We’re taking a look at the Instructional Design Services department one member at a time, highlighting new ideas in instructional technology and what each IDS member can do for MCC instructors.
John McAdam
Contact John if you’re interested in: Experimenting with new ways of using technology for learning.
John has been at Metropolitan Community College for almost 30 years. He began his career teaching at the high-school level in Melbourne, Australia, where his school’s “classrooms without walls” became an innovative showcase for teaching technology and recognizing learner profiles. He has a master’s degree in instructional technology and has done graduate work in library science. He began working for MCC as a librarian at the Elkhorn Valley Campus and later joined “Instructional Media Production,” which was just beginning work to interlink campus locations for televised distance learning. Here’s a brief interview with him on how IDS helps MCC instructors.
What does IDS do for instructors?
We’re a ‘skunkworks’ for introducing learning technologies—we provide a safe haven for faculty to explore and not consider failure but see to see opportunities. We provide soft shoulders for faculty to lean on. We provide visioning and new ideas, but also support for faculty in establishing technology uses and creating learning objects.
What is your specific role within IDS?
We’re all encouraging staff to learn, explore, investigate and take risk. We want to establish important partnerships with faculty—to coax them—and to provide the supplies to do that.
I would like to think that I challenge the IDS people to think different—to realize that the status quo isn’t going to stay, and we can’t remain in a cocoon. What anybody did four years ago, he ain’t going to be doing that in the future.
We have to support the mission of the college—we’re not just the ‘Apple of Metro.’ Students come here for a certain reason and we have to support their learning goals. Overall, we’re helping the college adapt to a changing technological environment.
jmcadam@mccneb.edu; 402-457-2869
Instructional Design Services at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Neb. Visit our department resource site.
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