The Center for Innovation in Learning at National University created an Online Professional Development program. This program aligns with National University's mission of: exceptional student experience through academic excellence, education technology, and professional development. This pilot program aims to contribute to a culture of innovation, quality and collaboration among faculty and students.
The Center for Innovation in Learning at National University created an Online Professional Development program. This program aligns with National University's mission of: exceptional student experience through academic excellence, education technology, and professional development. This pilot program aims to contribute to a culture of innovation, quality and collaboration among faculty and students.
To date, there had been no advanced professional development for online faculty beyond the introductory Blackboard training. After conducting a needs assessment among faculty, a common theme emerged. That theme is the challenge of student retention and keeping students engaged. In response to that challenge, we did some research and developed a model to engage students, which we call The Trifecta of Engagement.
This program addresses three areas students need to be engaged in to be successful: with their course content, with their peers, and with their instructor (also known as the Trifecta of Engagement). Instructors in the program complete a course titled Enhanced Teaching & Learning Strategies which has 3 units of modules and hands-on practice activities to complete in a partially built lab course. In the lab course instructors are tasked with creating content that appeals to diverse learner styles and preferences; create assignments and activities that promote peer-to-peer collaboration; and use assessment as a tool to engage students and provide meaningful feedback and interaction. We are currently piloting this program with 12 volunteer faculty from a range of disciplines to provide us feedback on the program. Ideally, we want our faculty volunteers to achieve the learning outcomes of the program and apply those learning outcomes in a real course, and then showcase that experience to the larger faculty community so others can learn from it. After we gather data on the effectiveness of the program we can begin to roll it out to the larger faculty community.