Just as bridges balance competing forces from different directions, so we must balance several considerations when designing faculty development for adjuncts new to online learning. We present on the transformation of a training program for full time faculty developing undergraduate online courses into a scaffolded yet agile model for adjuncts teaching adult learners in a blended certificate program.
According to the Chicago Architecture Center, Chicago has 52 movable bridges, and 43 are still operable. The earliest movable bridge was built in 1834, and innovations in bridge design have continued to improve on the model since then. The bridge style has served the city well over time because it accommodates multiple modes of movement throughout the city. They also provide inspiration for reflecting on how to to create faculty development in online course design and teaching for variously situated instructors--from seasoned full time tenured and tenure track faculty, to part-time adjunct instructors with little or no prior teaching experience.
Since 2014, the instructional design team at Muhlenberg College has been iterating a successful training model to prepare faculty to develop and teach online courses for undergraduates in a liberal arts environment. We have iterated and improved our faculty development program each spring. To date, 33 faculty have completed the semester-long program, teaching a total of 36 online courses. We enroll 4-6 faculty per course, growing from four online courses in 2015 to 36 online courses in 2019. By grounding this work in our strong campus culture of pedagogical innovation and embedding it within the structures of shared governance at the College, we have established a foundation for sustainable growth and effectiveness in online liberal arts learning. For an institution our size, this program has ensured continuous growth in faculty developing and teaching a steadily increasing number of online courses and enrollments across the undergraduate curriculum. It has also provided a springboard for developing new hybrid and online graduate programs for adult learners.
In Spring 2019, with the growth of online learning into certificate and graduate education, the instructional design team expanded to include a designer focused on adult learning. The first challenge was to review our existing approach to faculty development and identify areas to improve or revise to better serve adjunct instructors teaching in the institution’s first blended certificate program in data analytics. The certificate program launched in Fall 2018 and graduated its first cohort in Summer 2019. Our success redesigning the FLC for part-time adjunct faculty will be critical as we develop several new hybrid graduate programs, including select Master’s Degree programs, during the next two years.
Many of our part-time faculty have limited prior experience teaching and lack the schema for using the online space to engage learners in active learning assignments. While our full-time faculty have been able to draw on their grounding in liberal arts pedagogy to construct courses that engage learners online and on the basis of training and mentoring support from the instructional design team, we recognized that our part-time faculty need additional scaffolding, structure, and support.
Applying a design thinking approach, several considerations were identified to bridge gaps between our existing structures and practices and the needs of adjunct faculty. Our presentation will share these considerations with participants and invite reflection on similar challenges and responses at their own institutions. We discuss the holistic approach we developed and the major decision points that aim to provide training and support for our very first hybrid certificate, Data Analytics, and in preparation for the college’s very first hybrid master’s degree programs launching in 2020.
Insights and examples shared from our experience with Data Analytics will be helpful to participants who are establishing faculty development programs in online learning for adjunct faculty, or who are themselves reconceptualizing existing models that have primarily served full time faculty teaching in undergraduate programs. The following are among the key insights we address and invite attendee engagement with:
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Traditional reliance on face to face faculty development does not effectively meet the needs of adjuncts with full time professions beyond their part-time teaching at Muhlenberg. Blended faculty development is an opportunity to model the blended pedagogies we aim to promote among adjunct faculty.
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Theoretical models informing online course design are essential but are more meaningfully presented visually, dynamically, and with clarity when we aim to meet adjunct faculty where they are and accommodate their varying needs.
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While full-time faculty at our institution expect a high degree of autonomy and creative agency in their online course design, full time professionals teaching part time in blended adult learning courses value the introduction of templates to structure their course design so that they can focus on their own area of expertise and their relationships with their students.
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Design a scaffolded approach to online continuing education that includes exercises in which part-time faculty deconstruct and reflect on examples of online learning activities. sample online learning activities we have provided have been in the context of data analytics.
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Create layers of support and community by empowering more experienced and engaged adjunct faculty to support peers who may be struggling to understand the importance of course design in relation to student success.
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Engage an open, collaborative course review model like OSQCR to help build a community of practice with adjunct faculty, where they share information, ideas, successes, challenges.
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Enlist senior leadership in School of Adult and Continuing Education to set and communicate expectations and accountability, meeting regularly to strengthen partnership with Digital Learning Team.
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Recognize that adjunct faculty are lifelong learners themselves and promote this learning with digital badges that accumulate into a certificate for online instruction.
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Encourage part-time faculty to shift away from an over-reliance on textbooks as the primary ancillary resource for their courses by growing a repository of digital materials and tools related to data analytics.
Muhlenberg College has a bold strategic plan that includes growing opportunities for adult learners within our School for Adult and Continuing Education. That plan includes enlisting full-time faculty to teach in the new and upcoming graduate programs, but these programs will continue to benefit from the expertise of part-time faculty who are leaders and innovators in their professions. We aim to engage participants in conversation about the efforts we have undertaken to bridge highly effective faculty development experiences with the needs of part-time faculty. Approaches, successes and lessons learned in Muhlenberg College’s first blended certificate program will provide a framework for lively conversation and critical reflection.