In an LMS migration, Instructional Designers observed a continuum of faculty attitudes regarding online teaching, and they responded with an iterative model of training. This conversational session will discuss how other campuses address similar issues and how instructional design can be a catalyst for positive institutional change.
In migrating to a new LMS, Instructional Technology and Online Degree staff at a regional public university observed a continuum of faculty attitudes toward, and practices in, online teaching. In response, the staff developed an iterative model of training based on analytics and observations. This conversational session will discuss a comprehensive approach to online faculty professional development and its impact on instructional design as a catalyst for positive organizational change. Participants from campuses of various institutional control and size are encouraged to participate and share their perspectives regarding the role of online instructional design in positive organizational change.
Instructional designers often find themselves navigating a continuum of disconnect between faculty members' perceptions of their online teaching effectiveness and the reality of their design and integration of online tools. This gap between perceptions and practice may be as benign as a lack of organization to more critical issues such as the absence of accommodations for students with disabilities or the recycling of outdated media content. Instructional designers encounter difficult conversations leading faculty not only to identify how their courses fall short of best practices in online teaching but also how to act on implementing these. Faculty consultations may be promoted—or derailed—by professional and institutional reputations, needs of students, and the quality of instruction. As a result, the role of IT staff may entail both great risk and potential for institutional impact. An iterative professional development model enables proper alignment of workshop content with practice and also facilitates ongoing dialogue to meet the unique needs of individual faculty and/or disciplines.
The comprehensive model begins by asking faculty to self-identify their confidence with online learning and the technological tools through a pre-training survey. Once the training begins, the facilitators adjust the breadth and depth of components based on faculty members' actual levels of proficiency towards best practices. Subsequent training builds upon the progress of the participants individually and collectively. Likewise, the migration provides new points of conversation with other academic units with regard to student success, accreditation, and institutional policies.
The goal of this session is to dialogue with other Instructional Designers and online faculty who have participated in an LMS migration in the past three years to hear lessons learned regarding instructional design as a catalyst for positive institutional change.
Dialogue in the session will be guided by the following questions regarding LMS migrations:
- How can the migration be a catalyst for promoting best practices in online instruction?
- How can iterative models of professional development address instructional effectiveness?
- How can the migration serve as a catalyst for institutional change through accreditation and institutional policies related to online courses?
- How can course analytics ground conversations about pedagogy in online environments?