Faculty Development for web-based instruction

1. Faculty Development for web-based instruction • Many universities are following the trend of online, or web-based instruction • However, faculty are not provided with adequate professional development in order to effectively use technology, or pedagogical resources to improve content & quality • Support for instructors already teaching web-based courses is limited and not readily available

2. Faculty Development • Thomas Russell, director emeritus of instructional telecommunications at North Carolina State University: • Examined distance education research studies looking for evidence that distance learning is superior to classroom instruction and found, after reviewing over four hundred studies, that no matter what media or methods were used, the results of the studies showed “no significant difference” (1999).

3. “Within both the distance education and general education framework, new standards are being defined based on a student-centered curriculum, increased interactive learning, integration of technology into the educational system, and collaborative study activities. Core to these changes is an examination of the fundamental principles of what constitutes quality instructional interaction. Without a firm understanding of these principles, decisions are made based on the merits of the technology or methodologies without consideration of the long-term and potential benefit to the student” (Ragan, 1999, p.1)

4. Daugherty and Funke (1998): • Faculty members have encountered significant barriers to technology use. Such barriers have included a perceived lack of technical support, inadequate software or lack thereof, and lack of institutional policies to provide released time for creating course materials.

5. Cheney (2002) • Although faculty members receive new and innovative distance technologies, they expressed concerns about: 1. the larger workload occasioned by increased preparation time; 2. intellectual property--that is, who owns a course and instructional material; and 3. the need for specialized training for faculty. (p. 5) In addition, many faculty members have inadequate technology services and support within their institutions.

6. Howell, Williams, and Lindsay (2003): there is a continued need for “faculty development, support and training” (p. 4). • Green (2002) maintained: • “The role of computing and information technology in U.S. higher education, chief academic and information technology officials rated helping faculty integrate technology into their instruction the single most important IT issue confronting their campuses over the next 2 or 3 years.” (p. 4)

7. Bonk & Dennen (2003) • Today's instructors need new tools to foster critical and creative thinking skills if they are to tap into the new pedagogical frameworks that tap the power of the Internet for learning. Tools for creating rich situations for collaborative knowledge building, reflection, debate, information seeking and sharing, and problem based learning are often overlooked in the design of standard courseware.

8. Dwight (2007) • Instructional technology support staff has been strained from providing support for the institution and thereby were restrained from providing the necessary support for academic technology to faculty members. Insufficient numbers of IT support staff have been unable to provide adequate and timely support to maintain technical support for faculty members.

9. Wray et al. (2008): faculty teach web courses differently than face to face, and Universities must continually support faculty in online course design, development and implementation. • Doering et al. (2009): PD for online instruction can not be a ‘one-shot’ workshop; it must be continuous. • Orr et al. (2009): faculty must have tech support as well as pedagogical support in a continuous manner.