Discussions

Your Name and Title: Marla Cartwright, Faculty Developer

School or Organization Name: Kaplan University Online

Co-Presenter Name(s): Erica Ellsworth, Faculty Developer

Area of the World from Which You Will Present: United States

Language in Which You Will Present: English

Target Audience(s): Faculty, Department chairs, Deans and other administrators, faculty trainers

Short Session Description (one line): How to create connections for remote faculty members so they feel a part of the university community as a whole, which includes our remote faculty and staff working at international locations.

Full Session Description (as long as you would like):

Remote employees, particularly, remote faculty members and instructors can sometimes feel disconnected from their colleagues and supervisors. In response to this, two years ago, Kaplan University launched an internal campaign to support our core values by establishing a group of employee volunteers ("The Difference Makers") who actively build community in the workplace for both ground and remote employees spanning locations across the United States and globally around the world.

While nearly a dozen of these volunteer groups serve the ground locations, one unique aspect of this campaign is the virtual group, "The Virtual Difference Makers" whose mission is to outreach to over 4,000 remote employees, encompassing full-time faculty, part-time faculty, tutors, administrators and any other telecommuting employee.

This volunteer group (itself comprised of full and part time employees ranging from faculty to administrative and executive staff as well as clinical staff) has faced challenges of not only conducting effective outreach for virtual employees, but working effectively as a remote team themselves.

By adapting ground-based activities as well as creating online-only activities,this group has increased communication and participation from virtual employees with plans to launch a Healthy 2015 campaign, as a continuation of our monthly live Wellness presentations over the last 2 years. We also plan to continue growth in charitable work, and engage all virtual employees in continuing to make Kaplan a "Great Place" for our staff, administration and faculty members. In recognition of this group's work, the Virtual Difference Makers received one of Kaplan University's highest honors, The Kaplan Way Leadership Award for 2013.