Supporting Online Faculty through a Sense of Community and Collegiality (original) (raw)
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Building Community in Online Faculty Development
2019
The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to examine current best practices building community in online faculty development (FD). Ongoing participation in pedagogical FD is critical to teaching today due to changing technologies, pedagogical strategies, and increasing numbers of at-risk students. However, competing demands make prioritizing FD challenging. As a result, many institutions are implementing online asynchronous FD offerings. Little research exists on online offerings specifically for faculty with needs and motivations different from students. Particularly, it is important to look at social construction of knowledge through community in online asynchronous FD. This study supplemented the scant literature by interviewing 27 online FD designers from 25 institutions in 14 of US states. This included 14 public and seven private doctoral-granting institutions and four commercial enterprises providing online FD as a service. Next, a four-week online FD course was built to explore the designer recommendations. Thirty-one faculty from 10 US states participated. Pre-and postcourse surveys, course submissions, and post-course interviews were collected. Results indicated successful building of community. Five themes were identified. 1) Participants need opportunities for deliberate practice that incorporate application, feedback, and reflection. 2) Participants seek to customize their experience to their unique backgrounds and needs. 3) Participants desire a learner-centered experience that elicits and values their contributions. 4) Community vi TABLE OF CONTENTS
Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 2009
Online learning is in its infancy compared to other types of learning in the history of academe. Because of its limited history, there is much to be discovered about the ontological, axiological, and epistemological aspects of this technology-driven learning environment. While literature is saturated with online student experiences, and the differences between online and traditional teaching and learning, one area has been relatively unexplored: the relationship between the virtual instructor and his or her institution. This paper discusses findings from a recent dissertation study that, in part, sought to operationalize the construct of collegiality for online instructors. The literature and the study suggest that fostering this connection from the virtual faculty to their institution is incredibly important and it is argued that to do so a Virtual Community of Practice and Faculty Learning Communities should be developed and nurtured.
The purpose of this study was to investigate three constructs that affect online faculty: initial preparation, collegiality, and continued professional development. An increasing number of colleges and universities are responding to the demand for greater learning flexibility and, consequently, offering online and hybrid courses at an increasing rate. Institutions should prepare their online faculty for a new teaching role and a new teaching environment. This study explored what activities and experiences adequately prepare online faculty for their new role in this new environment. In addition, institutions should seek to develop collegial relationships with their online faculty. This study discovered what experiences develop collegial relationships with online faculty. Finally, although faculty members teach from locations around the world, they should have opportunities for professional development. The varying locations provide a challenge for institutions and this study’s findings inform institutions what types of professional development activities meet the needs of online faculty. The end result of the operationalization of these constructs is for a virtual community of practice to be developed and sustained through the experiences and activities that operationalize them. After an extensive review of literature, a clear understanding of these three constructs remained elusive; however, the need to understand them was evident. This Delphi study gathered both qualitative and quantitative data from 30 experienced online faculty members who taught online for multiple institutions in the form of electronic surveys. These online faculty members were asked first to list activities and experiences that are important in these three construct areas, and then rank them in subsequent surveys to discover which activities and experiences were the most important in each area. The findings suggest that online faculty members have different perspectives about their careers, and those perspectives affect their wants and needs in these construct areas. However, what was found is that online faculty members desire adequate preparation, efforts to promote collegiality, and professional development opportunities from the institutions for which they work.
Creating a Supportive Culture for Online Teaching: A Case Study of a Faculty Learning Community
2011
This case study describes the creation of a supportive culture for online teaching at a western university that was transitioning to a new learning management system. The case study highlighted the creation of a faculty learning community as one strategy to address the challenge of faculty working through a change process. The faculty learning community provided a space for the development of best practices in teaching, drawing from the pedagogical experiences of teachers from diverse disciplines. The learning community also provided a venue for expanding the technical knowledge level of faculty members with a range of comfort levels with varied technologies.
Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 2010
This manuscript begins with a synthesis of research on communities, communities of practice (CoPs), and the potential for their development in online forums, while specifically discussing the value of virtual CoPs for educational professionals in higher education. Working within constructivist and sociocultural frameworks, this manuscript addresses how online forums for faculty support can be beneficial in ways distinct from face-to-face environments. Further, this paper presents an argument for the hybridisation of faculty development by suggesting that online forums for collegial interaction are viable and culturally sensitive complements to traditional face-to-face faculty support, socialisation, and mentoring programmes. In conclusion, resources that can assist in designing a hybrid model of faculty development are offered.
Key elements of building online community: Comparing faculty and student perceptions
MERLOT Journal of Online Learning …, 2007
This paper describes survey research of fourteen online courses where instructors and students were asked their perceptions about the challenges and essential elements of community in online classes. Results show that both instructors and students believe building community is very important. The majority of both students and instructors perceived it to be harder to build community online than in traditional classes. Additionally, while the majority of students and instructors both identified the same elements for building online community, there were significant ranking differences. Most striking among the differences was that students ranked instructor modeling as the most important element in building online community, while instructors ranked it fourth. Implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations provided for how instructors can model community behaviors in their online classes.
A Glance at Institutional Support for Faculty Teaching in an Online Learning Environment
A survey of higher education institutions in a 12-state region investigated how they support faculty with the design and development of web-based classes. The literature on best practices guided the creation of the web-based survey questions, which targeted the chief academic affairs officers on each campus or the appropriate delegate. The study found that institutions offer a variety of support services to online faculty, such as requiring training prior to teaching online and including web-based learning in institutional goals and strategic plans. The next step implied by the study findings is for institutions to look at strategies that influence the desired behavior changes among faculty to use the institutional support mechanisms provided. With continued advances in web-based learning, colleges and universities strive to meet the needs and interests of students, faculty, and staff. New instructional technologies have at least one thing in common: the learning curve associated with users becoming adept. Mastery requires significant time and attention. Providing the best quality experiences in a web-based learning environment, including but not limited to learning, requires attention not only to the best practices and newest technologies but also to how institutions support and prepare faculty to accomplish such tasks. This article reports findings from a recent study we conducted that looked at how institutions support faculty with the design and development of web-based classes. The compiled findings provide some insight as to how institutions view online learning and how they support faculty in preparing to deliver online classes. This information may help individual institutions determine where they stand relative to other institutions and their own goals. Ann Taylor and Carol McQuiggan's 2008 article in EQ identified several of the support mechanisms online faculty desire, such as assistance with "converting course materials for online use" and "facilitating online discussion forums" as well as additional less-formal and self-paced learning materials. 1 Our study's findings touch on some of Taylor and McQuiggan's findings, which we consider variables or factors affecting faculty success in the web-based classroom. A few of the many other factors that can affect the design, development, and success of a web-based course include online learner needs, 2 the nurturing of community, 3 highly interactive environments, 4 and classroom climate. 5 Research Design Our study looked at provisions of institutional support for web-based classes in a major region of the United States. We identified 12 states in the region and from them selected 364 institutions of higher education. The main criterion used in identifying participating institutions was that they, at a minimum, offer bachelor's degrees. For institutions that, according to their Carnegie Classification, had several satellite campuses, we chose to include only the home campus in an effort to be more conservative with the sample and minimize validity issues (avoiding multi-counting under the same institutional profile). Of the initial campuses selected, 98 participated in the survey for a participation rate of 27 percent.
Virtual Community of Practice: Connecting Online Adjunct Faculty
2018
There is an increasing trend in higher education to hire adjunct faculty to teach online courses. While faculty at a traditional campus location can meet to collaborate with their peers, globally dispersed faculty, specifically adjuncts, who are teaching online may not be afforded this opportunity. To respond to this concern, the researchers conducted a grant-funded mixed-method study. The researchers created a Virtual Community of Practice (VCoP) to determine whether participation increased sense of belonging among online adjunct faculty. Findings revealed an increase in connection among peers. The results from this study are noteworthy, and research in this area should continue. The landscape of higher education is changing to include more online offerings and more adjunct faculty. The current trend shows an increase in adjunct faculty teaching online courses at institutions across the country (Magda, Poulin, & Clinefelter, 2015), with many of them possibly never visiting their university's campus. According to the
ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2018
Current trends in higher learning indicate an increase in the number of learners who will enroll in online courses. Administrators in higher learning believe distance learning will continue growing rapidly and play a major role in higher learning course offerings. This current trend causes an increased need for the use of online adjunct faculty to meet learner demands. The problem explored in this study was the disconnect online adjunct faculty members feel from the main campus and the limitations in their professional growth opportunities. By exploring the perceptions of online adjunct faculty, this study will assist in removing barriers that may play a role in hurting the quality of instruction for learners and eventually hurt an institution’s reputation. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore what online adjunct faculty members perceive as barriers that cause feelings of disconnect from the main campus and limited professional growth opportunities, and to extend equity theory, job satisfaction theory, and existence, relatedness, growth theory in the online work environment. Participants in the study were six online adjunct faculty members facilitating graduate and undergraduate courses at PhD granting institutions of higher learning regionally accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools within the U.S. This study used an adopted open-ended questionnaire and adopted semi-structured questionnaire to address two research questions. Data analysis revealed six major themes and one minor theme. Results indicated online adjunct faculty differ from their full-time counterparts. Further research should be conducted with adjunct faculty members who facilitate courses in a traditional brick and mortar setting.