Resources for Personal and Professional Development

The university belongs to a number of professional organizations which provide valuable professional development resources for its members. In most cases, UNF faculty are extended membership via the institutional membership.

EDUCAUSE and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI)

EDUCAUSE is a nonprofit professional organization association of IT professionals committed to advancing higher education. ELI is a community of higher education institutions and organizations committed to the advancement of learning through the innovative application of technology.

Available Resources: In addition to its annual conferences, EDUCAUSE and ELI provide the monthly EDUCAUSE Review, its 7 Things You Should Know briefs, and many other useful publications. Webinars are offered monthly on topics from Online Teaching to Technology Advising, and most are free of charge to members.

Access:Create a free account using your UNF email address to access resources and manage preferences.

Contact: Deb Miller, deb.miller@unf.edu

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity Membership

UNF is now an institutional member of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). All full- and part-time faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and administrators now have access to the many resources they provide. NCFDD supports academic careers with workshops and intensive mentoring programs to increase research productivity and improve working relationships with department colleagues. Special attention is given to the challenges faced by underrepresented faculty. Visit the Office of Diversity & Inclusion’s website to learn more about the available resources and to activate your account.

Contact: Brandi Winfrey, b.winfrey@unf.edu

Online Learning Consortium (OLC)

The Online Learning Consortium (OLC) is the leading professional organization devoted to advancing quality online learning by providing professional development, instruction, best practice publications and guidance to educators, online learning professionals and organizations around the world.

Available Resources: OLC regularly hosts webinars and online hangouts on topics related to online teaching and learning, and collects and publishes effective practices on its website. In addition, OLC publishes Online Learning (formerly JALN) promoting the development and dissemination of new knowledge at the intersection of pedagogy, emerging technology, policy, and practice in online environments.

Access: Create a Community Membership first, then notify Kevin Hulen to affiliate with UNF.

Contact: Kevin Hulen, kevin.hulen@unf.edu

WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET)

WCET, the WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, is a national, membership-based, non-profit organization whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of effective practices and policies, advancing excellence in technology-enhanced learning in higher education. WCET is nationally recognized as one of the most informative, reliable and forward-thinking organizations regarding the role of technology and innovation in higher education.

All UNF faculty, administrators, and staff are invited to subscribe to WCET's member-only email lists:

• WCETNews - a weekly article digest. WCET produces a compilation of national news related to higher ed and technology, in three categories - academic, technology, and policy.
• WCETDiscuss - a moderated list for discussions. There are excellent exchanges and sharing via this list over a wide range of issues - from how instructional design is organized to adjunct faculty pay to integration of web collaboration tools and more.

Also check out WCET's primary areas of focus and Frontiers blog.

MOOCs

MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) providers, such as Coursera and edX are another resource and offer courses on a variety of topics from The Science of Happiness to Getting and Cleaning Data. A MOOC is an online course developed for participation by a large audience and for which registration is completely open and free, though there is usually a small cost if one wishes to earn an official certification. These courses may be self-paced or taught in cohort- style, and are typically designed and/or taught by well-known experts.