1 00:00:00,150 --> 00:00:05,490 Jordan: Welcome to Making Meaning, a podcast about all things digital and online learning at Muhlenberg. 2 00:00:05,490 --> 00:00:13,830 In this episode, we talk to one of our Instructional Designers, Lynn D'Angelo Bello, about the Division of Graduate and Continuing Education, 3 00:00:13,830 --> 00:00:37,120 where adults and experienced professionals can continue their education here at Muhlenberg. 4 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:45,100 Today, we welcome Lynn D'Angelo Bello, an Instructional Designer here at Muhlenberg who joined the team in January of 2019, 5 00:00:45,100 --> 00:00:51,850 and we're going to be discussing the Division of Graduate and Continuing Education, also known as GCE. 6 00:00:51,850 --> 00:00:56,200 So welcome, Lynn, and thank you so much for joining us today. Lynn: Well, thanks, Jordan. 7 00:00:56,200 --> 00:01:03,520 Thanks for having me. Jordan: Yeah. So I thought we could start by providing an overview of the GCE program. 8 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:08,770 So for those of our listeners who have maybe not heard about the GCE program, what is it? 9 00:01:08,770 --> 00:01:09,550 Lynn: Sure. 10 00:01:09,550 --> 00:01:19,300 So as I was gathering my thoughts for this podcast, I actually did some research into the history of GCE and I think it would be good to start there. 11 00:01:19,300 --> 00:01:24,700 I won't give an exhaustive history. I'll just bring forward some highlights for context. 12 00:01:24,700 --> 00:01:32,110 And I learned that Muhlenberg actually has a long history of providing adult education to members of our local community. 13 00:01:32,110 --> 00:01:34,000 This all began in 1910. 14 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:43,600 So over 100 hundred years, the very first adult education program served public school teachers and was called the Saturday School for Teachers. 15 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:50,440 And then over the years, it evolved into the evening college and then the Westco School of Muhlenberg College bringing us up to today. 16 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:56,770 Today, as you mentioned, it's known as the division of Graduate and Continuing Education, or GCE. 17 00:01:56,770 --> 00:02:02,890 But what's remained constant throughout its history has been its commitment to the practices of experiential education, 18 00:02:02,890 --> 00:02:09,250 liberal arts traditions and civic engagement. Today, GCE is made up of two schools. 19 00:02:09,250 --> 00:02:13,390 The School of Continuing Studies and the School of Graduate Studies at the School of 20 00:02:13,390 --> 00:02:18,370 Continuing Studies serves adults seeking to attain or complete a bachelor's degree, 21 00:02:18,370 --> 00:02:25,150 veterans or active military personnel who are looking to continue their education to the post 9/11 GI GI Bill 22 00:02:25,150 --> 00:02:31,750 and adults with a bachelor's degree seeking a second degree or certification in a specific content area. 23 00:02:31,750 --> 00:02:36,520 The School of Graduate Studies presently offers two professional master's programs, 24 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:41,770 one in applied analytics for organizations and the other in organizational leadership. 25 00:02:41,770 --> 00:02:48,040 These programs were approved by faculty vote in 2019 and accredited in January of twenty twenty, 26 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,420 and the first student cohort started that fall in August of twenty twenty. 27 00:02:52,420 --> 00:02:57,490 So we'll be wrapping up our inaugural year this summer, which is pretty exciting. 28 00:02:57,490 --> 00:03:03,190 Each master's level class is eight weeks long and there are 12 classes for 48 credits. 29 00:03:03,190 --> 00:03:10,540 Students complete these programs in two years, taking two classes per semester, so two in the fall to in the spring and two in the summer. 30 00:03:10,540 --> 00:03:17,710 With breaks between semesters in summer sections. All of the master's level courses are designed in a hybrid model. 31 00:03:17,710 --> 00:03:26,170 And what distinguishes them from many other institutions offering graduate study is that they're fully designed and led by our own faculty. 32 00:03:26,170 --> 00:03:30,970 We don't contract graduate course design or facilitation to a third party. 33 00:03:30,970 --> 00:03:35,590 Our students learn in small cohorts for a high level of student to faculty interaction. 34 00:03:35,590 --> 00:03:39,340 And this is a major strength in how these programs are designed. 35 00:03:39,340 --> 00:03:48,160 Humanized, engaged, learning center and community and connection lies at the core of graduate study here, just as it does for undergraduate study. 36 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:52,840 And also research very much informs the skills our graduate students are learning. 37 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:59,200 So while the focus is on helping them develop professional skills and to expand their professional identities, 38 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:04,030 the coursework prioritizes the general research practices we promote in the liberal arts, 39 00:04:04,030 --> 00:04:09,480 helping our students develop critical thinking and other kinds of higher order thinking skills. 40 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:18,450 Now, out of all of us, Lynn, you work the most closely with our GCE faculty and staff core coordinators of the program. 41 00:04:18,450 --> 00:04:24,280 How do you engage with faculty around course design? 42 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:29,320 I work in partnership with the graduate level faculty in a few ways. 43 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:36,970 First, I facilitate a cohort based learning experience and online course design and pedagogy for them using a hybrid model 44 00:04:36,970 --> 00:04:43,630 that's designed according to the same pedagogical principles and practices for connected and engaged online learning. 45 00:04:43,630 --> 00:04:50,470 We would like them to demonstrate with their own students. It's an extension of the online learning experience that we, the digital learning team, 46 00:04:50,470 --> 00:04:55,960 developed for undergraduate faculty, but with a special focus on the needs of adult learners. 47 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:03,670 So the faculty are engaged in active learning throughout the cohort experience and work on building components of their courses as assignments. 48 00:05:03,670 --> 00:05:09,460 Several faculty teaching in our graduate programs are adjuncts with industry subject matter expertize. 49 00:05:09,460 --> 00:05:15,940 So the cohort model we use to teach them to teach online also facilitates their connection to one another, 50 00:05:15,940 --> 00:05:22,630 as well as to the full time faculty teaching in the graduate programs. So they're sharing ideas with one another and learning from another as well. 51 00:05:22,630 --> 00:05:27,550 Plus, they receive feedback from myself and also hear perspectives from our faculty, 52 00:05:27,550 --> 00:05:31,480 digital fellows, as well as our student digital learning assistants. 53 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:36,940 I also work one to one with faculty by request as they continue building their hybrid courses. 54 00:05:36,940 --> 00:05:42,070 And once they're built, I provide them with feedback using the Open Sooni Oscar rubric, 55 00:05:42,070 --> 00:05:49,870 the same tool for providing developmental feedback on online course design that we use with our undergraduate faculty teaching online. 56 00:05:49,870 --> 00:05:54,310 A lot of work goes into building relationships between you and the faculty. 57 00:05:54,310 --> 00:06:06,670 How does some of this translate or support faculty's ability to foster community in their own classes, be they online or in person? 58 00:06:06,670 --> 00:06:10,720 Our graduate programs, by design are focused on community. 59 00:06:10,720 --> 00:06:17,890 So this requires from faculty a commitment to designing their courses and engaging students as a part of a learning community. 60 00:06:17,890 --> 00:06:22,330 So it's really in everything that they do from the self introduction activity at 61 00:06:22,330 --> 00:06:26,470 the very beginning of a course to sharing and commenting on reflexive assignments, 62 00:06:26,470 --> 00:06:34,090 peer to peer to group discussions and projects. The faculty also foster community among themselves. 63 00:06:34,090 --> 00:06:40,720 And I noticed this happening organically last summer while I was facilitating the very first grad faculty cohort. 64 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:48,640 So what happened was during our synchronous sessions, they made a point to reach out to one another about setting aside time to meet to coordinate 65 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:54,340 curricula in order to ensure continuity from one course to the next through each program, 66 00:06:54,340 --> 00:06:57,310 especially in the analysis of Data for organizations program. 67 00:06:57,310 --> 00:07:02,290 Given that those courses are taught in a particular sequence and it was really fun to watch that happen, 68 00:07:02,290 --> 00:07:06,690 there was really great synergy and camaraderie there. So, Lynn, 69 00:07:06,690 --> 00:07:11,250 it sounds like there is a great foundation here in developing relationships with 70 00:07:11,250 --> 00:07:17,490 faculty and GCE and their own ability to foster community with their students. 71 00:07:17,490 --> 00:07:28,140 What are some things you're focusing on for the future of the program and projects that you're interested in pursuing as it moves forward? 72 00:07:28,140 --> 00:07:37,040 Sure. Well, domain of one's own or domains or portfolios for grad students will be a major focus in the next few years. 73 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:41,010 I'll really be digging into domains this summer with GCE, 74 00:07:41,010 --> 00:07:48,300 and I should mention that the same values of student agency and autonomy and creating one's own digital identity, 75 00:07:48,300 --> 00:07:51,420 deep reflection on learning and learning to be responsible, 76 00:07:51,420 --> 00:07:58,170 ethical and informed consumers and producers of digital media will drive the domain's initiative for graduate students, 77 00:07:58,170 --> 00:08:02,400 just as these values drive domains for undergraduate students. 78 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:09,210 Plus will be imagining and planning how domains might culminate and connect to each student's capstone project. 79 00:08:09,210 --> 00:08:17,130 And in thinking more generally about where things are headed in the next few years, I would say expanding connections would be a major theme. 80 00:08:17,130 --> 00:08:24,930 I learned a lot last year, especially just how important and meaningful connection was among the GCE faculty members. 81 00:08:24,930 --> 00:08:29,550 For example, they expressed a desire to enroll in each other's courses. 82 00:08:29,550 --> 00:08:37,410 So we'll help make that happen in the future. I'll also be adding to the course some content and modeling on how peer reviewed works, 83 00:08:37,410 --> 00:08:43,290 because I think faculty will appreciate opportunities to show each other what they've built and ask for feedback. 84 00:08:43,290 --> 00:08:48,120 So peer review will be a final activity of the cohort learning experience. 85 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:56,130 And I'm planning to invite some faculty guest speakers to lead discussions on some special topics and online learning like designing for Riggo, 86 00:08:56,130 --> 00:09:04,170 engaging students in discussions and creating meaningful assessments. I see this as an additional opportunity for our adjuncts to connect with full 87 00:09:04,170 --> 00:09:08,490 time faculty members and to feel more connected to the college in general. 88 00:09:08,490 --> 00:09:13,320 And I plan to support ongoing conversation and ideas sharing on these topics. 89 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:21,270 Plus, I'm completely open to suggestions the GCE vice president, HLM Henning and the Deans have been great, 90 00:09:21,270 --> 00:09:27,450 great partners and also really great about enlisting helpful feedback directly from the faculty. 91 00:09:27,450 --> 00:09:31,410 And we're all rather nimble and agile, which I so appreciate and enjoy. 92 00:09:31,410 --> 00:09:40,830 So as GCE continues preparing GCE faculty to teach online and I'm looking forward to that when I really look forward to seeing 93 00:09:40,830 --> 00:09:49,170 where the program goes from here and watching these projects develop and hopefully collaborating on a few with you in the future. 94 00:09:49,170 --> 00:09:58,980 And I hope that you would be open to coming back in a year or so and letting our listeners know how things are going with the domain's rollout and, 95 00:09:58,980 --> 00:10:03,780 you know, future GCE projects, because this was it was so great talking to you today. 96 00:10:03,780 --> 00:10:07,590 Oh, thanks so much. It was a lot of fun and absolutely. I'd be happy to come back. 97 00:10:07,590 --> 00:10:11,490 And I'm just wide eyed. I just love everything I'm doing here. 98 00:10:11,490 --> 00:10:24,320 It's a pleasure. Thank you for tuning in into this week's episode of Making Meaning. 99 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:30,980 Please join us next week as we talk to Thomas Sharina, the director of Instructional Technology and Media Services, 100 00:10:30,980 --> 00:10:46,632 as we discuss what it takes to design a classroom here on Newberg's campus.