As online and blended learning become more common, it is important for instructor resources, such as those provided by Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTL), to work on providing pedagogical training that can be applied across modalities

colleges and universities have recognized this and begun merging academic technology and faculty development.

Moving Toward the Center: The Integration of Educational Development in an Era of Historic Change in Higher Education

Many of us have some idea of where we are supposed to go, but have a less clear sense how to get there. Some of us are impatient with the speed of change. Others wade carefully into uncertain waters, ever afraid to offend or betray their ignorance – a near unforgiveable offence in these spaces.

"We developed a lot of these centers and programs and positions without a strong understanding of how to go about measuring impact and return on investment," says Ms. Bishop, director of Maryland’s Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. As a result, she says, when budgets get cut, or new leaders come in, these centers are often among the first to go.

The general rule at a TLT is that if you’ve had an eight year run without getting disbanded or dissolved due to faculty pressure you’ve had a good run, and it might be time to brush up that CV because it can’t possibly last. It’s worth noting as well that TLTs are usually disbanded as a way for institutional leadership to gain favor with faculty.

Eight Ways to Support Faculty Needs with a Virtual Teaching & Learning Center

Mike Wallace

We are very interested in thinking about the values of the open Web, in which an interest-driven, peer-supported, inquiry-based kind of learning — connected learning — really does situate our students here at VCU for a lifetime of learning that matters.

Re-Thinking Mentoring: How to Build Communities of Inclusion, Support & Accountability

A New Model of Mentoring

Center  Priorities

Most  centers  (81%)  report  up  through  the  Provost  or  Academic  Affairs  Office.    The  remainder  report  to  the  CIO  (6%),  the  library  (2%)  or  “other”  units  such  as  a  special  learning  or  innovation

Technology  is  often  not  the  leading  focus  of  most  of  these  efforts,  but  rather  viewed  as  a  tool  to  potentially  help  achieve  desired  outcomes.    UT-­‐Austin,  for  example,  has  created  an  Associate  Vice  Provost  for  Learning  Sciences  position  that  oversees  a  Learning  Sciences  group  that  includes  faculty  developers,  digital  content  developers,  technologists,  and  a  unified  learning  analytics  infrastructure.    Duke’s  center,  which  is  the  only  one  among  the  17  that  reports  up  through  the  library,  works  very  hard  to  take  faculty  who  come  in  wanting  to  test  a  new  technology  and  get  them  thinking,  instead,  about  transforming  their  course.    This  is  also  true  for  Carnegie  Mellon’s  Eberly  Center,  which  grounds  any  technical  solutions  in  the  desired  learning  outcomes

In the past few years, many colleges have expanded the scale and scope of centers that support teaching and learning with technology, as part of an effort to build a new “innovation infrastructure” for instruction.

In other words, supporting teaching with technology is becoming less about offering training sessions for professors about how to use clickers and course-management systems, and more about coordinating bigger-impact projects like redesigning large introductory courses or leading the creation of a new online-degree program.

If you have a Centre for Teaching and Learning or a Learning Technology unit, they should have such specialists. It would also be sensible to make sure that an instructional designer also attends your first meeting, as their skills are somewhat different, although related.