AT&T Grant Supports Global Virtual Faculty

“We greatly appreciate this grant from AT&T and the faith and vote of confidence in our mission,” said President J. Michael Adams. “Distance learning is an important component of our global education, and this support will significantly enhance the program’s development.”

“Considering recent world events, FDU’s global virtual faculty program couldn’t come at a better time,” said Philip Towle, AT&T sales and marketing vice president. “It brings speakers from around the world into FDU classrooms, encourages diverse viewpoints and challenges conventional wisdom. At a time when it might be tempting to close our minds to beliefs that don’t match our own, the program demands that we stay open to the unfamiliar, the new.”

The grant, to be awarded over the next two years, will be dedicated mostly to supporting faculty training and development. 

Specifically, the University is developing a computer-based (CD-ROM) training module that can be completed by global virtual adjunct faculty on their own. This will enable these individuals to become adept in using the software program required for the online learning courses, as well as addressing pedagogical and intercultural communication issues. Also, monies will be dedicated to training on-site FDU faculty in intercultural awareness and the pedagogy of instructional partnering. This will be accomplished through a series of workshops and a mentoring program. In addition, a biannual symposium is being planned for global virtual and on-site faculty to come together to engage in dialogue and workshops.

“The primary role of the virtual faculty,” said Michael Sperling, associate provost for interdisciplinary, distributed and global learning, T-H, “is to bring a global dimension to the learning experience by offering different perspectives and observations on the issues under study.”

Global virtual adjunct faculty are nominated by faculty members. There are two categories of global virtual faculty: global visiting professors (GVP) and global visiting lecturers (GVL). GVPs are full partners in a course and have significant participation while GVLs participate on a lesser scale.

As Sperling pointed out, “Along with providing facility with what has become the world’s most important communication/ information tool (the Internet), distance learning can offer global education perspectives unavailable through standard classroom learning models.” 

The campus-based faculty member continues to be responsible for the syllabus, primary teaching materials, assignments and evaluation. Each global virtual adjunct faculty member is assigned a campus-based faculty partner, who helps shape and design his or her participation.
Under the new distance-learning requirement, which began this fall, each undergraduate student must take one online course per 32 credits. The first required class is the Core course The Global Challenge. Over the next four to five years, Fairleigh Dickinson will expand the online course offerings to 80 to 90 courses, some common to all students, some specific to a discipline.

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