faculty-online-university

How to recruit and retain faculty for online and blended learning


New case study offers 8 replicable strategies to get faculty buy-in and enthusiasm for online initiatives

faculty-online-universityUniversity initiatives to provide more online and blended learning courses are becoming increasingly crucial for today’s alternative education-minded students. However, without faculty buy-in, these initiatives may never come to fruition. However, one university says it discovered eight replicable strategies to recruit and retain faculty.

With only 14 percent of undergraduates attending universities full-time and on campus, and 90 percent of academic leaders agreeing that it is likely that a majority of all higher-ed students will be taking at least one online course in five years’ time, it’s no surprise that many universities are considering offering online and blended learning courses.

One such university, Armstrong Atlantic State University—a public comprehensive institution that is part of the University System of Georgia and enrolls over 7,000 students, of which 80 percent live off campus—in 2011 created an Office of Online Learning to work collaboratively with administration, deans, faculty, and IT to expand the university’s online and blended learning offerings, with the goal of increasing enrollments for summer 2012.

After a climate assessment, the Office developed several one-hour workshops and a four-week “Boot Camp” for course development for faculty…the only problem was, only five faculty attended.

According to Amy Heaston, chief of staff for the Office of the President, after several meetings with the deans, department chairs, and faculty, the Office of Online Learning found that increased involvement and additional data and feedback from the faculty would be needed to build the online and blended learning infrastructure.

(Next page: Problems of, and resolutions for, faculty buy-in)

Outside of needing to adjust some fundamentals; such as holding Q&A’s for faculty, changing the name of the Office of Online Learning to the Office of Online and Blended Learning, and changing “Boot Camp” to “Teaching Fellows Program,” an institutional study was conducted to reveal faculty hesitancy toward online teaching, as well as design new faculty development initiatives to support participation and retention in distance education.

It’s worth noting that, according to Armstrong’s findings, faculty hesitancy often differs depending on whether or not the person participated in distance education previously. 51 percent of the faculty identified as having participated, and 49 percent identified as not having participated.

The study found that for faculty that had experience with online learning, lack of adequate equipment, lack of technical support, and concern about workload topped the list of worries. Motivating factors for this group included: personal motivation, greater flexibility for students, greater course flexibility for faculty, and overall job satisfaction.

For faculty that had no experience in online learning, concerns included: quality of courses, faculty workload, lack of adequate equipment, quality of students, and lack of IT support. Motivating factors included: financial compensation for participation, access to IT equipment, and opportunity to increase access for students with disabilities.

The full results of Armstrong’s study, as well as more detail and methodology can be found here.

To address these concerns from both sides of faculty, Armstrong: Conducted a full audit of the technology used by faculty across campus; developed and implemented a plan to replace older computers and laptops with new ones within one to two semesters; IT Services and the Office of Blended & Online Learning met to design faculty development initiatives that provided faculty with pedagogically-based workshops, followed by tech-based training by IT; and technical support by IT was increased through expanded office hours and staff outreach.

New faculty PD initiatives were also developed, and now include: 60-minute workshops, eLearning certificates for completion, the Teaching Fellows Program, a Faculty Showcase for highlighting best practices, University System of Georgia webcasts, and course quality workshops. [More about these initiatives can be found in the study.]

To directly address a very large concern about online quality, Armstrong focused on a new online course development process and an online course review process:

Online Course Development: Designed to assist faculty with ensuring that blended and online courses are in alignment with the U.S. Department of Education’s SACS-COC, and the Program Integrity Rules in support of quality design principles. All fully-online and partially-online courses must be reviewed by a subcommittee.

Online Course Review: The review subcommittee, which operates under the University’s Educational Technology Committee, uses the Quality Matters rubric [more on this in the report] to provide the framework for the review process, and has integrated direct references to federal regulations, SACS accreditation, Universal Design for Learning, and Section 508.

(Next page: 8 replicable strategies for most universities)

According to Armstrong, there are eight replicable strategies to increase faculty participation and retention in online and blended learning programs, using data, collaboration, support, and ongoing assessment:

1. Increase faculty involvement: “Faculty members need to be engaged in the conversations about what the institution wants to achieve with online and blended education and how it can achieve the goals. Being partners in the building of the plan increases ownership of the process and its outcomes,” says Armstrong.

2. Know the barriers to participation: Armstrong notes that this is an ongoing process as technology continues to evolve and faculty needs and concerns change.

3. Understand demands on faculty time:  Faculty members need time to attend training for both the technology and the pedagogy, explains Armstrong. Also, faculty members need either release time or summer teaching grants to develop content for their distance education courses.

4. Provide access to adequate technologies, training and support: Instructional designers and technology specialists need to work with faculty to identify their technology needs, both for infrastructure and pedagogy, and institutions need to provide ongoing technical support for faculty.

5. Focus on faculty expertise: “It is important to recognize that faculty expertise is the content of the discipline,” says Armstrong. “An institution needs to acknowledge that a faculty member may not be an expert in the area of web instructional design. Faculty members need to be supported by instructional designers who can assist them in presenting the content they have developed effectively in the online environment as well as actively engage students in learning and assessment.”

6. Ensure quality by example: According to the University, institutions need to demonstrate what high quality online learning looks like, and faculty need to be able to showcase their work to their colleagues in order to provide a framework for quality course reviews.

7. Support campus collaboration: “Offices that provide training or services related to teaching, learning, assessment, academic support, and technology need to work together to reduce redundancy in training and conflicting schedules” explains Armstrong.

8. Implement ongoing evaluation: “Formative and summative evaluation is needed so administrators can proactively, not reactively, support faculty throughout the year,” notes the University. For example, from 2011 to 2014, Armstrong’s Office of Online & Blended Learning was engaged in 18 research initiatives including: climate assessment; pre/post enrollment evaluations for faculty development initiatives; focus groups; interviews; market segment analyses; an institutional survey; annual faculty development needs assessments; and more. The collected data has been used for decisions related to new initiatives, modifications in training programs, and expanding faculty support.

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Oops! We could not locate your form.

Sign up for our newsletter

Newsletter: Innovations in K12 Education
By submitting your information, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.