Out of the Comfort Zone: Promoting Growth and Change in Faculty for 21st Century Knowledge Society
Abstract: Contemporary education appears to be locked into an industrial model that was designed to meet the needs of a very different society and workplace. One of the challenges we face is how to change practice to produce learners equipped to work in the 21st century knowledge society. This paper describes how the principles of authentic e-Learning have been used together with social technologies to create a certificate program for teaching in higher education and so start to leverage a real change in practice. The paper examines the design, underlying pedagogy and philosophy of the program as it was developed in Finland and its implementation into a multinational context in the Middle East. It also details the challenges and successes, the lessons learned and recommendations, based on experiences of both participants and facilitators. It seeks to provide a model for change through a new approach to higher education teacher training.
Presider: Mary Al-Saleh, Mesa Community College