A Blended Online Approach for Faculty Development in Online Teaching

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

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

New PolicyRequired Training for Teaching Online

Courses:1.a two-hour Moodle training workshop 2.a two-hour Elluminate workshop 3.a four-week-long, non-credit, blended-online

professional development course

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

Exemptions

• Instructors who provide convincing evidence of equivalent training

• Temporary exemptions granted by the V.P. for Academic Affairs

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

Course Prerequisites

• Introductory training to Moodle & Elluminate • Information Literacy• Willingness to change the course design & pedagogy

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.

Course Requirements

• Synchronous Class Meetings• Readings• Discussion Forum Participation• Course Design & Dev. Project• Course Delivery

Grading Criteria

• I = Incomplete• S = Satisfactory• U = Unsatisfactory• Final grade unavailable

until course delivery is evaluated

Topics of the Course

• Introduction to online learning• Instructional design & development • Interactions in online learning• Assessments • Course content development &

maintenance

Learning Activities Assignments1. 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

Effectiveness of the Training Course

• Significant improvement in course quality

• Positive feedback on this training course in general

• Sample Course (developed by a participant)

Issues and Challenges

• Workload complains• Compensation/Incentives• Resistance from the faculty• Adjuncts vs. full-time faculty• Technology & education

readiness

Future Directions• Training courses of different levels• More individual staff support• Professional learning community• Adaptations as new online courses

are pre-developed

Questions