Discovering What Faculty REALLY Need to Know about Teaching Online

The Pennsylvania State University
Discovering What Faculty
REALLY Need to Know
about Teaching Online

Ann Luck & Carol McQuiggan
The Pennsylvania State University

22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning 2
August 2-4, 2006 2

A Little Background… Research Questions
Lots of groups and individuals doing faculty Q1: With what aspects of teaching online do faculty
development at Penn State, but no coordination need assistance?
Faculty development efforts tend to be our “best Q2: What types of professional development
guess” experiences are needed by online faculty?
Traditionally low participation Q3: What format should these professional
development experiences take to best meet faculty
More and more “decentralized” distance needs?
learning development, but no resources to
Q4: What incentive(s) do faculty wish to receive in
support return for participating in a professional
Want to develop faculty resources that can be development experience that is focused on teaching
used by anyone at PSU in multiple ways! online?
22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning 22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning 4
August 2-4, 2006 3 August 2-4, 2006 4

The Survey Instrument Target Population
Web-based Higher education faculty who have taught at
32 items in 3 parts: least one completely online course at PSU
1. Online teaching experience(s) 260 World Campus faculty
2. Professional development experience(s) 237 Usable e-mail addresses
3. Demographics 68 Surveys returned
28 multiple-choice type questions; 4 open- Response rate of 28.7%
ended Sample closely reflects population

22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning 5 22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning 6
August 2-4, 2006 5 August 2-4, 2006 6

1

What Made Online Teaching
Who are our online faculty?
Experience Positive?
16 15
Teaching at college level more than 5 years (n=53; 78%)
14
12 10
Rank of Asst. Prof. or lower 36-55 years old 10
(n=34; 51.5%) (n=44; 64.7%) 8 7 7
6 5
Not on tenure track (n=39; 58%) 4 3
Full-time
or already tenured (n=26; 39%) (n=54; 80.6%) 2
0
Have taught more than one

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(n=40; 81.6%) Note: Survey respondents (19) who taught 5 or more online courses not included in this data

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August 2-4, 2006 7 August 2-4, 2006 8

What Made Online Teaching What Made Online Teaching
Experience Positive? Experience Positive?
Student characteristics (15) Experience (10)
Enthusiastic, motivated, attentive, returning “The new experience of learning how to teach
adult students, working professionals, material using on-line media.”
approached their studies more seriously “Ability to experience a new teaching
approach.”
“Primarily the fact that the students tended to
be “returning” adult students who were very Flexibility (7)
interested and motivated to succeed in the “I personally enjoy the flexibility that teaching
course (unlike the “college age” student who online provides for my schedule”
commonly does as little as possible to get as “ability to have students complete individual
high a grade as possible).” activities at personal rate but still have team
and team activities completed weekly”
August 2-4, 2006 9 August 2-4, 2006 10

Experience Positive? Experience Negative?
Interaction (7) 18 16
16
“I enjoy the high-level of quality personal 14
interaction that I’m able to have with my 12
students.” 10
8
Effectiveness of learning activities (5) 6 5 5
“I was impressed with how well the online 4
projects and discussion worked. . .” 2
0
Support (3)
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“Excellent support from World Campus
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Designers and support staff.”
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Note: Survey respondents (19) who taught 5 or more online courses not included in this data
August 2-4, 2006 11 August 2-4, 2006 12

2

Experience Negative? Experience Negative?
Lack of F2F (16) Support (5)
“I felt disconnected from the students – I had “World Campus aspects – registration problems,
no way to respond to nonverbal cues that ordering wrong books, links not working – were
indicate their interest and motivation (or lack laughably bad.”
of).” “Conflicting policies, lack of university support,
“Lack of face-to-face time and interaction limits and inconsistent application of standards has
the rapport building that is an important made all of my negative experiences ‘top down’
element of effective teaching/learning.” – i.e. management related”
“I’m trying to remain upbeat with this Technology (5)
response. I think moving from “live” “Occasional administrative/software/hardware
performance to complete on-line format is a inadequacies along with the randomness of
difficult transition.” “when” were the negatives.”
August 2-4, 2006 13 August 2-4, 2006 14

Assistance/Resources to Develop & Assistance/Resources to Develop &
Teach Future Online Course Teach Future Online Course
Technical advice, assistance & support (20) Instructional designer advice & assistance (15)
“I would want excellent, on-call technical support” “An instructional designer to discuss implication
“Technical advice and assistance for transitioning and strategies at each step of the course
course content from written word to graphical or development process.”
flash-based presentation” “I want to understand the parameters of the
“Graphics/multimedia assistance.” design so that I will know how to include
“Specific resources for “special” needs (multi- interaction between students and the instructor.”
media, copyright research/clearance, short term “Instructional designer support that would allow
assistance in writing code or solving specific me to put multiple interactive exercises and
technical problems, etc).” problems in my course.”
August 2-4, 2006 15 August 2-4, 2006 16

Assistance/Resources to Develop & Advice for Colleague Teaching Online
Teach Future Online Course for First Time – Preparation
Colleagues (7) Things you need to do BEFORE teaching online
“A community of people teaching the Course & teaching preparation (19)
same/related course.” Observe an online course/be an online student (11)
“More colleagues in my department who are Work with an instructional designer (9)
also teaching online. “ Talk to colleagues (9)
Tool improvements (7) Learn ANGEL (6)
“More technical options to have homework Locate technical assistance (3)
done and graded on-line.” Gain access to resources (3)
“An expert system that helps structure basic Consider it a work-in-progress (2)
online instructional methods based on the Use what you learn to improve your resident instruction
teaching goals and objectives of the course.” (1)
August 2-4, 2006 17 August 2-4, 2006 18

3

Advice for Colleague Teaching Online Advice for Colleague Teaching Online
for First Time – Preparation for First Time – Preparation
Course & teaching preparation (19) Course & teaching preparation (19)
“Know your subject! Know where you're going “Do not see online learning as a direct transfer
with the course. In other words have your of what is done in a face-to-face learning
course objectives written and in your memory.” situation to an electronic context. Online
“Get organized. Prepare lesson and course learning necessitates a "re-thinking" of the
objectives. Prepare content to meet those best means of presenting content and building
objectives. Prepare assessment tools (variety of a successful learning environment. Get
different tools) to see that objectives being met.” background into the "best practices" and
“Carefully consider your expectations regarding approach of the most successful online
students' interaction and assignments. What do courses that are similar to the course you
you need from them in order to feel like you are have in mind.”
effectively teaching them?”
August 2-4, 2006 19 August 2-4, 2006 20

for First Time - Teaching for First Time - Teaching
Things to do while teaching the course Establish a presence (7)
Establish a presence (7) “I'd tell my colleague to make customer
Give prompt, effective feedback (7) service a priority during the course's offering.
Provide detail and clarity (6) High quality interaction and "being there" for
the students is the best way to combat the
Set expectations (4) commonly held misconceptions that on-line
Provide interaction (4) education is impersonal and that on-line
Play a facilitative role (3) instructors are "unplugged" from their
Be flexible (2) students.”

August 2-4, 2006 21 August 2-4, 2006 22

for First Time - Teaching for First Time – Time
Give prompt, effective feedback (7) “Expect for teaching online to take a lot more
“I have scripted general feedback to weekly time than teaching face-to-face, and budget
lessons. I use that primarily and add personal time accordingly.”
comments on top of that when I correspond “Be prepared to devote a lot of time at the
with each individual student.” "front end." Careful and thoughtful
Provide detail and clarity (6) development requires time, thought, a
“Assume nothing - spell every activity out in as consideration of all options that are available,
much detail as possible. Explain your grading and an open mind.”
scheme. Provide assessment rubrics.” “Make sure you have time for students almost
24 hours.”
August 2-4, 2006 23 August 2-4, 2006 24

4

Helpful Aspects of Professional
Type, length, and when?
Development Events
Sharing experiences (11) Self-paced/self-directed materials
Length
“Hearing about the experience of other online Series of short sessions
Full day
instructors is very helpful.” Summer session
Self-paced
“Interaction between course development
teams in other colleges and universities are far Type Half day
and away the most beneficial professional Informal face-to-face
When
events. The shared insights of those who
Informal online
actually develop and offer courses are terribly Fall semester
important.” Formal face-to-face
Spring semester
Formal online
Break before Summer
August 2-4, 2006 25 August 2-4, 2006 26

Course Design & Development
Course Delivery Topics of Interest
Topics of Interest
38 32
40 35
35 30 27
24 24 23 22
30 25
24 24 23 23 20
25 21 21 21 20 20 19 15
20 18
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August 2-4, 2006 27 August 2-4, 2006 28
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Administrative Issues of Interest Barriers to Participation
25 22 50 42
20 40
15 30
10 9 8 20 13 10 9
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71% 29% 25.8%
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August 2-4, 2006 29 August 2-4, 2006 30

5

Q1: With what aspects of teaching
Primary Incentive for Participation
online do faculty need assistance?
14 Course Design and Development
12
12 Choosing appropriate technologies to enhance my
10 9 online course
8 7 Converting course materials for online use
6 6
6 Creating video clips
4 Determining ways to assess student progress in an
2 online course
0 Adapting traditional lecture material to an online
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Creating audio clips
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Designing and developing attractive Web sites
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August 2-4, 2006 31 August 2-4, 2006 32

Q1: With what aspects of teaching Q1: With what aspects of teaching
online do faculty need assistance? online do faculty need assistance?
Course Delivery Access to instructional designers and
Facilitating online discussion forums (e.g., colleagues who have experience teaching
threaded message boards) online
Building and enhancing professor/student
Technical advice & assistance
relationships in the online classroom
Facilitating Web conferencing sessions (using Design assistance & resources
tools like ElluminateLive, Centra Symposium, Give/share/discuss real-life
WebEx, or Horizon Wimba) examples/experiences
Increasing interactions in an online course
(e.g., student-to-student, faculty-to-students)
Managing my online teaching workload
August 2-4, 2006 33 August 2-4, 2006 34

Q2: What types of professional development Q3: What format should these professional
development experiences take to best meet faculty
experiences are needed by online faculty?
needs?
Self-paced/self-directed materials: Web-based Series of short (less than 1 day)
resources, video tapes/DVDs, CDs, handouts, etc. sessions/workshops conducted over several
Informal face-to-face events: presentations, brown weeks
bag meetings, etc.
Full day
Informal online events: Web-based presentations,
chat sessions, etc. Self-paced program (i.e., completed at one’s
Formal face-to-face events: a regularly scheduled own time/pace) = 11 (20.4%)
course or set of training modules Half day
Formal online events: Web-based, regularly
In Summer, Fall, or Spring semester, or break
scheduled course or set of training modules
before Summer semester
August 2-4, 2006 35 August 2-4, 2006 36

6

Q4: What incentive(s) do faculty wish to receive in
return for participating in a professional development Next Steps…
experience?
Recognition toward promotion/tenure (n=12; Presentations to various stakeholders
23.5%) Publish article
Financial incentive (n=9; 17.6%) Form campus-based faculty learning
Assistance teaching online course (n=7; 13.7%) communities?
Receipt of a University-sponsored certificate Develop learning objects for a central “pot” of
resources?
of achievement in online teaching (n=6; 11.8%)
Connect campus faculty learning
Release time (n=6; 11.8%) communities?
None (n=6; 11.8%) Develop a mentoring program?
Who will do what? Funding?
August 2-4, 2006 37 August 2-4, 2006 38

Discussion
What might be the best model for faculty
development to meet diverse needs?
How does this meet with your own
experiences?
What resources already exist that we can all
draw from?

22nd Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning 39
August 2-4, 2006 39

7

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