Effective Online Faculty Training

1Effective Online Faculty Development 1
Effective Online Faculty
Development

But first, tell us something
about you . . .
•Institutional size, public/private, for profit/non-
profit?
•Depth of investment in distance learning?
•Location of DL initiative?
•Faculty profile — who is your audience?
•Distinctive training needs
•LMS of choice

Administering and Incentivizing
Online Faculty Development
Dr. Bruce L. Edwards
Bowling Green State University
<edwards@bgsu.edu>
http://cobl.bgsu.edu
3

BGSU DL Development Timeline
1999-2000 — Campus Task Force commissioned to explore
possibilities for online delivery of BGSU course work and
programs
2000-01 — Building infrastructure and staffing, naming of
associate dean for distance education, LMS move from
WEBCT™ to Blackboard™, initial program identification
& delivery
2002-04 — Developing inventory, approval policies, business
plan; HLC-NCA report authored, visit from team,
accreditation for all degree programs granted
2005-present — Continuous development and refinement of
incentives policy, faculty training programs, expansion &
diversity of online & blended programs, transition from
Continuing Ed to Academic Affairs.
4

Effective Online Faculty Development
Crucial Junctures in Development
• Establishing DL operation base that is academically-
driven (not primarily tech-driven)
• Seeking low hanging fruit (BGSU examples:
Advanced Technology Education; Liberal Studies)
•
Niche program forecasting, assessment of market, and
development & staffing costs
• Course inventory building – general education, key
upper-division, graduate
•
Cultivating collaborative relationships between
college(s) and program developers (admin., faculty,
staff, IT)
3
5

Key Questions for Faculty
Development Planning @ BGSU

Target Audience(s): faculty & student

Delivery Mode(s) for instruction

Technology &/vs. Pedagogy

Implementing Quality Matters™
standards

Incentives for participation in
development/instruction
6

7Effective Online Faculty Development 7Effective Online Faculty Development
Primary Goals of Online Faculty
Development @ BGSU (1)
• Modeling the instructor’s role in an online classroom by
simulating an immersive student experience during the training
• Differentiating course development goals:
•
Replication — Goal: identical as possible to F2F classroom
•
Commensuration — Goal: equivalency
•
Maximization — Goal: exploitation of new medium
• Distinguishing LMS “training” from true pedagogical instruction
• Promoting/demo-ing multiple forms of assessment and
evaluation uniquely available in online media
7

• Cataloguing and demonstrating the diverse learner style and
suggest appropriate adaptive strategies to monitor and
facilitate students’ online learning
• Identifying and applying effective strategies for facilitating
and assessing online interaction and transactional discourse
between peers and between students/faculty
• Developing repertoire of appropriate classroom strategies to
promote active learning (using basic LMS, other stand alone
online tools, QM design principles, etc.)
• Addressing effective time management skills and workload
expectations related to teaching effectively online
Primary Goals of Online Faculty
Development @ BGSU (2)
Effective Online Faculty Development 8

BGSU Incentives Policy in a Nutshell
•
Incentives apply to program-based development not
single courses
•
Faculty receive up to $2000 per course developed
•
Faculty receive $1000 bonus per course taught, each
time it is taught
•
Prior to 2009, colleges & departments also received a
bonus of $500 and $750 respectively per course.
•
Dept. chairs received reimbursement for any temporary
hire needed to replace faculty member on DL
assignment.
•
Training program and “certification” now mandatory.
3
9

CODA: Reflections on BGSU Faculty
Development
• Since 2005, Bowling Green State University
has offered faculty development course work
for online pedagogy and strategic use of Web
2.0 tech tools in a fully-online format.
• More than 400 part- and full-time faculty have
completed the course designed to be both
comprehensive and compact.
10Effective Online Faculty Development

Outcomes
• Over the past three years, BGSU has collaborated with
staff among several two-year and private colleges in Ohio
to continue to refine, extend, promote, and share faculty
development opportunities that enrich faculty experience
and grow expertise in the region.
• This has had the desired effect of growing partnerships
and articulation agreements that advantage distance
learners in this region as well as developing a cooperative
of well-trained faculty who can respond to staffing needs
throughout the state.

Ongoing Challenges
• Maintaining currency: platforms, tools, rising
expectations, staff development
• Training vs. retraining: overcoming faculty
reluctance to refresh knowledge
• “Quality” battles: addressing the campus
climate
• Budget shrinkage for incentives and basic
operating expenses and staffing
For more info: http://cobl.bgsu.edu
http://online.bgsu.edu

T I E
Technology Instructional Enhancements
Outreach Credit Programs
Outreach School
University of Wyoming

Identify, explore and evaluate new
technologies and
their application to
teaching and learning.
Purpose

Process
• Encourage faculty innovation
• Support faculty in this innovation
• Develop “Best Practice” models
• Evaluate innovations

Projects
• Web Conferencing
• Streaming Video
• Podcasting
• Advanced technologies
Outreach faculty were invited by instructional designers to
participate in one of the development program projects

Incentives
• Monetary, material, and support incentives
• Varying monetary stipends, depending on
level of participation
• “Tech toy” of voice recorder or Flip Video

Commitments
from faculty
•Participate in training
•Assess outcomes
•Present on experience
•Revise class design
•Use it !
from UW Outreach
•Monetary stipend
•“Tech toy”
•Software & hardware
•Training
•Instructional design
•Technical support

What motivated you to participate in this
TIE Development Program?
• Monetary stipend
• “Tech Toy”
• Provision of hardware and software
• Instructional training, design, and support from OCP
instructional designer
• Interest to expand teaching skills
• Desire to use this technology for specific teaching and
learning activities in this class

Faculty Motivations
Most important

Conclusions
• Technology adoption extends beyond TIE
• e-volution Tech Forum success
• Evidence for continuing Elluminate
• Greater understanding of faculty motivations
• Demonstrated “what we do.” (internal
marketing)
• Institutionalizes the exception as the standard

Thanks for your time!
• Dr. Christi Boggs, cboggs@uwyo.edu
Outreach Credit Programs
307-766-4300
http://www.uwyo.edu/TIE

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