Jim Flowers, Online Faculty Fellow Fall 2011

Jim Flowers, professor of technology and director of online education in the Department of Technology, led colleagues on discussions about online teaching and course development in fall 2011 as one of the inaugural Online Faculty Fellows.

Flowers is a longtime champion of online education, having taught online graduate courses since around 2000. He is also a past recipient of the Rawlings Outstanding Distance Education Teaching Award for his role in establishing the online master’s degrees in technology education and in career and technical education.

According to Flowers, his selection as a fellow was gratifying because it supported his research in online learning and one of his primary teaching interests.

One of the goals of the new faculty fellows initiative is to create “communities of interest” to stimulate ongoing interaction among faculty around teaching topics relevant to online learning.

Flowers’ community of interest meets on Blackboard to discuss “Saving Time in Online Teaching (Without Sacrificing Quality).” This asynchronous discussion covers online teaching strategies that can help instructors streamline their preparations without sacrificing the rigor of the course.

He also taught mini-courses on “Promoting Cognitive Dialog in Online Courses,” “Using the Blackboard Discussion Board,” and “Adding Online Education to Your Research Agenda.”

Contact Dr. Flowers if you are interested in joining his community of interest.