A Blended Online Approach for Faculty Development in Online Teaching
- 1. A Blended Online Approach for Faculty Development in Online Teaching Feng Wang, Ph.D. Director of Distance Education Sloan-C Conference 2009 Newburgh, New York
- 2. Mount Saint Mary College Liberal-arts college, with about 2,600 enrollments Graduate programs in Education, Nursing, & Business Mid-Hudson River Area, New York 150 online courses each year First blended online program in 2010
- 3. New Policy Required Training for Teaching Online Courses: a two-hour Moodle training workshop a two-hour Elluminate workshop a four-week-long, non-credit, blended-online professional development course
- 4. Incentives Significantly higher pay scale for teaching online courses $100 stipend Multiple free materials, useful tips, and principles for online teaching Consultation support from the Distance Ed. staff
- 5. Exemptions Instructors who provide convincing evidence of equivalent training Temporary exemptions granted by the V.P. for Academic Affairs
- 6. The Professional Development Course: “Teaching and Learning Online” Intensive training over 4+ weeks Blended online (f2f, synchronous online, & asynchronous online) Highly practical—Aimed to help faculty (re)design and teach their online courses Peer review & feedback
- 7. Course Prerequisites Introductory training to Moodle & Elluminate Information Literacy Willingness to change the course design & pedagogy
- 8. Course Textbooks Smith, R. M. (2008). Conquering the content: A step-by-step guide to online course design . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Finkelstein, J. (2006). Learning in real time: Synchronous teaching and learning online . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
- 9. Course Requirements Synchronous Class Meetings Readings Discussion Forum Participation Course Design & Dev. Project Course Delivery
- 10. Grading Criteria I = Incomplete S = Satisfactory U = Unsatisfactory Final grade unavailable until course delivery is evaluated
- 11. Topics of the Course Introduction to online learning Instructional design & development Interactions in online learning Assessments Course content development & maintenance
- 12. Learning Activities Assignments 1. Introduction Course overview Introduction to online learning Reading discussion Autobiography Draft syllabus 2. Instructional Design & Dev. The process of systematic instructional design Development of a course outline Reading discussion Course overview, goals, and outline 3. Interactions Synchronous online learning Design of discussion forums Collaborative activities Reading discussion Discussion forum questions Collaborative activities One module of your course 4. Assessments Assessment development Final presentation preparation Reading discussion Assessments Final presentation prep 5. Final Presentations & Content Dev. Course content development and maintenance Final presentations Final reflection Peer feedback on courses Anonymous course evaluation
- 13. Effectiveness of the Training Course Significant improvement in course quality Positive feedback on this training course in general Sample Course (developed by a participant)
- 14. Issues and Challenges Workload complains Compensation/Incentives Resistance from the faculty Adjuncts vs. full-time faculty Technology & education readiness
- 15. Future Directions Training courses of different levels More individual staff support Professional learning community Adaptations as new online courses are pre-developed
- 16. Questions