Effective Communication Skills for an Academic Technology Coach

The presentation emphasizes the critical role of effective communication for academic technology coaches, highlighting that strong skills in listening, explaining, and engaging are essential for integrating technology into teaching. The speaker, an academic technology coach at Tennessee State University, discusses the importance of adapting teaching methods to diverse learning styles and fostering cultural competence. The presentation also addresses the need for continuous evolution in teaching practices to keep pace with technological advancements and underscores the impact of good communication on student success and future career readiness. Key references include works by Dr. Matthew Thor and Alison Littlejohn on the integration of soft skills in education.

• Effective communication is crucial for academic technology coaches to connect with instructors and students.
• Strong skills in listening, explaining, and engaging others are essential for leveraging digital tools.
• Good communication skills help faculty and staff embrace emerging resources and teach effectively.

"Without strong skills in listening, explaining, and engaging others, all of the best digital tools in the world won't help us connect our instructors, our students in a way that levels up everyone's communication and collaboration."

• Emphasizes the necessity of communication skills to enhance the use of digital tools in educational settings.

"With technology, everyone becomes a student. Without effective communication skills and training, our faculty and staff are unable to embrace emerging resources and effectively teach their students."

• Highlights the universal need for communication skills in adapting to new technologies.

• Academic technology coaches engage with faculty across various disciplines to teach emerging technologies.
• Coaches encounter different types of learners: receptive, curious, and cautious.
• Identifying the proper communication technique is crucial for effective teaching.

"I engage with the faculty and all of the disciplines, and I teach emerging technology for use in their classroom. I encountered the receptive teacher and learner, I encounter the Curious teacher and learner, I also encountered the cautious teacher and learner."

• Describes the diverse interactions and the need for tailored communication strategies.

"Identifying the proper communication technique can be an open or closed door for the new way of teaching."

• Stresses the importance of choosing the right communication method to facilitate learning.

• Good communication skills are essential in the teaching environment to bridge the gap between technology and education.
• Effective communication impacts students' learning experiences positively.
• Communication skills can indirectly become educational tools for students.

"There are many important factors to having good communication and soft skills when working as an academic technology coach in a university."

• Underlines the significance of communication skills in the academic setting.

"These skills can be indirectly indirectly Educational Tools for students that they may use in the future."

• Indicates that students may adopt these communication skills for future use in various contexts.

• Students benefit from instructors who possess strong communication skills.
• Effective communication helps students understand and apply new technologies.
• Students may carry these skills into their careers and further education.

"By me teaching and applying different communication skills, a student may adapt to those skills and then when they step into an environment of teaching and learning, they apply those skills to how they teach or provide assistance to another student or in their career field or in additional classes."

• Explains how students can internalize and utilize communication skills in their future endeavors.

• Effective communication is indispensable for academic technology coaches.
• Strong communication skills enhance the teaching and learning experience.
• Both faculty and students benefit from improved communication techniques.

"The importance of good communication skills in technology and in the teaching environment cannot be overstated."

• Summarizes the critical role of communication skills in educational settings.

"Bridging the gap between communication and technology is essential for effective teaching and learning."

• Reinforces the necessity of integrating communication skills with technological advancements.

"The impact of good communication skills from the student perspective is profound, as it shapes their future learning and professional experiences."

• Highlights the long-term benefits of effective communication for students.

• Instructors' focus on technical versus soft skills varies based on their views of their role and comfort level in teaching communication and teamwork.
• The approach to teaching these skills can be highly dependent on the program and curriculum structure.
• Adapting the curriculum to incorporate different soft skills and communication techniques is crucial.

"He finds that instructors varied in how much they focus on technical versus soft skills based on their views of their role and their comfort level in teaching communication and teamwork."

• The balance between technical and soft skills is influenced by instructors' personal teaching philosophies and comfort levels.

• Understanding that every learner is different is essential for effective teaching.
• Identifying different learning characteristics, such as hands-on learners, book learners, and procedural learners, is important.
• A rigid curriculum may fail to address the needs of all students.

"It’s important when teaching in curriculum to understand that everyone does not learn the same way so if you have a very, very cutthroat or straightforward curriculum you may fail a student."

• Flexibility in teaching methods is necessary to accommodate diverse learning styles.

• Instructors recognize the importance of soft skills like communication and teamwork for students' future careers.
• Employers demand these skills, making them critical for students to learn.

"Instructors felt these skills were important for students' future jobs and recognize the demand from employers."

• Soft skills are essential for career readiness and meet employer expectations.

• Effective communication requires understanding different learning styles and adjusting teaching methods accordingly.
• Assessments and surveys can help gain insights into how to engage learners better.
• Modeling strong communication should extend beyond the classroom.

"Effective communication requires understanding those different learning styles and adjusting teaching methods accordingly."

• Adapting communication strategies to fit various learning styles enhances teaching effectiveness.

"Modeling strong communication is important so that would be not just in the classroom but outside of the classroom."

• Teachers should consistently demonstrate good communication practices in all interactions.

• Cultural competence is vital for creating inclusive learning environments.
• Understanding the cultural backgrounds of students helps in tailoring the learning experience.

"Building cultural competence is important for inclusive learning environments with all the students."

• Inclusivity in education requires acknowledging and respecting cultural diversity.

• Many academic staff prefer to teach in the traditional ways they were taught, resisting new instructional strategies.
• Sticking to outdated syllabi can hinder the effectiveness of teaching in the modern technological landscape.

"Most academic staff want to teach the way they have been taught in the past rather than adopting new instructional strategies."

• Resistance to change can limit the adoption of effective, modern teaching practices.

"You have teachers that have never changed their syllabus. It is the exact same syllabus, and with all of the new technology and all the things that are emerging out here, if you do it the exact same way you will fail."

• Updating teaching materials and methods is necessary to stay relevant and effective in a rapidly changing educational environment.

• Importance of Adapting to Change: Emphasizes that sticking to traditional methods in a rapidly evolving world leads to failure. It's crucial to evolve with new trends and technologies.
• Integration of Artificial Intelligence: Highlights the push for AI in teaching to engage and personalize learning experiences for students and faculty.
• Role of Technology Coaches: Technology coaches must effectively communicate new instructional strategies and technologies to academic staff.

"If you do it the same way that you have always done it, you will fail because the world is emerging so you have to make sure that you're emerging with the world and catching on to the new things that are going on."

• Sticking to old methods in a changing world leads to failure; adapting to new trends is essential.

"One of those teaching methods that we use right down here in the smart Innovation Center is artificial intelligence and it's something that we really push because we're trying to get all of the faculty and teachers and the Departments to understand that embracing this new technology will put you a step forward in being able to engage and personalize with our students and our faculty."

• AI is emphasized as a key method to engage and personalize learning for both students and faculty.

"A technology coach needs to effectively communicate those things with the academic staff with new instructional strategies and technologies in a way that supports those focuses."

• Technology coaches play a crucial role in communicating new instructional strategies and technologies to the academic staff.

• Professional Development Courses: The Smart Innovation Center offers professional development courses and developmental webinars on AI.
• Open Forums for Discussion: Provides opportunities for faculty, teachers, and students to discuss changes in curriculum and teaching frameworks.
• Raising Awareness and Gaining Support: Emphasizes the need to raise awareness of student learning and gain staff support for effective change.

"In our smart Center, we do professional development courses. We also do courses where we bring out our provos and she does different developmental webinars on artificial intelligence."

• Professional development courses and webinars on AI are provided to faculty and staff.

"We are putting our Learners who would be our teachers, our faculty, and our students in a space that actually provides them the opportunity to have an open forum and discuss the changes in what could happen to curriculum."

• Open forums are created for discussing potential curriculum changes.

"The hardest thing about change is if no one has support behind you. So if we are wanting to change the environment and change the way that we go about handling things, if we don't have the support of the staff behind us and an understanding of what the staff is giving and what the staff needs, we can't really put that change out."

• Gaining staff support is crucial for implementing effective change.

• Impact on Teaching and Learning: Good communication skills are essential for teaching and learning, leading to positive outcomes.
• Enhancing Communication Abilities: Coaches work with academic staff to enhance their communication skills and help instructors strengthen students' communication abilities.

"Let's talk about the impact of good communication skills while teaching from the student or learner's perspective. So as coaches, we work with the academic staff, and they likely need to enhance their communication abilities as well as help instructors incorporate ways to strengthen students' communication which will then Garner positive outcomes."

• Good communication skills are vital for teaching, leading to positive outcomes for students and staff.

• Integrating traditional curriculum with modern communication methods enhances student communication abilities.
• Active listening and engagement through online discussions, presentations, and multimedia projects complement classroom interactions.

"Providing a blended model of teaching and using student and communication skills was more effective in improving student communication abilities."

• Blended teaching models combining old and new methods are more effective in enhancing communication skills.

"Integrating forms of active listening and engagement such as online discussions, presentations, multimedia projects to complement classroom interactions were all important as well."

• Active listening and various forms of engagement are crucial in the blended teaching model.

• Active listening involves taking time to understand others before providing feedback.
• It fosters a productive environment by preventing unproductive exchanges.

"I take a moment to actively listen to everybody and what everybody's doing and I survey what's going on then I provide my feedback once I've provided my feedback I then ask for feedback back."

• Active listening involves understanding others' viewpoints before giving and receiving feedback.

"A lot of times if we're all talking or we're all going at each other we get nothing done."

• Without active listening, discussions can become unproductive.

• Online tools can supplement face-to-face teaching, providing additional practice and feedback.
• Organizational and administrative tools are essential for monitoring progress and success.

"Demonstrating online tools and strategies that can supplement face-to-face teaching to provide additional practices and feedback for developing communication is important."

• Online tools enhance face-to-face teaching by offering extra practice and feedback.

"I am a person that's big on forms, I am a person that's big on data, I am a person that is big on applying organization and administration."

• Data and organizational tools are crucial for monitoring and measuring success.

• Embracing new technologies and methods is necessary for progress.
• Traditional methods should be complemented with modern tools for effective teaching.

"It's important to break out of what are the usual or what is your tradition and step into a new light of things with technology."

• Moving beyond traditional methods to embrace technology is essential for effective teaching.

• Demonstrating concrete activities and assessments helps in developing communication skills.
• Coaches should provide reliable resources that extend classroom learning.

"Demonstrating example activities and assessments is important so coaches communication skills are leveraged when they show concrete ways online tools can extend the classroom to develop skills like communication."

• Example activities and assessments are vital for leveraging communication skills through online tools.

• Technology is secondary to effective communication in teaching.
• Clear explanations and inclusive engagement are more valuable than technological tools.

"While technology continues to rapidly evolve the most important apps we have is our effective communication."

• Effective communication remains the most crucial tool despite technological advancements.

"Without taking the time to really listen to each other, explain concepts clearly, and engage students in an inclusive way all that technology is just an expensive paperweight."

• Without effective communication, technological tools are ineffective.

• Communication techniques can have a lasting impact on students.
• Continuous improvement of communication skills is essential for educators.

"The techniques we use to communicate complex topics in relatable ways could end up influencing students long after they've forgotten the details of whatever the new program is that we taught them."

• Effective communication techniques can leave a lasting impression on students.

"Let's keep sharpening our communication skills to help our learners level up whether that's mastering the latest educational innovations or just feeling comfortable speaking up in class."

• Continuous improvement of communication skills is crucial for helping learners progress.

• The presentation concludes with an invitation for questions and further engagement.
• Emphasis on the importance of communication skills in educational settings.

"So that concludes my presentation if you actually have any questions or concerns it actually should give you an option in your phone that you could possibly type in a question or actually take your question as well in person."

• The presentation ends with an open invitation for questions, highlighting the importance of ongoing engagement and communication.