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In my last blog, I shared some great tips for instructors, but for my trainers out there, don’t worry, I didn’t forget about you.
As a trainer, it is our job to provide the tools and resources needed so faculty feel confident and capable as instructors. As a Faculty Success Manager, I have been training faculty on how to use Yellowdig for over two years. I follow the same formula every time, and it produces results. And here it is:
1. Give Faculty the Student Experience
Provide onboarding. Nothing is worse than being thrown into the deep end and being expected to swim. Don’t do that to your faculty. Give them a chance to play on the platform. As the trainer, facilitate a Yellowdig community and have faculty be students. Allow them to use features like drawings, videos, and polls so they feel confident using them on their boards. If possible, have the onboarding be used for a couple of weeks to immerse them in the platform. Encourage community building and conversation. And if you are using grade pass back, turn it on for the faculty. Let their grade pass back to the Learning Management System just like a student. The more of a student experience you can give them, the better!
2. Show and Tell
When giving your faculty the student experience, show them what the role of the instructor looks like. As the trainer and facilitator of the community, don’t post mandatory prompts but instead offer ideas of topics they may want to discuss. Empower your faculty to take the lead just like we want them to do with students. As the trainer, teach through comments and be active! But don’t stop at showing, tell them what you are doing and why. Don’t assume they know you are letting them take the lead or what strategies you are using to engage. Tell them so they know what to do when it is their turn.
3. Keep Providing Additional Training
Once the onboarding and student experience is over for faculty, don’t stop providing training and resources. There are a variety of ways you can do this. One is to invite a Yellowdig representative to host a webinar with your faculty. They have a wealth of knowledge to share and can give your faculty more tips and tricks on effectively using Yellowdig to foster engagement and promote social learning environments. Another idea is to provide mentoring opportunities with veteran faculty members who can guide new faculty and show them the ropes. The key is to keep providing faculty with opportunities for professional development and ways to successfully use Yellowdig!
And that’s it! Give your faculty the student experience, show and tell them what they should do, and never stop providing opportunities for growth and training! Do all those things, and you have set your faculty up for success!
About the Author:
Valerie Akbulut is the Faculty Success Manager at Bryan University. Her passion is aiding faculty to reach their teaching and professional goals through creative training, professional development, and consistency in faculty policy development. Valerie has played an instrumental role in developing and implementing a quality control rubric that supports the student experience and gives faculty the tools they need to be confident in their roles. She earned her master’s degree in Interpersonal Communication at the University of Central Florida and is working towards her EdD in Education with a focus on Performance Leadership Improvement.