Faculty Fellow Program

Faculty Fellows will play a critical role in the success of many initiatives across Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT). Fellows will become essential to the future of TLT’s network as connecting points of intelligence, insight, energy, and knowledge-sharing. TLT Fellows will help to drive projects from within and to share fresh ideas and skills with the larger Penn State community.

Our goal for our Fellows is that they further work that is mutually important and join us to create tangible outcomes that can be shared widely with the teaching and learning community through presentations, publications, and new services.

Explore our current topic areas for Fellowships.

Based on the proposal, TLT can provide some financial support, support in the form of equipment, staff time, travel support, or in other ways germane to the proposed Fellowship work. In some cases, Fellows can join TLT during a sabbatical period but most residential Fellowship work will happen during the Summer months. Education Technology Services (ETS) will accept only three funded Fellowships per fiscal year, but are happy to discuss other ways for you to connect with us.

To allow for broad participation, there are two types of Fellowships both designed to support the work of TLT and the associated Faculty. A Residential Fellow, will spend dedicated time working within the offices of ETS for a duration agreed upon during the Fellowship. Non-Residential Fellows participate remotely and do not spend dedicated time within ETS, yet are encouraged to participate when they can either on site or through mediated technologies.

Goals and Objectives

Through the Faculty Fellows program, we strive to:

  • Work collaboratively to identify emerging questions that are tied to the mission of TLT
  • Create and grow communities exploring like topics to inform new practice
  • Support directed research and development that has the potential to impact the practice of teaching and learning with technology
  • Create opportunities to develop long-term relationships with key members of our audiences

Selection as a Fellow

Fellowships are awarded on a per project basis, but will carry with them requirements beyond project completion (for a term of 12 months). In most cases, ongoing participation in TLT activities will be requested. As an example, participation in committee or other ongoing project work to help disseminate outcomes will be requested.

Fellowships are generally awarded to those who already have experience in teaching and learning with technology topics and wish to add new knowledge to the field. Those interested in participating as a Fellow should contact Cole Camplese to discuss appointments. Topic areas for Fellowships are shared via the ETS website and will be constantly updated.

To be considered for a fellowship, the following will be required:

  • A concise yet comprehensive outline for the proposed study or project
  • A description of the particulars of the research proposal, including what expertise one would bring to the project and an explanation of how the proposal might fit with one of our current initiatives.
  • A description of what types of resources would be most helpful in the completion of the proposed work.
  • A curriculum vitae
  • Funding requirements
  • Dates of proposed residency
  • A letter of support from a department head or supervisor
  • A digital copy in English of either the most recent publication or any other piece of work that is related to the proposal. URLs for online copies of such material are preferred.

Proposal Process

Proposals for Fellowships will be sought starting in October of each year and will remain open until March of the following semester. Appointments are typically made for summer months, but we can discuss other options. If you would like to discuss participating as a Fellow please contact contact Cole Camplese, Director of ETS.

Requested Outcomes

Each Faculty Fellow is responsible for participating with our staff to achieve the agreed upon goals of the project. In addition to meeting these agreed upon expectations, we ask that Fellows also:

  • Propose a session for the annual TLT Symposium
  • Host a Fellows’ Hour session to assist in making connections and spawning new initiatives
  • Maintain a project blog that shares work while in progress
  • Participate in the creation of publications or presentations to be shared with audiences outside Penn State
  • Participate with TLT in an ongoing fashion for the duration of the 12 appointment in a limited way (small meetings, committee work, etc)
  • Contribution of an essay related to the area of investigation
  • Have fun and share in a collaborative learning environment

Selber to Join ETS as Fellow

ETS is thrilled to announce that Dr. Stuart Selber, Associate Professor of English and Sciences, Technology, and Sociaety, will join ETS as a Faculty Fellow this Summer. During his time as a Fellow, he will be exploring the topic of that “Changing Nature in Online Instruction Sets” in collaboration with TLT/ETS staff. You can learn more about his project by visiting the emerging description at the ETS wiki. Stuart has been working with ETS for the past year in a redesign of English 202C. We are all thrilled to have him spending time with us this Summer and we know it will lead to some exciting outcomes and discoveries.

My argument is that Web 2.0 environments have begun to recast the instruction set in concrete and meaningful ways. The relevance of the instruction set has been amplified and widened by an online participatory culture that encourages involvement, collaboration, and information exchange. More than simply a good example, the instruction set has become something of a metonym for the complex world of Web 2.0.

Faculty Fellows engage with ETS to integrate technology within emerging educational projects that can be shared and implemented widely throughout Penn State. To be considered for a Fellowship please visit our Faculty Fellowship page.

Long to Join ETS as Faculty Fellow

ETS is thrilled to announce that Dr. Christopher Long, Associate Professor of Philosophy, will join ETS as a Faculty Fellow this Summer. During his time as a Fellow, he will be exploring the topic of “Digital Dialogue” in collaboration with TLT/ETS staff. You can learn more about his project by visiting the emerging description at the ETS wiki. Chris maintains several blogs across the Penn State web including his excellent personal space, The Long Road. We are all thrilled to have him spending time with us this Summer and we know it will lead to some exciting outcomes and discoveries.

Faculty Fellows engage with ETS to integrate technology within emerging educational projects that can be shared and implemented widely throughout Penn State. To be considered for a Fellowship please visit our Faculty Fellowship page.

Cahoy to Join ETS as Faculty Fellow

ETS is thrilled to announce that this Summer Ellysa Stern Cahoy, Assistant Head of Library Learning Services in the Penn State University Libraries, will join ETS as a Faculty Fellow. During her time as a Fellow, she will be exploring the topic of digital literacy acquisition in-depth and developing instructional solutions in collaboration with TLT/ETS staff expert in online content creation, including Digital Commons staff. You can learn more about her and her Fellowship by visiting her Fellowship page. We are all thrilled to have her spending time with us this Summer and we know it will lead to some very interesting outcomes.

Faculty Fellows engage with ETS to integrate technology within emerging educational projects that can be shared and implemented widely throughout Penn State. To be considered for a Fellowship please visit our Faculty Fellowship page.

Dr. Carla Zembal-Saul

During the Summer of 2008, Dr. Carla Zembal-Saul Associate Professor of Education in Science Education, was a resident Faculty Fellow. The focus of her Fellowship centers on the exploration of the PSU blogging platform as a vehicle for student e-portfolios. In particular, we are considering the ways in which we might take full advantage of some of the fundamental aspects of blogging and the richness of the blogging culture to engage Penn State students in professional discourse communities around frameworks and problems of practice associated with their chosen professions. From the perspective of blogs as portfolio, students participation with blogging can both inform their development and provide a means of monitoring their own development along program learning outcomes and personal goals over time.

In cases where this information might be used by programs for accreditation, reporting, and/or self-assessment purposes, we are working to create a mechanism for “capturing” evidence from students’ professional learning blogs at specified points in time across their programs. Think of these as “snapshots” of development. The larger umbrella under which this work falls is that of using digital media to serve as evidence of learning. This project will build on existing research and practice on e-portfolios as a platform for supporting student learning and development.

You can learn more about this project by visiting the project’s page on the ETS Wiki.