CTI Story

Cyber Teachers’ Institute:
It Takes a Community to Develop A Peer

“I laughed, I cried, I had a good time and I learned something new every day,” wrote Suzanne Floyd from West Los Angeles College in her evaluation of the Cyber Teachers’ Institute, summer 2003, reflecting on the impact the sharing of experiences had on her, such as a participant's story about an opportunity she created in her online class to help her students cope with 9.11.

“It was great to experience the excellent modeling of our facilitators who demonstrated through example quite an assortment of stellar techniques to help us follow best practices as we embark on or continue our journey into the land of Improved Online Instruction.”

It has taken many years for the program to reach a maturity level, according to Vivie Sinou, Executive Director of Etudes and the founder and designer of the Cyber Teachers’ Institute (CTI).

Like most early adopters, Vivie figured out what it takes to establish a successful online learning environment through experimentation, creative imagination, and motivation to venture into uncharted territory with students who were willing to sign up for her courses. By spring of 1999, Vivie had taught online for several terms, yet she was still the only one who was teaching online on her campus. She felt isolated from colleagues on other colleges who were exploring teaching with web-based technologies. She had no one to share student success stories, her excitement for the gains she was making, and nowhere to go to find how other faculty dealt with the challenges she was grappling with.

In May of 1999, Vivie attended a seminar in online learning that had promised to provide an opportunity for meaningful exchange with online teaching professionals. The format and content of the seminar proved of no value to her, as the participants were new to online teaching. About the same time, Vivie attended a workshop on the Great Teachers' Seminar, a program designed to bring great teachers together to learn from each other's teaching successes and challenges. Vivie met David Gottshall, founder of the National Great Teachers Seminar, and was inspired by David's and Cindra Smith's exemplary work, "The Great Teachers' Format: Why Does It Work?" Cindra Smith is Director of CTIation Services for the Community College League of California.

While reflecting on the principles of the Great Teachers’ Seminar, Vivie found herself wishing she could bring great online teachers together to share successes and failures and learn from one another, much like the traditional Great Teachers' Seminar did. She wondered whether a "cyber" Great Teachers' Seminar would work. If online instruction allows for personal interaction, as she and many advocates of e-learning argued, then bringing teachers together in a focused virtual classroom should be effective, she convinced herself.

And, that is how Cyber Teachers’ Institute (CTI) was born.

The first CTI course was offered in the summer of 2001 at Foothill College. In response to requests, more courses were added to the series later.

CTI is now offered annually. The courses enable participants to share success stories, celebrate teaching excellence in the online or traditional classroom, and address key challenges. Participants are expected to construct reasonable solutions to the challenges by reflecting, analyzing, and learning from what they, as great teachers, know works.

Here is an example of a “challenge” theme on handling diverse learners:

Share with your colleagues the challenges that you have faced in figuring ways to accommodate different learners (style and skill-set) in your online classroom, and describe how you have addressed them, successfully or unsuccessfully.

The learning that comes from sharing is evident in responses:

“[To assist] learners with varied backgrounds, I have learned to allow for differences in pacing. I have found that students manage to complete projects on time if 1) I have allowed them sufficient time to prepare their projects; 2) I've reminded them along the way (benchmarks) that the date is coming up and…; 3) I've … singled out certain students to work with because they may be having trouble....” -Irma

“I offer no self-paced paths. I have weekly benchmarks. I include a collaborative troubleshooting forum so students with more knowledge and experience can assist others. It is easier for me to do my weekly grading. The energy of the course drives itself [when there are] scheduled lessons and assignments.” --Marcia

As reflected in the feedback from the participants and the completion rate (95%), the program is a valuable and rewarding learning experience:

“I was told that if one enjoys Kindergarten, they would enjoy and take a positive approach for the remainder of their CTIational career. I guess that is why I am receiving such a positive experience with this trilogy of courses.” –Peter

“I am going on my third year of teaching online and F2F so I am considered new to academia. However, I have learned more in these short weeks than my 3 years." Mark

“I have taught 6 online courses. This is the first time that I was the online student. Wow, online can be great. I was able to go on holiday for a week and not miss class.” Anonymous

“… Certain elements need to be in place for a truly good online learning experience. This course demonstrated how the little "communicative touches" could make such a big difference: welcome email, halfway message, nearing completion. I'll be using them in my up-coming class.” –Marion

CTI has confirmed the belief that “all knowledge is created socially” (National Learning Infrastructure Initiative), whether online or face-to-face. It is open to online and traditional faculty, recognizing that passion for teaching others what we know is the best way to learn.

“It's amazing what you learn by asking questions of your peers, including the ones who haven't yet been-there-done-that! … I'm really looking forward to developing my online courses this fall, and now, thanks to all of you, I can do so with both confidence and massive enthusiasm!” -Trish

“Dynamic interaction and feedback is such a motivating force. Knowing my course and syllabus would be up for scrutiny gave me incentive to prioritize tasks such as unifying the appearance of assignments. Having the courage to put materials up for scrutiny has given me a plan for revision.” -Suzanne.

CTI serves as a “meeting” place for faculty to “learn, unlearn, and relearn” how to be effective teachers in an evolving digital era.

“I have learned that group work can be conducted through threaded discussions. I usually have students do group work at least once a week in my real-time courses. This course has shown me that it can be accomplished on-line as well.” –anonymous

“The assignments were challenging and made me not only take in a lot of information but to question my old habits more intensely than I have done in the past. I believe that I have experienced an exponential growth in those things I need to teach (and learn) in the future.” –Russ

“As a result of this program I will move with more emphasis and care toward the task of creating a student friendly learning environment. The course has also emphasized in my mind the importance of students written communication skills…” -anonymous

The program is facilitated, rather than instructed. The facilitators are present but strive to leave the center-stage for the learners. They believe that they are not “prophets,” but rather, it is the participants (novices and veteran online teachers) who bring into the learning process expertise, passion for teaching, and genuine desire to grow.

It is our hope that CTI serves as a model experience for participants.

“It was wonderful to learn and to see a great online course in action. What great fortune to have this be my first course to take online as a student as well as to build an online course!” –Ginny

“The classes ran so smoothly that one tends to forget the planning and effort that DVD had to put in to make it that way. I liked the depth of material available… I have attended a number of similar programs and this was by far the best to date.” Peter

“As a novice to online instruction (never taken nor taught an online course), I feel like a whole new dimension has been opened up for me.” Anonymous

CTI Participants are encouraged to explore new ways of teaching and to not be afraid to abandon traditional practices that may no longer meet the changing learners’ needs. The program invites faculty to place the learner at the center of the learning process and to embrace opportunities for growth. True growth comes when we consciously throw away old beliefs and ways of knowing and embrace new ones to evolve.

From a discussion on the importance of deadlines in online classes…

“I am considering changing my format of assignments. As some of you have read in [my earlier posts], I am somewhat strict with deadlines. Some of you had a real problem with this. I am still interested in having deadlines, but I am thinking more about having assignments open for self- directed students. I usually have each assignment open up each week. Now I will have the assignment stay open the entire class and still have the same deadline.” -Hilary

“My brother, Dave, calls deadlines "targets" so students won't get behind. I have adopted this term in some courses. I let the student know that they should "aim" at the target but if they "miss", I extend the link. I still let it close automatically. To my surprise, some students want the deadlines so that it becomes "too late" and they can stop worrying about it. The real problem is being strict for those who need it and giving time and flexibility to those who need that. This problem will remain with us until we return to one on one teaching (a dream).” –Don

CTI is delivered in Etudes, a learning management system, managed by Etudes, Inc. The Etudes environment handles the structure, pace, organization, and management of the courses.

The participants’ comments speak to the program’s strengths and value to teaching and learning. They grow immensely and graduate longing for a continued learning community.

“I'd keep the program going forever (well, perhaps that's hyperbole, but I wish it were longer, because I really, really enjoy it). I'm new to the online environment, so everything was useful to me as instructor, as student, and as a learner….” -Kathy

This learning community is what Vivie longed for her in the mid 90’s. Her dream has been finally realized: bring teachers together to learn from each other and not be isolated.

Many teachers come back to CTI series and have new learning experiences. The courses evolve, but the premise stays the same; each year participants bring new insights and experiences to the course offerings. CTI provides instructors with an avenue to share new experiences and grow professionally from one year to the next.