If someone had told me seven years ago that I would be a leader of a faculty development program in technology, I would have assumed they were goofing. I had always been interested in technology. Twenty years ago, I was co-leader (with Brian Gallagher and Danny Lynch) of the English Department’s computer writing workshops, but these workshops focused on teaching our faculty how to use Wordstar, an early word processing program, and how to integrate word processing into their Basic Writing curriculums. No way was I a techie. But I was intrigued, and when, in the summer of 1998, I enrolled in one of the NEH funded American Social History Project’s New Media Workshops, directed by Bret Eynon, like many I was hooked.
We were about 20 college faculty from the New York City area learning what was out there and how we could use it in our teaching. We spent a week being introduced to ancient forms of web sites, online discussion boards, web site authoring, online courses, file management, etc. I was one of the worst students in this week-long class. But I loved it and came back to LaGuardia with the desire to let other faculty know what was possible.
Jack Gantzer and I even started running some workshops and bringing in people who had been using technology in their teaching: our own Michael Gottlieb, who had already used quite a lot of technology in his classes, and Bill Friedheim from BMCC, who ran the New Media Workshop I attended, hosted workshops which our faculty seemed to enjoy. It was clear, however, that if faculty were ever to move from passively looking at what was available to actually using it in their classrooms, a massive effort would be needed. Like me, many faculty at LaGuardia wanted to have the mastery of technology but one or two workshops were not going to accomplish this goal.
So when Bret came to LaGuardia and began the first DFL, a one-term pilot, I jumped on board and even signed up for another year-long round. The energy in those first groups was extraordinary. We learned so much, and we learned how much more we needed to know – not just about technology but about using technology in our teaching. Faculty realized they needed to rethink their teaching goals to accommodate the new technology and rethinking teaching is really what DFL has been about. It was in that year-long seminar that I met a young mathematics professor, new to the college, who seemed to do this stuff effortlessly, and with great good humor: Kamal Hajallie. Kamal and I, Bret and Josephine, and Abby – the first DFL team – we had so much fun!
As a DFL leader I hope I have been able to use my years of experience as a teacher and as a WID coordinator, to help faculty integrate technology into their teaching. While still not a techie (despite the jump drive I’ve been known to wear around my neck), if I get into trouble, I certainly have many people I can run to for help. LaGuardia now has an army of techies, not only the now much expanded staff of DFL, but Student Technology Mentors, and the ever growing number of DFL-trained faculty, whose creativity and energy is only equaled by their commitment to their students. Tirelessly trying out new ways to work with the skills they first acquired in DFL, they are an inspiration to us all.