Faculty and student development programming exist separately - especially in online programs with adjuncts and part-time students. What if a collaborative model for instructors and students was offered to cultivate skills? We will present an aligned faculty development and student success program that shares common topics in an online, asynchronous program.
In 2018, 31% of post-baccalaureate students were enrolled in programs that were exclusively online (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020). With the move to remote learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions are now focused on ways to make remote and distance learning a permanent part of their offerings (Miller, 2021). This shift in delivery modality along with changing student needs is forcing institutions to think differently about the way they approach graduate education while still seeking to answer the long-standing challenges of retention, academic success, and building academic programs that meet the varied needs of current students. However, many institutions simply assign the responsibility to teach online, asynchronous courses to on-campus faculty even though the pedagogical approach to teaching in an online/asynchronous course is very different from teaching in a f-2-f traditional approach. To help with this transition, institutions leverage faculty development programs often largely focused on the use of technology and technical skills such as learning management systems and remote presentation applications like Zoom.
We felt that if faculty development were aligned to both the unique needs of the online student and the pedagogical approaches that were effective in online asynchronous courses, this educational modality could be highly successful. In this presentation, we will share how we were able to create a faculty development program which was designed to support the needs of adjunct faculty and the part-time graduate students in an online, asynchronous program.
Faculty Development
Beyond the use of technology, teaching an online, asynchronous course requires faculty to shift from a teacher-centered to a learner-centered approach to instruction (McQuiggan, 2012). This shift demands faculty focus on how the content of the course is delivered so that students have the opportunity for reflective learning facilitated by engaged faculty. Yet, many faculty development programs, even those designed for faculty teaching online, are guided by the results of student course evaluations (Ibrahim, 2020). However, many students, like faculty, are new to online learning which calls into question whether using the student evaluations will help to guide the design of effective faculty development programs, especially for adjunct faculty who often are omitted from institutional development programs (Hornstein, 2017).
Faculty interactions in online courses are a key contributor to student success and retention so it makes sense that faculty development programs consider what type of interactions are most effective. The challenge is to discover what matters most to students from those that have regular, meaningful connections with them even though they may not be traditional on-campus students. Enter the role of the student success coach (Renn, 2020). These professionals serve as a bridge between student affairs and advisors, and faculty. As a rich source of information about what challenges students are facing, we found that leveraging this information in our faculty development programs had great promise to improve the effectiveness of our faculty as well as to increase student satisfaction, learning, and retention.
Student Development
When starting a graduate program, students ask many questions of themselves while they attempt to fit into this new academic and professional culture they now find themselves in: Can I do this? Do I have what it takes to be successful? Am I the only one struggling? (Gardner, 2008; Pifer & Baker, 2014). They can experience a lot of feelings of uncertainty and lack confidence especially around their academic skillset. For some learners there has been a significant amount of time between their previous degree, and they are in need of additional support and programming to help cultivate the academic skills required to be successful. Feelings of not fitting in or otherness can negatively influence retention and success in a graduate program (Gardner). Mentorship, socialization, and academic success have been studied as they relate to research based, full-time, and on ground graduate programs; however, there is a gap in our understanding of the practitioner-based, part-time, and online student experience. There is also a need to further understand professional identity development within the academic discipline context. Shared experiences and normalizing academic skill development can be helpful in diminishing the otherness feelings of graduate students while increasing their engagement in their academic community.
Defining the Institution
The institution in this model is a small, private, accredited institution in an urban setting that is focused on STEM programs. The institution began a strategic initiative to launch asynchronous, online graduate programs less than three years ago. The academic programs were developed in partnership with a medical school and third party curriculum development team. The new Online Division launched with three graduate degrees, and four graduate certificates. The goal in developing these academic programs were to be market driven and innovative to meet the needs of both the healthcare practitioner, as well as, those looking to transition to the healthcare and science fields.
The programs are 100% online, asynchronous, and offered on eight-week accelerated terms to allow for adult learners to study while working full-time. The programs serve students who live in the same region as the institution, as well as, students from across the United States and internationally. Funding sources include: federal aid, employer reimbursement, and self funding. Because of the highly technical nature of the program, the courses are taught by adjunct instructors who are active researchers and practitioners in their disciplines. Some have had online teaching experience while others are new to the online learning space.
The institution decided to create a de-centralized division to support the online programs with a separate academic head and student success staff. This division has limited resources to provide both faculty development and student support so there was a need to develop highly effective and efficient models to address these areas.
Overview of Collaborative Program
This is a pilot program which continues to be refined with each academic term and is informed by both faculty and student feedback during academic term debrief sessions. The program was designed by the Director of Online Academics and the Student Success Coach who identified alignment between the student needs (to improve their academic skills and approach) and faculty needs (development programming focused on pedagogy). The goal was to create close communities of practice through formal and informal learning opportunities. Pairing an APA/Academic Writing Workshop (student component) and Effective Academic Feedback (faculty component) is an example from this collaborative approach. Another example from this collaborative model is programming focused on metacognition. For students, the session focuses on how applying metacognition improves the learning process. For faculty, metacognition is presented as an evaluation of their pedagogical practice. Faculty evaluations, mid-term and end of term course surveys, and progress in the coursework are variables used in measuring the success of the programming. Future needs and programming topics are identified on both faculty and student needs specific to our program and based on the feedback loop/double loop learning (Argyris, 1977).
Presentation Overview
In this presentation we will share our collaborative model of programming for both faculty and student development. Attendees will be able to:
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Describe a development method for adjunct faculty in online, asynchronous programs that aligns with student needs (as defined by students) in a shortened term/semester
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Analyze examples of pedagogical improvement topics to implement in an asynchronous and online program
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Apply a feedback loop framework between adjuncts, administration, and students to enhance faculty development in a student focused manner
This presentation will be interactive and enable attendees to reflect on how to develop a similar program or model that serves their faculty and students in online programs. We will use Poll Anywhere to dialogue with our attendees about faculty development needs and to collaborate within the group regarding student success, both across institutions and academic program types. We will also use a back channel during the presentation to allow the attendees to discuss the presentation in near real time and continue the peer to peer learning after the presentation and conference has ended. As a result of the presentation, attendees will also have access to an example of a feed-back loop to serve as a resource for future program design.
Conclusion
Although the developmental model included in this presentation speaks to the specific needs of the part-time student population, academic discipline, and adjunct faculty of our program, the design and the implications still contribute to the understanding of the graduate student population and the online learning environment. Challenges around student success, the retention of adjunct faculty and part-time students, and understanding teaching and learning theory are universal across academic disciplines and institution type. This presentation empowers administrators to think differently about developmental programming and to look across the silos for opportunities to collaborate. By creating grass-roots programming that is designed in-house by administrators, institutions are able to create an academic culture specific to their students and faculty needs.
References
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Ibrahim, J. (2020). From survive to thrive: Using professional development to advance online teaching. Journal of Literacy and Technology, 21 (3), 44-58.
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Miller, C. (2021). Online Education Statistics. EducationData.org LLC. https://educationdata.org/online-education-statistics
Pifer, M. J., & Baker, V. L. (2014). “It could be just because I'm different”: Otherness and its outcomes in
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Renn, K.A. (2020, June 23). The Emergence of Student Success as a Professional Field in Higher Education. HigherEdJobs. https://www.higheredjobs.com/Articles/articleDisplay.cfm?ID=2283
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