A major resource for educators has come to The University of Alabama along with the largest single gift in the history of the Office of Teaching Innovation and Digital Education.
The K. Patricia Cross Academy is a database of videos, blog posts and teaching techniques developed for educators to access free of charge. The website is now part of the UA Teaching Academy (UATA), and a $1 million endowment will sustain the resource in perpetuity.
Dr. K. Patricia Cross was an internationally-known educator and author when, about 20 years ago, she wrote a book on collaborative learning with Dr. Claire Major, the UATA faculty director and Distinguished Teaching Professor in the College of Education, and their colleague Dr. Elizabeth Barkley. “Cross was one of the first people to see the assessment movement in higher education and wrote a book about that, Classroom Assessment Techniques, which is still the best-selling higher education book of all time,” Major said.
Barkley and Major went on to write more books together over the years using Cross’ format.
“They’re short recipes, basically, on how to implement different teaching techniques,” Major said.
Major and Barkley decided to publish some of the content online to prevent barriers to access to the books’ content and teaching techniques. They called the website the K. Patricia Cross Academy in honor of their friend and mentor, and because Cross’ work was foundational to their books and thus the website content.
“We were largely relying on the technique format she pioneered,” Major said.
The Cross Academy offers teaching ideas and methods in small doses. The website now has 100 instructional videos and 100 blog posts.
“We’ve had over 450,000 visitors to the site from all the U.N.-recognized counties,” she said. “It’s been a really well-used resource for higher education faculty.”
Major explained that instructors usually are trained in the area they teach, but they aren’t necessarily taught to be teachers. Major and Barkley’s idea was to give these educators a free, on-demand resource to help them engage their students. The Cross Academy lets faculty access professional development, privately and whenever their schedules allow.
Barkley and Major have spearheaded the academy throughout the years. Now, the collaborative duo has chosen to bring the resource to the UA Teaching Academy.
UATA was established in 2023 under UA’s Office of Teaching Innovation and Digital Education as an instructional resource hub and innovation center to support faculty and instructors at the University. Major brought the idea to move the Cross Academy to UA to Dr. Robert Hayes, associate provost of OTIDE.
Hayes said, “It really is exciting, and it aligns well with some of the goals that we have for the UA Teaching Academy. We want to reach people and put best practices for teaching in their hands because we see that interconnectedness with student success.”
The $1 million endowment will sustain the resource’s longevity, and Hayes believes that OTIDE’s resources can help the Cross Academy further expand and grow. The endowment directly advances the program and will fund Cross Scholars who will continue to add new videos and blog posts to the website. OTIDE’s resources are integral to its technical support.
“With this change, the Cross Academy will constantly be refreshed. It won’t be a stagnant site,” Major said. “It will continue to grow and morph into new versions of itself.”
The Cross Scholars will be selected from UA faculty who want to help other educators through professional development. The scholars will document use of existing techniques in their classes. Major hopes that the scholars will have their own ideas to help the site evolve.
“The Cross Scholars will be driving the direction and building the content and keeping it going, keeping it a robust and rich resource for faculty,” she said.
Dr. Jim Dalton, UA executive vice president and provost, is thrilled about the new addition to the University and how it can impact the education students receive.
“The University of Alabama is committed to the success of our faculty,” Dalton said. “The sustained support provided by this endowment will have a lasting impact, ensuring our faculty has ongoing access to innovative teaching methods that enable them to excel and continue elevating the UA academic environment for our students.”
Major said her team is working on integrating an activity bank into the website. “These will be brief professional development activities for faculty to help them develop content they can use in their classes or they can use in dossiers for promotion and tenure,” Major said.
The gift is intended to help preserve Pat Cross’ legacy as well as to provide faculty with a robust, innovative, online faculty development resource in perpetuity. During the Mike and Kathy Mouron Rising Tide Matching Gift Challenge, the Mourons promised a $1 million match to the initial gift. Their generosity provides opportunities for further growth and innovation of this important resource. The OTIDE team is extremely optimistic about the future of the Cross Academy within the UA Teaching Academy. “We believe it will bring positive outcomes for The University of Alabama for years to come,” Hayes said.