As technology transforms the teacher-learner relationship, faculty development programs must be seen as part of the infrastructure needed to serve students of the future as well as those presently enrolled. Underlying this idea is the assumption that future students will seek access at their time and location of choice. Attention must be paid to the needs of diverse student groups. Such outcomes should be identified as the baseline plans are made and linked to formal evaluations. Plans should be revised as conditions change.
Assessment is continual and integrated with other goals and activities on campus.
The bottom line To be effective, a human infrastructure should be part of the total baseline institutional infrastructure. Just as technology is transforming the character of the physical infrastructure used to deliver instruction, so too the human infrastructure is inevitably altered. The student market is no longer the same, sources of information and means for accessing them are new, and the overall teaching-learning paradigm is different. Consequently, faculty development initiatives must be strategically planned and integrated with all other institutional initiatives. A strong human infrastructure is fundamental to the success of the technology-driven transformation of higher education.