We also asked them for advice they would give to others who are about to embark on this path--things they would have appreciated knowing before they got started. Drawing on their responses to these questions, we present JJC faculty insights and advice on how to implement the kind of learning environments they have developed. We start with resource issues, which can pose major problems for many faculty. We then consider processes that the JJC bricoleurs believe are crucial for getting going.

We will also consider a set of issues that have more to do with the cultural factors that shape faculty teaching practices. We have chosen to organize these latter issues under the header, "Managing the Dissolution of the 'Atlas Complex'." We take this term from a useful article entitled, "Teachers and Learning Groups: Dissolution of the Atlas Complex," written by Donald Finkel and Stephen Monk (1983). Finkel and Monk use this term to identify a constellation of implementation issues that are experienced by nearly all the faculty we know who are seeking to help students take more responsibility for their own learning.

A. Resources

JJC instructor comments and advice on resources are divided into two sections: personal resources and institutional resources. Personal resources address the "internal" qualities or personality traits needed to implement these innovative learning environments. Institutional resources deal with "external" necessities--money, space, time, software, and support staff.

1. Personal Resources
We were drawn to the faculty bricoleurs at JJC because of the initiative, leadership, and creativity they showed in turning to new combinations of learning activities--some of which are computer-based--to address concerns about their students' academic performance and values. We wanted to know what it took for them to get started and then keep going down this path. One way JJC people answered us was to describe certain personality traits. In broad brush strokes, they painted a picture of people who enjoy innovation, are willing to take risks, and have vision, tenacity, energy, enthusiasm, and self-confidence. These features are consistent with those identified as characteristic of "innovators" (or "pioneers") and "early adapters" in research on the diffusion of innovation.⁷

Enjoy Innovation. We noticed that the words toys and gadgets surfaced occasionally when Curt, Bill, Marie, or Mike described themselves or each other. Mike, for example, describes himself as "a gadget person and a computer sort of person." Scott, the campus web-master, waxed eloquent about the obvious delight that Curt takes in trying new things. "Curt really likes the toys and trying new and different things," he told us. "When he sees new things at a conference, he comes back saying, 'Can we implement this, can we do this?'" Scott also mentioned how "Curt's desire to try new things" led him to create alliances with several companies, thereby participating in an emerging information-age practice called "creator/consumer blurring."⁸ This enabled them to work with prototype equipment, equipment that "wasn't available anyplace else." As Scott put it, "We ended up essentially beta testing this equipment and adapting it into the curriculum."

Willing to Take Risks. People who take pleasure in trying new equipment are easier to find, however, than people who are willing to take substantial risks in the way they use this equipment. Mike pointed out, for example, that faculty "are so used to being the authority that we tend not to wander into areas that we are not comfortable with." It's therefore imperative that, in order to initiate change, people be "willing to make the effort and willing to go through the learning curve that [they] have to go through...to learn to use the technology and learn the applications and learn to supplant what they already do with the improved things that you can do with technology."

Have Vision, Drive, Enthusiasm, Tenacity, and Self-confidence. JJC people had much to say about the importance of being a person of vision; that is, someone who thinks of possibilities and imagines better alternatives.^a Curt believes that that vision is something easily ignited in early adapters, if only they are exposed to the new possibilities. But vision may not be enough. Drive and enthusiasm^b are also required, as are good health and a high energy level. As he put it, "[Because] there are some challenges when you implement, you need to have a high energy level. People probably typically don't say that. You should be in fairly good health because if you're sick and so forth, it really can be difficult to do all the extra work."

Vision, drive, enthusiasm and health are still not sufficient, however, especially for the pioneers. As J.D. Ross, the president of JJC, pointed out, implementation also takes "creativity and hard work." Curt, he explained, "had some wonderful ideas, but frankly, they would have never been implemented if he had relied solely on institutional resources. He needed to go out and seek the grants to make it happen."

J.D. Ross's remarks about creativity and hard work point clearly to another very important characteristic: tenacity.^c

The JJC people we talked with emphasized one more very interesting personal characteristic that early adapters need: self-confidence. Geoff, who provides technical support to Curt and Bill, astutely observed that adapters must have confidence^d that their way of moving down a path of innovation, while different than the pioneers', is also good. "Adapters," he explained, "can't take their esteem from a pioneer like Hieggelke." Bill echoed this, commenting on how important it is for adapters to feel comfortable putting together their own version of the innovation and developing their own "innovator's voice" that is independent of that of the pioneers. "I've gone through the workshops that Curt holds, to see what can be done ," he explained. "You start, you get more comfortable, you modify things on your own, you don't do some of the things, you know. And this makes you feel a lot more comfortable."

2. Institutional Resources
The JJC faculty advised us, based on their experience, that it would be helpful if we passed along information and advice on institutional resources. "You need support from the administration, support from the department, and support from instructors and the students," said Mike. Getting that kind of support "is difficult, and the full transition is going to take a lot of time because there are a lot of impediments to it--economic, personality, and administrative impediments." For the complete discussion of the types and importance of various institutional resources that the JJC bricoleurs found necessary and how they procured them, see Discussion 6.

B. Processes for Getting Going: How Not to Reinvent the Wheel

No less critical than personal and institutional resources is knowledge about how to actually implement innovative learning activities in your courses. We know that every faculty member develops his or her own style and will only rarely simply "adopt" a new approach--this characteristic of faculty is one of the greatest strengths of higher education. At the same time, we suspect that, with respect to knowledge about how to implement new learning activities, the vast majority of faculty innovators and early adapters end up "reinventing the wheel," and that, quite frankly, is a poor use of faculty time and effort. With this point in mind, we asked the JJC bricoleurs for their advice on "getting going."

1. Establishing Faculty Learning Groups: Workshops and Networking
The JJC bricoleurs all knew that, without opportunities to network with faculty peers while implementing new computer-dependent and computer-independent learning activities, they would have struggled more and probably been less successful. All of the faculty strongly advised others to start this networking process by attending workshops, as workshops offer valuable opportunities to get your hands on the hardware and software as well as to network with colleagues.

Marie noted that "the more you can network with people, the better off you are." She has been working with a group, under an "Adapt and Adopt" NSF grant, to adapt Modular Chemistry materials. "It is sometimes hard to start something brand new on your own," she pointed out, "where nobody else in the school is really interested. But when you are working as part of the group, like I am right now with some of these other community colleges, you get a lot of support to go ahead and do something. And then, even if there isn't anybody at your particular school to discuss the issues with, you have somebody else to talk with and that has made a big difference."

Bill had much to say, as well, on the benefit of networking.^e He explained that getting involved in a community of folks across the nation who are trying out these new approaches keeps him motivated.

Curt, too, is very clear on the value of workshops. He recommends that "the first thing faculty interested in these methods need to do is go to a workshop to get some preliminary experience with the technology." But, he quickly added, it can't be just any workshop. The workshop should be "something more than a day long--so you can get some hands-on experience. You have to make sure that you're not just watching someone else demonstrate it. You have to do it yourself." Curt told us that professional development workshops for faculty "have to be hands-on, not demo," because "faculty members are just like students" --they need to have the participatory experience.^f For a lengthier discussion of the merits of networking, both nationally and locally, see Discussion 7.

2. "One Thing at a Time"
Geoff, who for years has been observing the way Bill and Marie have adapted methods from Curt, observed that "the adapters tend to pick things up a little bit at a time." Curt developed on Geoff's point, explaining that if you are just getting going, it is wise to alternate learning to use new technology with changing your curriculum, rather than to work on both simultaneously. For this alternating strategy to work, however, it is necessary to have good, tested curricular materials that you can rely on while in your "focus on technology" stage. "That allows you to focus more on implementing the technology," Curt explained. "Then you come back and deal with curriculum materials, after you've got the technology under control."

In other words, trying to do too much, too fast--trying to learn new technologies and processes while concurrently implementing them into a curriculum--can be overwhelming. Curt points out that "today, implementers have a chance to take some other materials and use them and then adapt them."

Marie told us how she is doing just that. Initially, she focused on how the availability of technology-rich curriculum materials that were tested by colleagues whom she trusts has really helped her get going with these new methods. Using tested materials can work well, once you understand these new methods, even if you don't have the chance to try them out in workshops. "We have been able to buy a workbook," Marie explained, "where the lessons are set up and all we have to do is adapt them a little bit to our needs and pick out what we want to do. It works great because a lot of times, in two-year schools, we have pretty big class loads so there is not a lot of time to develop your own handouts and those kinds of things." Moreover, she continued, using tested materials gives you "an idea of how other people are doing things. This helps if you don't get a change to go to a lot of meetings to learn how to actually implement these methods."

Now Marie is focusing on technology, rather than on curriculum. She is able to do this not only because she has access to good curricular materials that work with the technology, but also because she has adjusted to the shift away from the use of lecture. In the past, when she relied heavily on lecture as a teaching method, "I focused on my presentation--what the content was, making everything as logical as I could, maybe simplifying some things." In implementing technology into her teaching, however, her focus has changed:

Now when I prepare, what I focus on is, "Is this web site going to work for me? Am I going to be able to access the right part of the CD-ROM when I do this demonstration?" So I spend more preparation time making sure that I can effectively use the technology than actually preparing the content. And I think maybe part of that, too, is that I have been doing the content for such a long time now that it is not as much of an issue. More of my preparation time is spent looking for different ways to use the technology and making sure it is going to work if I do use it a particular way.

C. Managing the Dissolution of the "Atlas Complex"

A growing number of science, math, and engineering instructors are acting on the conviction that their courses need to be designed in ways that help students take more responsibility for their own learning. This is the first teaching principle that informs the JJC bricoleurs' decisions about which learning activities to use in their courses. Having the necessary internal and external resources isn't all you need to implement these new activities. In addition, you must be willing to forego old patterns and try new ways of interacting with your students. Most faculty and students--including those featured in this case study--bring to their courses complex assumptions about teacher and student roles, plus a whole set of social and psychological habits associated with these roles, that present formidable barriers to implementing this teaching philosophy. Donald Finkel and Stephen Monk summed it nicely with their phrase, the "Atlas complex" (see Resource F).

Encouraging students to take more responsibility for their own learning requires faculty to relinquish some responsibility--in other words to abandon the notion that they must, like Atlas, bear the weight of the entire classroom world on their shoulders. Breaking out of the Atlas complex involves a willingness to step aside from the authority and power of center-stage and a desire to empower students. It requires asking questions instead of providing answers, listening instead of talking, and feeling comfortable with student confusion instead of rushing to fix things. Below, Curt describes the challenges he faces as he makes the transition from "expert provider" to "guide on the side":

Curt: I'm also applying alternative types of learning strategies in the classroom, like Ranking Tasks and some of the other things we do, when students go to the blackboard and have to explain what they're doing and so forth in sort of a Socratic dialogue. What I do in the classroom is quite different because I'm not preparing a lecture. It's very intense, because I have to be listening all the time and also thinking about the next question I want to pose to them that moves them from that point to the next point. That's the challenging thing--trying to think ahead at the same time I'm trying to listen to what they're saying. The real difficulty for me is that sometimes I'm trying to get something out ahead and I don't pay close enough attention to the students, so I have to have them repeat [a comment] or clarify it. And they don't necessarily repeat it--sometimes you hear them change what they said.

Susan: There's an accidental learning opportunity, right?

Curt: Right. For a faculty member trying to do this, one of the challenges is to realize that you have to not just give the answer all the time. You've got to be willing to give [power] over to the students. You saw me go around the classroom asking, "What do you think? Does anyone want to explain why, compared to what someone else said?"

Susan: I saw a little bit of twisting in the wind there.

Curt: Yeah. Because I want people to have the chance to think for themselves and wrestle with ambiguity, because most of the time things aren't necessarily black or white.

Susan: You didn't give them any clues either. You'd hear one answer and you'd sort of nod and the next would speak and you'd sort of nod and what they said was different.

Curt: Right, I was trying to be noncommittal because I want them to be willing to say why they think they're right, not what they think I want to hear.

Both students and faculty at JJC struggled as the faculty worked to dissolve the bonds of the traditional learning roles. As Finkel and Monk suggest, it is difficult for faculty to step aside from their role as central figure in the classroom and to relinquish full responsibility for all that goes on in a course. It is equally hard for students, for they have spent a lifetime as recipients of the information provided by "experts" who evaluate student mastery of a body of knowledge by assessing how well they give it back on exams. Rarely are students asked to be active, to challenge an instructor, to make connections among disparate ideas and to apply information in creative ways. When they are suddenly required to do so, they often resist. It is no surprise, then, that Curt's effort to shift the focus of his class away from himself isn't always appreciated or understood by students. Here, one of the students describes Curt's efforts to elicit participation from every student in the class and their subsequent confusion, while a second student talks about seeking help from another instructor because of his frustration at Curt's reluctance to provide answers.

Nick: He focuses more on the concepts than the mathematics.... A lot of times he won't just say the right or wrong answer. Instead, before class he'll give little experiments that show us about force or other physics concepts. He'll make a presentation about it, and then he'll ask us questions about it, and we'll be confused. If there are discrepancies in the class, he'll ask everybody about it, and then he'll prove it by doing something.

Andy: Several times I went to him before class and asked him a question, but he never really helped with it. So I'd ask my physics teacher or my differential equations teacher--he helps me more than anything. He'll show you the dynamics of the problem and stuff whereas Dr. H is just [not as willing to do that]... even during office hours.... That kind of irritates me. It's different when you come in just one-on-one for help and you don't get it.

No teaching approach is going to work for every student all the time. At the beginning of the following passage, some students express similar complaints they have about Curt, who is reluctant to spoon feed answers to them, even when one-on-one. The students feel that the one-on-one venue should be the place where instructors provide quicker relief for their frustration than they do in the classroom. However, by the end of the passage, Nick and Steve reveal their awareness of Curt's teaching philosophy and express how that philosophy guides his one-on-one interactions with them. It is clear from Steve's final comment that even shy students, for whom speaking up doesn't come easily, ultimately discover that they need to commit themselves to taking intellectual risks, because doing so provides a more fruitful learning experience and is "a good way to think."

Paul: Doctor H. is very reluctant to give one-on-one assistance. His approach is that if you're going to learn it and it's going to stick, you've got to figure it out by yourself.

Nick: I made an appointment with him once. He worked out some problems with me but only as long as I did the problems. He would go through and say, "Now here's what you did wrong." But he wouldn't just sit down and work problems out with me.

Andy: We waste a lot of time going around the classroom, to be honest with you, because we have no pull on the question. He's like, "What do you think?" And we'll just go around, "Yeah, I agree. No, I don't agree." None of us knows the answer. We're just guessing. It's better for the professor to just come out and say it and we write it down and learn it.

Nick: I think he just wants us to form an opinion and think about something, analyze what we're doing, form an opinion right or wrong, just say it. And then we'll find out the right answer.

Steve: If you go further in engineering, it's not up to the teacher, it's up to the student. If you can't sit down and check on your own, you're going to need to make some changes. If you're somebody who has a more passive personality, you're just going to sit back, wait and see. But you can't do that. I have a more passive personality, and it made me commit. It made me see thought processes. Even if you get the wrong answer sometimes, it still may be a good way to think. You have to be an independent learner.

Faculty members may feel more secure because they understand the science, so the technology is less of an obstacle. But they have to see how the technology can enhance the teaching, [and] enhance the learning of their students. So try to go to a workshop where there's no more than two or three people per computer. Two is better than three when you're learning how to use this stuff because you need the hands-on real experience.