" instructor teaching a "real" course. Posting and 
enforcing deadlines for activities and even giving an occasional 90 
instead of 100 on an activity, shows you mean business. You'll get 
better compliance and better effort if they take you seriously.

10. Respect the faculty members' previous teaching experience. Whether 
your trainees were mandated to take your course or self-selected, they 
are still college faculty. Your challenge is to elicit the best things 
they already know about good teaching and show how they can still use 
that knowledge in the online environment.

Ron Thomas is the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning 
Excellence at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University worldwide 
headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida. Among his responsibilities is 
the design and delivery of online training classes to serve more than 
3,000 full- and part-time faculty in over 100 locations across the 
U.S. and overseas, including fully online degree programs.
Cite this Site
Ron Thomas, "Online Training for Online Faculty," Campus Technology, 
8/8/2007, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=49570

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert L. Balliot" <rballiot at oceanstatelibrarian.com>
Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 6:29 pm
Subject: RE: [Web4lib] CMS (Content Management System)
To: 'Chad Pollock' <cpollock at lstc.edu>, "'Raumin \"Ray\" Dehghan'" 
<infoscience1 at gmail.com>, 'web4lib' <web4lib at webjunction.org>

> 
> Greetings,
> 
> I think this is an excellent point and a problem shared by many
> administrators.  You can lead a person to a website interface, 
> but you can't make them think.
> 
> I am not sure if it is actually an issue of training, rather
> than motivation.  Many people are disinclined to write. The
> ratio of lurkers to contributors on this list is about 100 to
> one. 
> 
> *************************************************
> Robert L. Balliot
> 1-401-441-5763
> Skype: RBalliot
> Bristol, Rhode Island
> http://oceanstatelibrarian.com/contact.htm
> *************************************************
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
> [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Chad Pollock
> Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 5:41 PM
> To: Raumin "Ray" Dehghan; web4lib
> Subject: RE: [Web4lib] CMS (Content Management System)
> 
> 
> We started using Joomla a year ago at our small library
> (www.jkmlibrary.org).  I have found it simple to use and 
> versatile.  The
> Joomla forums offer a decent level of support, and there are a
> wide-variety of extensions and add-ons.  The only problem is that 
most
> (all?) of the library staff other than myself seem intimidated by
> anything web-related.  Thus, I still end up posting most of the 
> content.This may only demonstrate the need for more staff training.
> 
> 
> Chad Pollock
> 
> Reference Librarian
> 
> 
> 
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> 