How do we engage faculty in Web 2.0?

In August 2008, two committees at Medaille College, Faculty Development and the Ad Hoc Educational Technology Committee, teamed up to present an event about Web 2.0 and education. With short notice to prepare the event, a local presenter was chosen. John Thompson, Associate Professor in the Computer Information Systems Department at Buffalo State College gave a lecture/presentation. The presenter was not very well received, but in listening to the discussions that ensued, I kept asking myself the same question: How do we (we being librarians and faculty committee members) engage faculty in Web 2.0?


As a librarian, my career would have probably come to an end by this point if I had not accepted the change that technology brings at a neck-breaking speed. How did I come to accept and work with Web 2.0 (or Library 2.0)? While working as a Technical Services Librarian at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, I had the opportunity to move the library from a card catalog to an online catalog. I learned about library systems from the inside out and upside down. We didn't have a big staff (actually almost no staff), but with the help from two colleagues in our IT Department, I learned about relational databases and how the information we enter into that relates to what the public sees, what the staff sees, and how the staff creates reports. I worked with IT to manage our library computers and our systems. I didn't have to maintain the server, but I needed to be able to communicate with the IT staff to keep everything running smoothly. It worked out wonderfully. I learned and the Gallery Library moved into a new era.

Now I work as the change agent for library technology at Medaille College. We have been implementing a new integrated library system and I have been evaluating everything we do and how we do it. As we moved through implementation, I kept the staff informed as to our progress and time line. The Support Services wiki became an essential tool we used to track our decisions and projects. The wiki, a Web 2.0 technology, has been a wonderful collaborative project management tool.


Web 2.0 is about conversation. I'd like to see more faculty take part in the conversation. How do I do that? I think that one way to do this is by building confidence and enabling individuals to try something new. Acceptance that it is possible to relate to and engage students in active learning by using the educational technology available to all faculty might be realized as faculty become more comfortable working with technology. So, I will continue to teach workshops and work with faculty individually to help build the confidence necessary to converse in the Web 2.0 world.

11/5/08