Summary of 2014 Sabbatical Experience

Well, I am now wrapping up my Summer 2014 Sabbatical Experience, and I will return to regular work at Franklin this coming Monday. This has been a wonderful opportunity for me, something I have dreamed of doing for a long time. I am confident that this experience will be a pivotal point in my career - it has opened up many great opportunities for personal learning and professional growth. I've blogged throughout the sabbatical - below are blog posts on my sabbatical.

Travel

• Plans for travel to Utah
• Traveling to Utah from Ohio
• Yellowstone National Park
• Traveling from Utah back to Ohio

Hiking and Running

• Running and Physical Therapy
• Running In Logan
• 2014 Bear Lake Half Marathon
• Hiking in Dry Canyon
• Finishing a Marathon

Self-Reflection and Writing

• Writing at the Library
• Visualizing My Personal Values
• Principles of Positive Team Interaction
• My Leadership Values

Visiting Scholarship at USU - Teaching Support in Higher Education

• First Day at USU
• Top Services in Centers for Teaching Excellence
• Ideal Methods for Evaluating Teaching Effectiveness
• Keynote Address at Utah Instructional Design Summit

I Reached All Sabbatical Goals
At the beginning of this experience, I committed to my leadership at Franklin University that I would (a) write 2-3 scholarly articles, (b) visit Utah State University as a visiting scholar, and (c) apply to become a certified performance technologist. I am happy to say that I have completed each of these objectives, and I have learned a great deal in the process.

I Reached All Personal Goals
In my first blog post about the sabbatical, I also wrote that I wanted to (a) revisit my personal goals, (b) spend time with family, (c) run a marathon, and (d) broaden my knowledge. I can say with some satisfaction that I have been able to do each of these, as well. I have strengthened my goals, have run a half-marathon and a marathon, have spent a great deal of time with the members of my family who live in Utah, and have have read many books that have broadened my perspective.

I am very grateful to the leadership at Franklin University for giving me this opportunity. I have learned so much through my work at Franklin, and I will always be grateful for the opportunities I have received. This was an outstanding opportunity to extend my professional knowledge and experiences, travel, read, write, and spend time with my family. Thanks again to the leadership at Franklin for making this experience a possibility and for supporting me as I have moved forward in my goals. And thanks to my coworkers at Franklin who took over my responsibilities while I was gone. I could not have done this work without them!

More Sabbatical Adventures

I was looking back through some of our photos from our sabbatical trip to Utah and realized that I hadn't share a few of the great experiences we had. I will share these below.

Yellowstone National Park

We traveled with our good friends the Dutsons to Yellowstone National Park and spent several days with them there. The Dutsons have a pop-up trailer, which makes camping much more enjoyable. We stayed at Buffalo River Camp (I believe) about 40 minutes from the west entrance to Yellowstone. 

The Dutsons and the Gardners at Yellowstone National Park.

Omar and CK looking at one of the many weird anomalies at Yellowstone.

Here I am at a pretty awesome waterfall in Yellowstone. The scenery was quite incredible.

Yellowstone was a great experience. We saw some elk and swam in one of the few swimming holes in Yellowstone. We saw the Old Faithful geyser and generally enjoyed the incredible beauty of the various mountains, waterfalls, rivers, foliage and wildlife. A great experience with great friends.

Hiking near Alta, Utah
A few weeks later we drove up the canyons east of Salt Lake City to the town of Alta, where there a several world-class ski resorts. We decided to hike to Cecret Lake, a pretty little lake high in the mountains. Here are some pictures of the hike and the beautiful scenery. (For whatever reason, I didn't take a picture of the lake itself...)

CK hiking toward Cecret Lake.

Me at Cecret Lake looking across the canyon.

Hiking with Dr. Nick Eastmond

One highlight of my time in Utah was a hike with Nick Eastmond, one of my former professors and dissertation committee member at Utah State University. Nick and I attended the same church congregation when I was there, and I have a great deal of respect and admiration for him. He is one of the people who inspired me to earn a PhD and to become a professor. I enjoyed drawing from his knowledge of nature as we walked, and he shared some of his many international experiences, which were illuminating.

A picture from the hike in Cache Valley with Dr. Nick Eastmond and my brother-in-law, Chris Walker.

Sabbatical Travel: Returning to Ohio

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we we have spent the last several weeks in Logan, Utah where I have served as a visiting scholar at Utah State University. We have finished our stay there and just recently returned to our home in Grove City, Ohio. We traveled along I-80 through Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Iowa, went down I-74 into Illinois and Indiana, and took I-70 into Ohio.

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip.

Me and my beautiful wife Katie at a stop somewhere in Wyoming. 

My daughter CK at the Stagecoach Inn somewhere in Nebraska.

We completed the return trip in three days. For some reason, the return trip was a lot less pleasant than the trip out. We were already pretty tired from all of the traveling, playing, visiting, etc., which made the trip more arduous. It was definitely great to arrive at home in Grove City!

The Top Services in Centers for Teaching Excellence

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am currently serving as a visiting scholar at Utah State University (USU). I have been working with the Office of the Provost to identify ways that teaching can be support more effectively at USU. As part of my research, I have been reviewing the websites of several Centers for Teaching Excellence at other large universities across the United States with the goal of identifying the common kinds or services and supports given at the university. In this blog post, I will describe some of my findings.

How I Chose the Centers to Include in My Review
I used a fairly unscientific approach for selecting these centers. I performed a Google search for the term "Center for Teaching Excellence." I then began reviewing each site in the order of their ranking by Google. I reviewed a total of 7 sites using this process. I also reviewed the sites of Utah Valley University and the University of Utah, though U of U's site appeared to be in transition from one structure to another and I therefore did not include it in the review.

To document and tabulate my findings, I created a giant table with the university in the first column and the potential services throughout the subsequent columns. I placed a check mark to indicate whether the center provided the service and also made notes in the limited space. I ended up adding an additional piece of paper to the table to add more columns. I also took notes on  a separate Word document on what I found interesting as I went through the sites.

Common Services/Programs at Centers of Teaching Excellence
The following table lays out the most common services offered at these centers. The services are organized from most common to least common.

Service/Program	# offering service (of 8 reviewed)
Online teaching resources for faculty (e.g. blogs, web pages, videos, podcasts related to teaching excellence)	8
Teaching workshops and/or institutes	8
New Faculty Teaching Preparation	7
Teaching Consultations	7
Teaching Observations	6
Small Grants for Teaching Innovation/Improvement	6
Graduate student teacher support program	4
Teaching awards	4
Center-led mentoring program	4
Faculty fellowships to promote teaching excellence	3
Teaching Certification Program	3
Faculty portfolio development support	2
Department-level faculty ambassadors/liaisons	2
Instructional technology programs and research groups	2
International graduate student teacher support program	1
Customized workshops	1
System for faculty observation of high impact teachers	1
Center-run “Journal of Teaching Effectiveness”	1
Faculty Writing Academy	1

Related Post: The Ideal in Evaluating and Improving Teaching 

Typical Staffing of Centers for Teaching Effectiveness
I made it a point to document the basic staffing structure of each of these centers. Based on my review, the following staffing structure seems fairly typical and standard in higher education. It should be noted that many universities had several more employees and programs than these; however, these appeared to be the most common.

• Director – The director should have expertise in faculty development and capacity to lead the center while working closely with administrators of the various faculty support initiatives.
• Faculty Fellow –Some kind of temporary visit from a faculty member to the center, perhaps for 1-2 semesters.
• Support Staff – Administrative assistance and support, maintenance and support of website, communication, etc..
• Graduate Student – Students providing research and support to director and to the faculty fellows.

The average number of employees at the centers reviewed is about 6. This usually included 2-3 individuals with doctorate degrees who were usually directors or associate directors. Most centers include 2-3 support staff, though some had many more, including instructional design and technology support. I assume that some of the universities that didn't have these kinds of roles in the center likely had them in separate areas.

Structure of the Center Website 
I found that the structure of most of these sites was unique. Many of them were fairly disorganized, and as I looked at them from a faculty member's perspective, I had a hard time figuring out what they might be able to do for me. I would probably keep the faculty member in mind when creating the site. Here is what I currently think should be the basic structure of the site of a center for teaching excellence (though some further analysis and testing is warranted). Basic sub-pages should include (1) the About page, (2) the Services page, (3) the Workshops page, and (4) the Resources page.

Recommended structure for center for teaching effectiveness website. 

A Few Final Notes
It should be noted that this was a review of a relatively small number of centers (only 8), but I believe they are typical for what is out there. Also, these were larger universities, and it would be difficult for a smaller university to implement some of these programs. However, the general categories of support appear to be very sound and useful, and it makes sense to me to use these categories in many settings.

This is my current thinking on the topic, but I am still doing plenty of investigating. I have purchased some books on teaching support at the university level and will continue to deepen my knowledge as I focus on this kind of work going forward.

Hiking in Dry Canyon

My brother in law Chris and I went on an outstanding hike last week and I thought I would share some pictures of the experience here.

We woke up at 4 am to start the hike. We began hiking at 4:30 am. Here I am still waking up at the trail head.

This is Chris as the sun was rising over Cache Valley (in the background). It was really cool to be there while the sun was coming up. It is a beautiful canyon.

Here I am later in the day as we continued to gain altitude in our hike. I think my socks look totally goofy in this picture.

We hiked north along the Syncline Trail and eventually crested the ridge between Dry Canyon and Logan Canyon. This is the view down into Logan Canyon and Cache Valley. Chris is the small do on the ridge on the left of the photograph.

I really enjoyed the hike. We covered about 13 miles total and had an outstanding time. Every once in a while I experience something like this - a clear, purifying experience in nature. I can't wait to get up into the canyon again!

Sabbatical Update - First Day at CIDI

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I am spending part of my summer sabbatical in Logan, Utah as a visiting scholar at the Center for Innovative Design and Instruction. Today was my first day, so I thought I would share some pictures if where I will be and talk about what I will be doing.

This is the Distance Education building on Utah State's Main Campus in Logan, Utah. I'll spend a great deal of my time here as I work with administrators on analyzing the need for a new teaching center at USU.

I'll be spending much of my time working at the Distance Education building on USU's main campus.I am working with administrators in the Provost's office and will be working to analyze the needs of the university related to teaching effectiveness and teaching excellence. I've only got a general idea of what we will do, but at this point it looks like I will be doing a performance analysis of some kind and plan to follow the general phases of the 2012 ISPI HPT Model.

I'll be in an office in the Distance Education building. Here is the view from my office. I hope I can spend plenty of time in those mountains with my family while I am here.

Me at USU's Old Main building. My daughter took the photo at an angle for effect. I like it.

The Old Main Hill with Old Main in the background. It is a lovely campus.

Sabbatical Road Trip!

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been traveling to Utah for my work during my sabbatical. I am going to serve as a visiting scholar at at Utah State University's Center for Innovative Design and Instruction. We traveled along I-70 and crossed several states in the process. Here are a few photos from the trip.

Here I am with my lovely wife and daughter en route to Logan, Utah.

We drove our Kia Soul and loaded our belongings on the top of the vehicle using a Roofbag.  Things went great until we hit a rainstorm and the straps that held it down allowed water to flow into the car. I was totally soaked as we traveled down the freeway. It was pretty hilarious.

Our great friend Lynn McDowell, my wife Katie, my daughter CK, and me at the LDS Church Visitor's Center in Independence Missouri.

My family and I are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we decided to stop in Independence, Missouri at the LDS Church's Visitor's Center, there. The location has some historical and future significance for the church, and it was fun to learn some of the history.

The temple of the Community of Christ Church in Independence, Missouri.

An awesome bridge that we crossed. I think it was in St. Louis, though I can't say for certain.

Katie talking with the police about the old guy who drove off the road.

When we were driving through Kansas, there was an older gentleman who was weaving his car into and out of several lanes. We eventually passed him, and as we did we looked back and saw him drive his car into the median. He bumped his way along there for a while and then came to a stop. He started to drive again, so I got out of the car and yelled at him to pull over. He promptly flipped me off and continued down the freeway. By this time, several cars were following him and had called the police. We followed him until he was pulled over, and Katie went and told the officers what we had seen. A pretty exciting diversion from the monotony of a long drive. :)

Future Drive
So far, we have traveled across the United States using I-80 and I-70. I think this next trip back to Ohio we will travel using I-90. It will be a bit of a detour, but it will be pretty fun to see new places and things. I really enjoyed going through some new states on the way to Utah, and I look forward to seeing more!

Sabbatical Update - Travel to Utah

Well, the first phase of my sabbatical at Franklin University has come to a close. I've spent the last 5 weeks here in Ohio working on article writing, as well as on an application to become a Certified Performance Technologist.

Traveling to Utah
For the next phase of the sabbatical, my wife, daughter and I are traveling to Logan, Utah where I will spend the next 8 weeks as a visiting scholar at Utah State University's Center for Innovative Design and Instruction. It's strange leaving Franklin and our home for this long - Katie and I are very integrated into our Latter-day Saint congregation in Grove City, and we both enjoy volunteering and serving in that congregation. We will miss our friends and neighbors during the stay, but we know that the opportunity will be wonderful. Plus, some members of Katie's family will be staying in our home while we are gone, so we will not have to worry about the home during out time away.

The Travel
We will drive a total of 27 hours across the United States to make it to Logan. We are driving through the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. We plan to make the drive in 2 days, taking about 13 hours per day. We're also going to make a few stops when we get to Utah to see family before we make it up to Logan.

We considered making the drive in one straight shot without stopping for a rest at a hotel, but we have wisely decided against it. Here's a map of our route:

View Larger Map

The Vehicle
We'll be driving our fairly new Kia Soul, which has proven to be a great traveling car. Very comfortable, reasonable gas mileage, good storage space, and a nice stereo make it an ideal traveling vehicle. We made the trip out to Utah last year to see our families, and it went quite well.

Writing at the Library

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am currently taking a sabbatical from my work at Franklin University for the summer trimester. For the first month (May), I have been focusing my efforts on writing a coupe of journal articles. I thought I would share a little about what that has been like.

I have been spending my time at the Grove City Library in downtown Grove City. It's a relatively quiet place, and I can usually get a lot of work done. This is pretty exciting work, my friends - writing scholarly articles! To give you an idea of the excitement, here is what it looks like when I am writing:

What it looks like when I am writing scholarly articles. Usually there are two hands, but one of them is taking the picture.

Sometimes I feel like I need to take a break and look up. When I do, this is what it looks like:

What it looks like when I look up from writing scholarly articles.

Every once in a while, I get a little crazy and I look the other direction. This is what that looks like:

So, I guess you could say that things are really pretty exciting right now. Ill be sure to report on my progress in my writing in the next week or two. For now, back to writing...

Related Post: Confessions of a Boring Academic Writer

My 2014 Sabbatical Opportunity

This afternoon I begin a sabbatical with Franklin University. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to improve myself personally and professionally. I am grateful to have been selected by the sabbatical committee and to have the support of the Franklin's leadership.

Related Post: 2014 Sabbatical Report

What I Plan To Do
During the sabbatical, I will complete activities designed to help me advance as a scholar and practitioner in the field of instructional design. My scholarly activities will include the following:

1. Write Scholarly Articles - I plan to write and submit at least 2 scholarly articles for publication. I am not involved in conducting traditional formal research, but I have participated in some really exciting, innovative approaches for designing instruction over the last several years. I'll probably blog more about these experiences as I write.
2. Apply for Certification - I will also apply for the Certified Performance Technologist designation. This certification is experience-based, and I will need to show how my past work has met the standards espoused by the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). It'll likely be a fairly difficult application, but I am excited for the opportunity to focus on it.
3. Visiting Scholarship at CIDI - I will also spend some time as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Innovative Design and Instruction (CIDI) at Utah State University. Utah State has long been a leader in the effective use of instructional technology, and I am hope that I can contribute in some way to their success, though I am certain that I will benefit the most from the opportunity. My family will come with me, and gratefully we have family that will stay in our home while we are gone. 

In addition to these activities, I have several other things I would like to accomplish

• Revisit my Personal Goals - I believe that effective goal setting is a vital activity for success. I am very goal-oriented, and I am grateful for the opportunity to revisit my goals and set new directions for myself in my life.
• Spend Time With Family - We will be spending time in Utah, and most of our extended family lives that state. I am excited to be with them and will enjoy spending time with them.
• Run a Marathon - I have a life goal to run a marathon, and I plan on training for and completing one this summer. I've begun my training schedule and will continue training for several months.
• Broaden My Knowledge -I am constantly reading, and I am excited to broaden my knowledge in a couple of key areas. I will focus my attention on the topics of positive psychology, leadership, spirituality, and goal-setting. I'll be sure to keep track of the books I am reading here.

Thanks to Franklin University
I am extremely grateful for this opportunity. Franklin University has been an outstanding place of employment, and I have learned so much from the people I have worked with over the past four years. I am confident that this sabbatical will benefit me personally and professionally, and I hope that the things I learn and accomplish this summer will benefit Franklin, as well.

I will certainly continue to write more about how things are going for the sabbatical over the coming weeks.