The authors will discuss the value of an online instructor development program for online teaching and its place within a comprehensive faculty support program. This paper focuses on training issues, challenges and solutions leading to greater instructor satisfaction and skills as well as student satisfaction and high retention rates. This presentation will be followed by both asynchronous discussion and a chat session about faculty development and support for online teaching.

Presentation

Introduction

Onlinelearning.net has formed some unique relationships with institutions of higher learning, professional associations and publishers to deliver and market their online courses and to provide support and training to online instructors and their students. Some of the education providers we work with include UCLA Extension, the University of San Diego, the California CPA Education Foundation, and curriculum materials publisher Houghton Mifflin. We also offer stand-alone customized instructor training programs to other interested institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the value of an online instructor development program for online teaching and its place within a comprehensive faculty support program. We will define the necessary elements for successful online instructor training, and discuss training issues, challenges and solutions leading to greater instructor satisfaction and skills as well as student satisfaction and high retention rates.

Experience has shown us that the most successful online course experiences for students and instructors depend on the expertise and dedication of a well prepared online instructor (Ko & Rossen, 1998). When an online instructor is fully equipped with proper technical skills, familiarity with the online learning environment, and most importantly, a true awareness of effective online pedagogies and teaching strategies, the online learning experience that he/she creates has the highest potential to succeed (Bedore, et al, 1997). New online instructors need comprehensive training to help ensure that they get off to a strong start, and afterwards continued support and services throughout their online teaching career will help to guarantee maximum levels of quality and satisfaction in the online courses they teach (Harasim, et al, 1998). We have found that the quality of online instruction in the institutions we support is directly related to student and instructor satisfaction, which in turn positively affects retention rates, and numbers of returning students for their programs.  

Getting off to a Strong Start

What are the defining elements of basic training for those who want to teach online? We have determined through our experience working with instructors from diverse institutions, disciplines and with different levels of technical ability, that a particular mixture of elements is needed to ensure effective online courses. Our online instructor training course contains the key features we believe are essential for a successful program:

First, the faculty development training should be conducted online.
In some cases, for example when the instructors live in the proximity of the institution or when basic computer skills are lacking, an initial face-to-face orientation or computer lab workshop might be offered. However, such workshops are not sufficient to provide the first-hand experience and comprehensive training needed for online instructors and should be followed by a more extensive online learning experience. The length of the program should be a minimum of four to six weeks, depending on whether or not it follows a face-to-face training workshop. The instructor development course should replicate as much as possible the actual online learning experience including the software platform to be used, and the general pattern of activities that are included in that institutions online courses (Ko & Rossen, 1998).

Training should be mandatory for all online instructors.
The commitment needed for training is similar to the commitment that will be needed later to successfully teach online. Therefore, if training is optional, like many optional education activities, it may not be accomplished satisfactorily (or at all) -- particularly by those who need it most. However, the training should be designed to be flexible and practical, conducted asynchronously to provide maximum accessibility to participants. This does not imply a self paced course – the training period should have a definite start and stop date, be composed of a cohort of new instructors, and require regular and consistent participation along with scheduled due dates for completion of tasks. It should also have a practical bent, avoiding the theoretical, rather focusing on the skills, techniques and approaches instructors will need in the online classroom. We estimate that participants spend approximately 12-24 hours participating in our online instructor training course (about 2-4 hours/week).

The person leading the training should be an experienced online instructor.
The faculty trainer should have experience in both teaching and learning online, experience teaching a live classroom, and have solid knowledge of curriculum design and online course development. It is extremely important that faculty going through online instructor training have confidence in their instructor and can relate to this person on a professional level. Being a technical expert is not enough to be a successful faculty trainer, and often possessing only technical skills and experiences will alienate new online faculty to the training process. The training instructor must be able to understand and model the pedagogical skills and teaching strategies that are required in the online classroom, in addition to leading new online faculty through a series of technical lessons to build their own online classes. 

The training should be conducted on the same online course platform in which the participants will later teach.
The training classroom should simulate the online learning experience, providing participants an opportunity to experience the virtual classroom environment from a student’s perspective, which will be instrumental as they design their own online courses. This process will give them time to become comfortable navigating within the online classroom, and first-hand experience within the actual software environment they will later use to teach their own online course will give them insight into how to best design their own online classroom.

The training should include both software training and focused discussions on online pedagogy.
It should include a series of self paced lessons requiring participants to complete practice exercises in their own empty online classroom (practice shell). These exercises should be designed to help the new online instructors learn about the software platform they will use to create their own course. Step by step each lesson should help them learn the tools they will need to build their course, and it should include feedback from the training instructor.

Hand in hand with the technical skills building lessons, the training should include discussion topics on issues related to teaching and managing an online class. Opportunities for participants to explore issues such as online teaching strategies, similarities and differences of online teaching vs traditional teaching, the online instructor’s voice, course management issues, organization of materials, strategies to promote participation and facilitate interaction, integrating web resources, etc. should be a central part of the training program through both modeling and discussion. Since all participants will have a wide range of backgrounds and teaching experiences, they will be able to add a variety of viewpoints to these discussions. The course instructor should facilitate (not dominate) these discussions, and the format should be asynchronous in order to simulate online discussion structure and strategies that the course participants can later use in their own classes once they begin teaching. Thus, by the end of the training, participants will know the basic functions of the software and establish a foundation for their own course, as well as an understanding of how to be an effective online instructor.

The training should include real-life case studies.
Through observation of real online courses by auditing and analyzing courses in session, new online instructors can get an in-depth and critical look at what happens in a live course. Permission to audit a course in session must be secured in advance, and an optimal choice for auditing would be a successful course in the same program in which the instructor will later teach. However, it is possible to view online courses from other institutions (although not the password protected areas). The World Lecture Hall, at the University of Texas lists hundreds of online and hybrid courses that can be used for case study or critiquing purposes.

Participants should develop an online syllabus.
Development of a syllabus – followed by personal consultation and feedback from the training instructor is a fundamental end product of the training program. The syllabus should reflect the essential elements covered in the course and will help the new instructor synthesize the information learned throughout the training experience. This syllabus will also function as a guide or blue-print to help the instructor develop the rest of his/her course. 

The training should include follow-up feedback and support.
Once an instructor has successfully completed the training process and has created his/her online classroom in the training practice shell, more feedback through individual consultation and evaluation by the training instructor is needed. Supervised course start-up and continued evaluation later on while the new instructor is teaching will help ensure a quality online learning experience for the students and greater satisfaction levels for the instructor.   

Continued Support for Online Faculty is Essential

A six week online training program for new online instructors ensures a solid foundation for a successful online teaching experience, and is critical to the success of any online learning program. However, our experience has shown that continued support for online instructors is essential for the success of the institution and is a key to students’ satisfaction with their courses which leading to high retention rates, and greater instructor satisfaction as well.

In fact, many of the descriptive analyses and case studies about online learning conducted by major research institutions and higher education associations focus on instructional quality and student and faculty attitudes and perceptions of distance learning. These studies usually conclude that faculty and students generally have a positive view toward online education, and that when proper access, technical support and training are provided for instructors and students, the advantages of teaching and learning online often far outweigh the disadvantages (Ragan, 1999). Often, the purpose of these studies is to establish some clear guidelines and principles for ensuring effectiveness and quality in online education programs. The three documents cited below from the Institute of Higher Education, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and the University of Illinois are examples of such studies. One common recommendation from all three reports is that educational institutions offer comprehensive faculty development and continued support for their online instructors.  

• The Institute for Higher Education Policy's March 2000 study "Quality On the Line: Benchmarks for Success in Internet-Based Distance Education", (downloadable as a PDF file) a report commissioned by the National Education Association.

• The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education's "Principles of Good Practice for Electronically Offered Academic Degree and Certificate Programs" (updated 1999) which were the outgrowth of a three-year project, supported by the U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post secondary Education.

• The University of Illinois Dec. 1999 "Report of the University of Illinois Teaching at an Internet Distance Seminar"

Below are examples of continued support beyond basic online instructor training that we offer to instructors teaching online for OnlineLearning.net’s education providers. Although institutions may vary in their specific needs and kinds of training and support from which their faculty can most benefit, the following examples do illustrate important categories and types of support that most faculty will need: 

Ongoing focused training opportunities
These include instructor led online workshops, self paced tutorials, virtual guest speakers and online refresher courses for instructors. These training sessions are conducted by the faculty development trainers from the Instructor Development Team at OnlineLearning.net.

Individual Consultation and Assistance
Individual consultation and assistance with initial course design and set-up, online teaching strategies and help with ongoing classroom management issues, as well as continued feedback, mentoring, advice and assistance with course development, online pedagogy, and revisions of courses for subsequent terms is provided by the Instructor Development Team.

Course Managers for Instructors and Students
Experience has shown us that a quality system for student support will greatly enhance the instructor’s online teaching experience. When students and instructors are focusing on technical or administrative issues, concentration is taken away from learning. Thus, a course manager to assist with technical and administrative issues of students during the course, leaves the instructor free to concentrate on teaching and helps students focus on their course work and virtual classroom activities.

Technical Support for Instructors and Students
Additional technical support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for instructors and students via a toll free telephone service. 

Online Instructor Handbook 
Instructors can consult an online handbook for comprehensive information about policies, procedures, expectations, etc. from Onlinelearning.net and its education providers. This can be a first stop for instructors when they have questions about policies or procedures affecting them or their students, and will refer them to the appropriate department or person to contact for assistance.

Participation in an Online Instructor Community
A sense of community and support is important to establish among instructors teaching remotely from a distance. This will help instructors make connections among peers so they feel they are part of a team. Our Instructor Community Web site provides the latest information our instructors need to know, as well as access to online teaching and professional development resources and a moderated discussion forum for instructors to network and exchange ideas with their colleagues.

Conclusion

Beyond the basic required online training course covering software basics and the notions of online pedagogy and teaching strategies, a successful online faculty development program should offer a variety of other training, support, and networking opportunities for instructors. This multi-service approach to online faculty support and development will provide a rich mixture of elements that will satisfy the needs of a diverse teaching body. Since instructors, like students have a variety of skills, interests, learning styles, and training needs, offering a wide range of support services will accommodate a wider range of instructors. This, in turn will help ensure a richer and more successful online learning experience for students.

References

Bedore, Bedore, & Bedore. (1997). Online education: The future is now. Phoenix, Arizona: Academic Research and Technologies Press.

Chickering, Arthur & Ehrmann, Stephen. “Implementing the seven principles, technology as lever.” American Association for Higher Education, (1994): 28 August, 2000

Harasim, Hiltz, Teles & Turoff. (1998). Learning networks: A field guide to teaching and learning online. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.

Institute for Higher Education Policy Quality Benchmarks Help Guide OnlineLearning.net Growth and Success: 28 August, 2000

Ko, Susan & Rossen, Steve.  “Faculty development for online instruction: two models for effective training". Teaching in the Community College Online Conference (1998): 8 September 2000

Quality on the Line: Benchmarks for Success in Internet-Based Education, a PDF document prepared by Institution of Higher Education Policy (March 2000): 8 September 2000

Ragan, Lawrence. “Good Teaching Is Good Teaching: An Emerging Set of Guiding Principles and Practices for the Design and Development of Distance Education". Cause/Effect 22 (1999): 8 September 2000

University of Illinois, Office of the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Report of the University of Illinois Teaching at an Internet Distance Seminar December, 1999

Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Balancing quality and access from the Western interstate commission for higher education: Principles of Good Practice for Electronically Offered academic degree and certificate programs (1999)  8 September 2000