FDPC
Faculty Development Professionals Conference
On-Demand Through November 21, 2024
Plenary Sessions
We've Been Here Before: Embracing AI in Faculty Development
Higher education is a seemingly resilient institution with minimal change across generations in terms of the overall structure, mission, and logistics. Yet, there have been opportunities in the past that have provided some seismic shifts in terms of how our campuses function. We stand yet again at the dawning of a new age-an artificial age. This session will provide participants with a healthy perspective on AI: both the benefits and challenges of using artificial intelligence in faculty development programming and to reach students. This session will equip participants with forward-thinking strategies for future-proofing their faculty development initiatives while embracing AI-infused programming, assessment, and impact.
Michael G. Strawser
University of Central Florida
Michael G. Strawser, PhD, is an associate professor of communication in Nicholson School of Communication and Media at the University of Central Florida and the principal of Legacy Communication Training and Consulting, L.L.C. based in Orlando. At UCF, Strawser teaches several courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels, including business and professional communication, advanced public speaking, and teaching communication. His research is primarily focused on matters relating to instructional communication and communication education. He’s co-editor of the four-volume Teaching Communication series [in press], editor of Instructional Communication in Professional Contexts (2023), and author of Conducting a Communication Audit: Promoting Organizational Effectiveness Through Communication (2022). Strawser earned a PhD in instructional communication from the University of Kentucky.
Positioning Faculty Developers to Confront Wicked Problems in Higher Education
Faculty developers are faced with both challenges and opportunities. At many institutions, student success, learning, and engagement factor prominently. Some of higher education’s most challenging issues suggest a need to rethink the role of faculty developer. Faculty developers are often at the center of the institution’s instructional mission. This alignment can also be strategic for both faculty developers and the academy. Many challenges, however, persist across higher education institutions. In this plenary, we’ll examine wicked problems (a term first coined by Horst Rittel) higher education institutions face. What are wicked problems? What are the wicked problems higher education institutions are concerned about? How can faculty developers support higher education institutions in navigating and confronting wicked problems? We will first identify wicked problems (for higher education and faculty developers). Foregrounding current and innovative faculty development designs, we will then examine the role of faculty developer in confronting wicked higher education problems.
Russell Carpenter
Eastern Kentucky University
Russell Carpenter, PhD, is the assistant provost and professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University. Carpenter serves as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Faculty Development and past editor of the Communication Center Journal. Carpenter has written or edited a wide range of books including Engaging Millennial Faculty, Studio-Based Approaches for Multimodal Projects, Writing Studio Pedagogy, and Sustainable Learning Spaces. Carpenter is the former president of the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA) and chair of the National Association of Communication Centers. In 2020, he was awarded the Southeastern Writing Center Association’s highest recognition, the Achievement Award. Carpenter has received multiple top-panel awards from the National Communication Association’s Communication Center division for scholarship focused on innovations in multimodal communication, program design, and communication-focused partnerships.