Common challenges associated with training faculty to teach online include faculty being off-site or needing to hire quickly. This session will focus on a seamless support process of training, teaching, and peer review for new faculty that provides formative feedback and on-going support from hiring through the first semester teaching
This presentation will focus on an on-going process designed to support new instructors from hiring through their first semester of online teaching with training and mentoring. First, new online instructors are identified through an approval to teach online application process which requires online training or significant experience teaching online elsewhere. Second, instructors who require training participate in a two-week, free, completely online training course that focuses on effective online teaching strategies and instruction in using the institutional learning management system. During the training, instructors are introduced to the Viterbo online standards and the rubric used to evaluate instructors in the online classroom. Additionally, instructors meet and interact with other new online instructors during the course which results in building a community of peers for future support. Third, the first time new online instructors teach online, they undergo a peer evaluation process that provides formative feedback on the quality of online instruction and course curriculum, as well as adherence to online institutional standards for course delivery and syllabus design. Finally, the loop of the online evaluation process is closed via an instructor response to their evaluation and in some cases, specific plans for remediation and mentorship within in the discipline in collaboration with the deans of the university. This on-going process benefits all new online instructors whether they are full-time or adjunct faculty, however it may be particularly beneficial to adjunct faculty that may not be located near campus and sometimes hired last minute. As the majority of online courses are taught by adjunct faculty this on-going mentoring process is particularly beneficial for them as it allows them to be trained to teach online relatively quickly before their first course, and follows that training with an in-depth peer evaluation process that highlights strengths of their teaching and offers formative feedback for improvement. This process also introduces online instructors to individuals and resources to help them feel supported in their online teaching and connect with the larger university community. All parts of this process (i.e., approval to teach online, online teaching training course, peer evaluation process) are coordinated by the Director of Online Instruction.
Context
Viterbo University, a small, private liberal arts university moved forward with institutional plans to significantly grow their fully online programs approximately four years ago. As part of this strategic growth effort, infrastructure to support online instruction was implemented. An Online Teaching Best Practices course was designed and offered for the first time in April 2011. This course models online teaching strategies such as increasing social presence and creating learning communities in the online classroom. Additionally, the course focuses on strategies to use the institutional LMS, Moodle, effectively for online teaching. Another piece of this infrastructure includes a Committee on Online Learning comprised of experienced online faculty who provide feedback on online policy and procedure and also perform peer evaluations of online instructors. All inexperienced online instructors (full-time or adjunct) are required to complete the training before teaching online the first time. All instructors are evaluated by the committee on a 5 year rotating basis, however, the top priority is to focus on mentoring new online instructors. The evaluation process starts with the instructor completing a self-evaluation form identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and their perspective on teaching the course. Three to five weeks after the start of the course, two members of the committee perform a virtual visit for a one week period. The evaluation form used is based on Viterbo University standards for course design and delivery. The formal evaluation with formative feedback is returned to the instructor as well as their supervisor. If major deficiencies are noted during the evaluation, a faculty mentor in their discipline is assigned to work directly with the instructor in collaboration with the Dean. The process is completed with an instructor response form that instructors have an opportunity to reflect on their evaluation feedback and propose ways to improve for the future. The outcome of this on-going process has resulted in online instructors satisfying the Viterbo online standards at an increasing rate over the past five years. As the Director of Online Instruction is involved in all stages of this process from: approval to teach online, to training, to peer evaluation; instructors are familiar with a contact person who can help with questions or problems at any stage of the process. In particular, this process has helped adjunct faculty, no matter their location nor their hiring date, receive the resources and support that they need to be effective in the online classroom. Additionally, this process helps Viterbo University understand what areas of pedagogy or technology training need to be strengthened on a regular basis - for example, through offering live webinars on a specific topic to all online instructors or through updating online help tutorials on our university website.
Goals of Session
- Share the process of creating a short, but effective, online training course that model the basics of teaching online.
- Describe the peer evaluation process of new online instructors that offers quality control for online courses, but also provides support and mentorship to online instructors.
- Present summary data showing how individuals who had completed the training course achieved institutional standards for quality of online instruction, quality of course curriculum, quality of course delivery and syllabus design.
- Discuss how results from the peer evaluation process help drive both short term and long term solutions to improve support and training for online instructors.
Benefits to Participants
This presentation will benefit individuals from any size institution who are interested in learning how to better mentor online instructors (especially adjunct instructors) in a timely fashion that provides on-going support from the hiring stage through the first semester of teaching. Session participants will share their own experiences and perceptions of best practices for supporting and evaluating full-time and adjunct online instructors through interactive discussion and session polling.