How can you prepare faculty members to teach online courses effectively?

While serving as a Senior Advisor for the University of Lynchburg’s Master of Public Health Program, readiness and commitment were a central focus for faculty selection. We set up a meticulous search committee and rigorously evaluated candidates based on three criteria: bandwidth to teach, commitment to public health, and familiarity with our learning management system. We didn't just stop at qualifications; we delved into the candidates' "why"—their deep-seated motivations for wanting to advance the field of public health. You can train someone to administer a course, but you can't instill a sense of purpose or commitment. Effective online education is not just about technology, but about aligning pedagogical skill with personal mission.

I keep it simple : PREPARE Plan Course Objectives: Clearly define the learning outcomes and goals. Resources and Technology: Ensure access to necessary tools and training. Engage Students: Create interactive and dynamic learning experiences. Pedagogical Strategies: Develop effective online teaching methods. Assessment Methods: Design fair and meaningful assessments. Regular Communication: Maintain open and timely communication with students. Evaluate and Adapt: Continuously assess and improve the course. Facilitate Collaboration: Encourage peer interaction and group work. Embrace Accessibility: Make content and activities inclusive and accessible. Continuous Learning: Stay updated with online teaching best practices.

Preparing faculty for effective online course delivery necessitates a multifaceted approach.Initiating this process involves instituting training programs encompassing technical acumen in the learning environment & pedagogical strategies conducive to online engagement.Furthermore,redesigning course structures to align with online pedagogy is paramount,emphasizing lucid learning objectives, multimedia integration & learner-centric design. Multimedia & interactive content,along with diversifying assessment methodologies,including project-based evaluations & peer assessments,is essential to enhance the learning experience Platforms such as Coursera for Campus offer specialized courses aiding faculty in honing their online teaching competencies

It is essential that a faculty members readiness is assessed. You must have buy-in from the faculty member before attempting to prepare them to effectively teach. Online presence has everything to do with successful online teaching. If the faculty member enjoys teaching the course the students will enjoy as well. If the faculty member feels forced, uncomfortable, or genuinely doesn't believe in online teaching the students will feel that. It is important to assess readiness and willingness to develop online presence. It is equally important that the faculty embrace innovation to ensure engagement.

We should ensure faculty are comfortable with the technology involved, including Learning Management Systems (LMS), video conferencing tools, and multimedia creation software. Also, the faculty should be trained about effective course design for online learning, focusing on clear learning objectives, organized content, and alignment with assessments.

Set up the expectation early, and maintain it throughout the training, that teaching an online course does not simply mean putting a traditional course onto a digital platform. Teaching strategies and methodologies should be selected with the online format in mind, and even the learning objectives may shift. While the general topic may be the same, the online course is often a complete different course than its traditional campus counterpart.

In my experience managing faculty online and having taught online courses, it is critical to understand the many facets of the online learning platform (OLP). Learning about the features of OLPs and the extensive teaching approaches and tools that can be utilized, faculty can then discover and employ multiple ways to engage students. The first step is training faculty. An additional aspect of training is guiding faculty to adhere to expectations and requirements. For example, posting weekly announcements, participating in DBs and interactive group work, providing links to audio-visual materials, and hosting live QandA sessions with the instructor, all of which will engage students throughout the semester/quarter.

Instructional Design plays an important role in this. For this the Instructors should be the master of Formative and Summative feedback protocols. Without having continuous feedback and feedforward techniques it would not be possible to efficiently and effectively deliver and teach online lectures and get the desired results. Getting training on Micro Teachings Techniques also very trendy.

If the course is recorded, break a single session into digestible, 30 minute units. That way, students can watch the 30 mins, and move on to the next one easily. You can even insert some reflection questions at the end.

The best training is that which simulates how you want faculty to teach. We're designing NYC's first virtual high school (VIA) and develop our "unit of study" for the teachers to mirror how they can teach, with individual virtual student desks, collaborative spaces, problem-based tasks, differentiated activity lists, digital help board and peer expert board, and more. When you learn in an immersive environment, you feel what it will be like to be a learner in your own course. Thus, when providing professional learning, be careful not to lecture, for example, on the importance of differentiation -- instead, provide differentiated ways to get the content across, modeling the approach you want to see in the online course.

Support needs to come from the school not just the faculty. I have had the pleasure of moving two schools from in person classes to online. The first was a Community College and they provided support and autonomy to me to develop the course as a traditional online course. The expectation from the school was clear and they supported me as such. The University that I worked for, had no clear direction of what online learning was. They did not support me and looked for any reason to move the class back to in person. The environment needs to be supported and right to help foster a proper online course.

Collaboration is very key. In designing a course for Theatre appreciation, the two fulltime profs collaborated with all of the course and we continue to collaborate on all elements. For the Public speaking course, we share and we give advice but each person who has been teaching online for a long time has their own ways. I also encourage collaboration with the Educational specialists of the institution.

Collaboration among members of the same course team is key. Are they providing key information to students in the same way? Encouraging consistency saves time for staff (rather than everyone doing the same work in parallel) and improves students’ experiences.

Collaboration and Community Building: Foster a sense of community among faculty members teaching online courses. Encourage collaboration, sharing of best practices, and peer mentoring to create a supportive network where faculty members can learn from each other's experiences and successes. Ongoing Support and Feedback: Offer ongoing support and feedback to faculty members as they teach online courses. Provide opportunities for reflection, evaluation, and continuous improvement through regular check-ins, observations, and feedback sessions.

In one of my disciplines, Theatre, we collaborate ALL the time on the basic Theatre appreciation course. However, in my other discipline, Communication, while we share with each other, we don't tend to collaborate. I think it is really useful to collaborate but I enjoy the freedom to forge my own course in public speaking.

One of the fabulous advantages of online courses is a much larger and different set of data to consider about how students are interacting with a course and how successful a course is at achieving learning goals. Faculty should be aware of all the data they can collect, and be encouraged to get creative in how to utilize to improve the course.

A fundamental issue i encounter is in student measurement. Faculty has grown accustom to using traditional measurements to measure in their courses. This has posed a serious challenge with the proliferation of AI. Apart from proctering software to aid in assessing original work, faculty has had difficulty is student assessments. I facilitate a graduate course in leadership, i have found that its useful to give a mini case without questions. Have students prepare the case along certain broad themes, have them present the case and at that point class members ask the presenters a series of questions. Thus negating AI intervention and promoting original work

An effective approach to ensuring quality education involves leveraging the Learning Management System (LMS) to oversee student engagement, participation, and completion rates. In addition, instructors should keep a close eye on metrics such as login frequency, task completion time, and assignment submissions. Moreover, gathering anonymous feedback from students regarding the faculty member's teaching approach, responsiveness, and availability is instrumental in fostering ongoing enhancements.

One thing I've found helpful, aside from the open-ended comments in student evaluations, is learner analytics. Help faculty check student time on tasks, file downloads, video views, and number of log-ins among other data available in your LMS. They should also consider implementing a mid-semester mini-evaluation instead of waiting until the course has ended. This provides an opportunity to adjust upcoming learning tasks and assessments and can impact a student's success in the course.

Crafting Meaningful Assessment: Practice your skills in designing online assessments while upholding academic integrity, perhaps by orchestrating the use of plagiarism detection tools or orchestrating secure online exams. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) often covers innovative assessment strategies in the digital age. Research articles in journals like Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education can provide insights into effective online assessment.

I'm proud to say IDE Corp. was named one of Inc Magazine's Best Workplaces of 2021. So here are some ideas that apply to higher-education: * Have a tech help desk that faculty can use for immediate support through chat, phone, and video * Build a library of short (less than 2 min) "how to" videos for the common technology uses (this should be done for faculty and students) * Each faculty member gets a "support buddy" (someone with more experience) who checks in before a course starts, during, and after, and who is available to offer ideas and support * We have a "Remote Work Dashboard" that our employees check daily. It includes announcements; celebrations (e.g. birthdays, work anniversaries, marriages, births); pictures; resources; etc.

Scale needs to be considered in online learning, especially if you are planning for growth and don't want to burn out your staff. Teachers need effective technical enablement and intentionally designed curriculum to help them focus on teaching, not admin work or figuring out how to fit a square peg into a round hole. Early investment in curriculum design, choosing the right tech stack, training, and testing will help to proactively address issues such as workload management and burnout.

When we first started online learning in the 1990s, a few intrepid professors ventured into it. I was part of the second wave but we had no LMS just web pages. It was pretty dismal. LMS now is so helpful. Also, we have deliberately and intentionally quality base courses designed for online use by anyone. Then having a person like me who is meant to help the new professors online makes a big difference as well. Having taught online for 22 years means I have a wealth of experience and knowledge. BUT I am always learning more!

Online faculty need to have consistent training modules that will run them through many of the different elements of your LMS. It is important for them to be able to create content in a consistent template that follows your institution's model. The students need to feel comfortable and know where to find elements in the online classroom, just as they would in f2f. Pair up your new online with a lead instructor to help guide them in their department's procedures for building courses.

While challenges are bound to arise in online teaching, they can be mitigated by offering resources and direction for adapting conventional teaching approaches to the digital realm. Moreover, it is essential to motivate faculty to craft courses with explicit learning goals, well-structured content, and precise assessments. To uphold the caliber of instruction and content, it is imperative to establish and effectively communicate unambiguous benchmarks for online course design and delivery to faculty. Additionally, routine evaluations or assessments should be carried out to verify that courses adhere to these standards.

Start by finding out what matters to staff and students. Metrics can be disconnected from value. If time going to be invested in an evaluation (your time and that of others) make sure it is capturing what counts.

Student usage of online materials is a great indicator that can help shape and improve online offerings. Low usage usually indicates that either the materials or their integration need improvement.

I've used padlet and google forms to drive instruction and make adjustments for the next iteration of the course. Padlet provided a way to determine interest in specfic areas for synchronous sessions. Getting a sense of where the students had gaps or questions through their interactions within the Padlet was a way to take the temperature of the class. At the same time, using Google Forms allowed me to collect both qualitative and qualitative data from the students on specific areas of course construction. I think these tools serve a dual purpose of giving students a voice in an online environment, as well as supporting instructor and institutional goals.

This topic is about 'evaluating outcomes. The steps you are talking about precede the coursework. Data collected from all the stake holders following the conclusion of the course can be maximized for improvements in subsequent iterations.

Collecting feedback and reviews prior to the lesson's commencement aids in harmonizing the course objectives with the students' anticipated outcomes. Additionally, students can offer perspectives on their familiarity with the online platforms that will be employed, promoting an inclusive environment by identifying potential accessibility issues related to disabilities. Feedback after the course allows faculty to contemplate their selection of methods, tools, and strategies, fostering a relationship of trust and transparent communication with students. This process also empowers students to assume an engaged role in their own learning process.

As instructors develop skills and start to explore technology that can enhance online learning, it's essential that instructors return to their core audience and examine learning profiles. Will this student group be comfortable with the technology? Is this added type of technology going to enhance learning? In what way does this tool assist me in reaching learning outcomes? Does the tool add student TIME to the process, and is the time well spent? In my case, as a developer of online professional development, in many cases, the answer is no. It's a lot more fun when the answer is yes. But my student's needs, and the objectives, must remain at the forefront of everything I do.

Teaching faculty needs an environment that is conducive to trying our new ideas, experimentation, risk-taking and a culture of fearlessness. Just as we provide a non- threatening environment to students to learn, similarly we have to provide a climate that encourages teachers to innovate. With technology and the internet having permeated our lives, teachers need to be able to embrace the same. The pandemic in a way compelled teachers to get into the fray and there was no looking back. As they got out of their comfort zones, they were ready to get their hands dirty. Every new tech tool they learnt, they shared with their colleagues Teachers started to feel a sense of self-worth and great pride in the work they had been doing.

Peer mentoring... Assign a senior faculty member to mentor and coach a junior faculty member. This would be a great way to have junior faculty introduced to the culture and work of higher education. The junior faculty member should virtually shadow the senior faculty member, learning who the primary points of contact are if/when issues arise. Finally, they can provide constructive feedback after sitting in one of the junior faculty members' classes.

Regularly remind instructors that they should operate as role models for students, as students tend to imitate what instructors do.

I've seen two types of reactions to faculty new to teaching online - they can't believe how much time it takes or they can't believe how much it frees them up to do other things. I worry more about the second. Explore the tools in the LMS that automate activities like quiz grading and publishing weekly material. This will save time, as well as pre-recording lectures. But also make sure they understand they should be spending as much time per week with this course as a traditional on-ground class. Record weekly updates so students see you. Join discussions and post announcements. Spend more time providing detailed feedback. Students need to see the human in the system.