Professional Development for Professors & Faculty

I sincerely believe that to be a high quality faculty member, to deliver instruction that makes a difference and moves the needle in people's lives, that you as a professor or faculty member need to first invest in yourself.

In my experience, good teachers are continual learners. We learn from our students we learn from our peers and we learn from the vast resources that are available at our finger tips. In my 20-plus years of teaching I've had the pleasure of mentoring a number of folks who have gone on to become top notch professors--far surpassing my abilities and skills (as it should be.)

“Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own.” 

~ Nikos Kazantzakis

So in the spirit of helping folks become professional professors, here are some courses I’ve authored at Lynda.com (LinkedIn Learning) that can help you prepare to teach at any level. Each of these courses share some tips, techniques and hopefully a little wisdom I’ve gathered over the years as I’ve worked to teach students the art and craft of Instructional Design.

The good news is that most academic institutions have access to Lynda.com so the courses are free. Enjoy! (if you don't here is a 30 day free trial link)

Career Development for Faculty

Here is a course called Core Strategies for Teaching in Higher Ed which covers everything from time management for professors to integrating alumni into your course to balancing the service, teaching and research commitments.

Writing an Effective Syllabus

Here is short course I created on writing a syllabus. It seems so simple and straight forward but I certainly wish someone had taken the time to explain to me the proper way to write a syllabus. Here is everything I know about the subject in a course complete with examples and reasons why certain items are included in the syllabus. It can be very helpful when you are first starting or to review your syllabus after you've been using it for a few years. This is a “nuts-and-bolts” course. A fundamental course about the writing of a syllabus. Learn “How to Write a Syllabus” with this course.

Writing Grants

Once you've been teaching at the university, college or even high school level, you might find it useful to craft a grant or two to provide funding for projects you want to perform to help your students and enhance your career. Here is a course to help you write successful grant applications for both higher education and in the K-12 setting. It’s called simply Grant Writing for Education.

Increasing Learner Engagement

When you are actually in the classroom, let your expertise shine through but also convey your knowledge and insights in a way that excites and engages students. You may be the most well-researched and knowledgeable person on a subject but if you can't engage and motivate students, you will have a problem. In this course I explain how to engage students both with traditional, non-digital methods and through some more modern approaches. Here is the link to Learning How to Increase Learner Engagement.

If you are thinking about being more adventurous in your teaching, think about gamifying some of your instruction. Start small and then add more and more game elements. It’s effective from a learning perspective and really engages students. If you are not sure where to start, check out the two courses below. They will help you think through the gamification process and to create meaningful gamified instruction.

• Gamification of Learning
• Gamification for Interactive Learning

Gamification for Interactive Learning is the the "part-two" to the gamification course going a little more in-depth into the types of gamification and discussing different approaches to gamification.

Conclusion

While some folks may think that professors have it "easy" because they just stand upand talk off the top-of-their-head or refer to "yellowed notes", those are fallacies and are in no way indicative of the majority of hard working professors who tirelessly work to improve their knowledge and skill sets so students can reach their potential and make a positive impact on their own families, communities and the country. If you are a professor-at any level-it is my hope that you'll find the information in these courses useful, inspirational and effective for conveying your knowledge to your students.

Bio

Karl Kapp been a Professor of Instructional Technology for close to 20 years at Bloomsburg University. In that time, he literally “wrote the book” on the "The Gamification of Learning and Instruction" and co-uthored the best selling game-based learning book Play to Learn. In addition to being a fully-tenured professor, Karl is a researcher, analyst, speaker, consultant and designer of instructional games and gamification. He enjoys sharing his knowledge with others and is the founder of The Wisdom Learning Group, LLC. He is author/co-author of seven books on the convergence of learning and technology. He is the author of several Lynda.com courses.

Stop by and say "Hi" to Karl at  Masie's Learning 2018 where he will be conducting a number of sessions.

You can also attend a game design workshop with Karl and his co-author Sharon Boller at DevLearn 2018. The workshop is called called "Designing Digital Games to Support Learning Transfer".

Follow Karl on Twitter @kkapp.

Need insights, input, ideas, or a gamification strategy or, especially, an energetic keynote speaker or some industry insight? Karl provides evidence-based guidance, design and insights for creating engaging, meaningful learning (as well as some awesome interactive workshops and learning events.)

Visit www.karlkapp.com for more information on gamification, being a professional professor, learning strategies and tactics and so much more.

 #LinkedInLearning