e-Learning Advocates

Criteria for e-Learning Advocates

Visible leadership for e-learning within academic units and campuses is essential to creating sustained momentum for adoption of e-learning. Experience demonstrates that academic units most successful with e-learning initiatives have been those that have had a visible champion. Several Penn State colleges have already established e-learning units to support the work of faculty to develop and deliver online courses. Each college should have an e-learning advocate, who will operate at the leadership level, with the goals of catalyzing strategic thinking about e-learning within academic units and representing the interests of individual academic units in the development of policies and standards, and encouraging innovation in pedagogy.

The advocate should have these characteristics:

  1. The advocate should be a leader, a visionary thinker and evangelist. It is more important that this person be able to change the college culture than that the champion be a resource person, such as an instructional designer.
  2. The advocate should be in a position to influence the strategic direction within his/her college. This could be accomplished by someone who:
    • reports directly to the Dean,
    • is a member of the executive council or similar body, and
    • is a member of the strategic planning committee.
  3. The advocate must have an in-depth knowledge of, and practical experience in, e-learning pedagogy and technology.
  4. The advocate must be a dedicated resource to address teaching and learning needs of his or her academic unit

If a center for e-learning (or similar organization) exists within the college, the director of this organization should be the first choice. The advocate should not be the ACUE dean unless that person meets all of the above four qualifications.

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