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alexandra m. pickett

Factors Influencing Faculty Satisfaction with Asynchronous Teaching and Learning in the... - 0 views

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    Eric Fredericksen, Alexandra Pickett, Peter Shea State University of New York William Pelz Herkimer County Community College Karen Swan University of Albany Abstract "…100% of faculty reported that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the SUNY Learning Network." Spring 1999 SLN Faculty Satisfaction Survey The State University of New York (SUNY) Learning Network (SLN) is the on-line instructional program created for the 64 colleges and nearly 400,000 students of SUNY. The foundation of the program is freedom from schedule and location constraints for our faculty and students. The primary goals of the SLN are to bring SUNY's diverse and high-quality instructional programs within the reach of learners everywhere, and to be the best provider of asynchronous instruction for learners in New York State and beyond. We believe that these goals cannot be achieved unless faculty receives appropriate support. This paper will examine factors that have contributed to the high level of faculty satisfaction we have achieved in the SLN. The analysis will be done on several levels. This first section will look at the SLN at a program-wide level and will provide information regarding the systemic implementation of our asynchronous learning environment. The second section examines issues that contribute to on-line teaching satisfaction from a faculty- development and course-design perspective. This section will present the evolution of the four-stage faculty development process and a seven-step course design process that was developed by SLN and comment on lessons learned. The third section presents results from the SLN Faculty Satisfaction Survey conducted in spring 1999. This section examines factors from a quantitative analysis that significantly contributes to faculty satisfaction with on-line teaching and offers recommendations for course and program design based on these factors. The fourth section e
Irene Watts-Politza

Thirty-two Trends Affecting Distance Education: An Informed Foundation for Strategic Pl... - 1 views

  • As universities shift toward competency and institutions cater more closely to learners’ specific needs, the distinctions between high school, undergraduate college, and graduate programs will dissolve. “Incentives will be given to students and institutions to move students through at a faster rate [and] the home school movement will lead to a home-college movement” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). As leaders in the effort to cater to learners’ needs, distance education programs may be a dominant influence in this trend.
    • Irene Watts-Politza
       
      P-20 pipeline
  • Accreditation and program approval will be based more on educational outcomes. Testing programs will be put in place by discipline organizations, federal and state governments, corporations, and testing companies. Large corporations will develop their own approval systems. By 2025, there will not be one national accreditation system, although the U.S. Department of Education will provide a basic safety net for quality. (p. 37; see also Pond, 2003) Distance educators must plan to accommodate this emphasis on accountability if they are to maintain accreditation and meet consumer demands.
  • Much of distance education programs’ success or failure can be attributed to how it is organized.
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  • the academically decentralized/administratively centralized model
  • Changes in the institutional landscape may magnify competition among educational providers and allow new models and leaders to emerge.
  • Knowledge proliferation may increase content-breadth demands on higher education, spreading distance education resources ever thinner and complicating development decisions.
  • An NEA survey reported that faculty members’ top concern about distance education was that they will do more work for the same amount of pay, apparently a merited concern.
  • As long as distance education contributions are not considered in tenure and promotion decisions, and as long as professors have their own, traditional ways of delivering their courses, many faculty members will be reluctant to participate in online courses (Oravec, 2003). Concerning this reluctance, Dunn has predicted that many faculty members will revolt against technological course delivery and the emerging expectations their institutions will have of faculty members. Dunn forecast that some of the resistance will even be manifest through unionization and strikes (Dunn, 2000). Some have suggested the labor-intensive and time-consuming demands required to develop online modules as reasons for faculty resistance (Brogden, 2002).
  • The results of de Alva’s 2000 survey support this trend: governors rated “maintaining traditional faculty roles and tenure” as the least desirable characteristic of a twenty-first century university (p. 34).
  • Faculty members tend initially to try to use their conventional classroom methods to teach at a distance and then become frustrated when attempts are unsuccessful (Dasher-Alston & Patton, p. 14). In Green’s (2002) survey of the role
  • Distance education teams include administrators, instructional designers, technologists, and instructors/facilitators (Miller, 2001; Williams, 2003). The functions of instructors and facilitators then include being a “facilitator, teacher, organizer, grader, mentor, role model, counselor, coach, supervisor, problem solver, and liaison” (Riffee, 2003, p. 1; see also Roberson, 2002; Scagnoli, 2001). The role of faculty members in distance education requires “some specialized skills and strategies. Distance education instructors must plan ahead, be highly organized, and communicate with learners in new ways. They need to be accessible to students [and] work in teams when appropriate” (PSU, 1998, p. 4). Distance faculty members must be experts in maintaining communication, because there is increased demand for student interaction in distance learning (NEA, 2000). Finally, they may have to assume more administrative responsibilities than is true in a residential model (PSU, 1998).
  • “Rather than incorporating the responsibility for all technology- and competency-based functions into a single concept of ‘faculty member,’ universities are disaggregating faculty instructional activities and [assigning] them to distinct professionals” (Paulson, 2002, p. 124). Doing this involves a “deliberate division of labor among the faculty, creating new kinds of instructional staff, or deploying nontenure-track instructional staff (such as adjunct faculty, graduate teaching assistants, or undergraduate assistants) in new ways” (Paulson, 2002, p. 126
  • Online students are becoming an entirely new subpopulation of higher-education learners. They are “generally older, have completed more college credit hours and more degree programs, and have a higher all-college GPA than their traditional counterparts” (Diaz, 2002, pp. 1-2). For example, Diaz has noted that online students received twice as many A’s as traditional students and half as many D’s and F’s.
  • One result of the highly competitive e-learning market will be institutions that specialize in meeting particular niches in the market (Gallagher, 2003). Morrison and Barone (2003, p. 4) observed, “We can see the beginnings of the trend toward the unbundling of courses, credits, services, and fee structures.” Dunn foresaw a similar trend, predicting that “courseware producers will sell courses and award credits directly to the end user and thus, through intermediation, bypass the institutional middleman” (Dunn, 2000, p. 37). The transition may also blur the distinction between two- and four-year colleges and universities (Carr, 1999). In this context of greater “portability,” more educational “brokers” (e.g., Western Governor’s University, Excelsior College, Charter Oak State College, etc.) will exist (Pond, 2003). Further, as de Alva has asserted, “Institutional success for any higher education enterprise will depend more on successful marketing, solid quality-assurance and control systems, and effective use of the new media than on production and communication of knowledge” (de Alva, 2000, p. 40).
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    Trends that affect distance education. The part that shows how different online students are now is very interesting.
alexandra m. pickett

Sloan-C - Publications - Journal: JALN - Vol4:2 Student Satisfaction and Perceived Lear... - 0 views

  • For new SLN faculty the first stage in their development as on-line instructors is to get on-line and access the SLN Faculty Developer Gateway (http://SLN.suny.edu/developer). There, they are introduced to the SLN faculty development and course design processes. They participate in a facilitated on-line conference to network with our growing community of on-line instructors and to get the feel for on-line discussion in the asynchronous Web environment. In stage two, faculty begin to conceptualize their courses. They complete an on-line orientation to the Web course environment and they also have the opportunity to observe a variety of live on-line courses that have been selected as models to help them get a sense of the possibilities and to get the look and feel of the on-line classroom. Stage three is the SLN Course Development stage. They are asked to attend three workshops. At the first workshop, faculty receive a customized course template created in Lotus Notes, access to our networked system and on-line resources, and a step-by-step guide for building the components of their course. They are also assigned an instructional design partner to work with throughout their first course-development and delivery cycles and have access to a Help Desk for technology support. Note that it is not until stage three of our faculty development process that faculty are introduced to the technology that they will use to create their course. Our primary focus is on developing and supporting on-line faculty and effective on-line pedagogy, not on the technology. 
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      what are your thoughts on this passage?
    • Robert Braathe
       
      Getting faculty involved in the system of communicating in a new way is very effective. If we expect our students to be involved, we need to (as faculty) get immersed in communicating in these new ways to make the technology effective. Otherwise, the technology is obsolete
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    Student Satisfaction and Perceived Learning with On-line Courses: Principles and Examples from the SUNY Learning Network Eric Fredericksen, Alexandra Pickett, Peter Shea State University of New York William Pelz Herkimer County Community College http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v4n2/pdf/v4n2_fredericksen.pdf Karen Swan University of Albany
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    doing a demo ignore this.
Sue Rappazzo

Teaching at an Internet Distance-----MERLOT - 1 views

  • Several of our speakers were able to shed light on the cause of this rising tide of faculty opposition to computer mediated instruction. Andrew Feenberg of San Diego State University summarizes the situation in the opening paragraph of his "Distance Learning: Promise or Threat" (1999) article: "Once the stepchild of the academy, distance learning is finally taken seriously. But not in precisely the way early innovators like myself had hoped. It is not faculty who are in the forefront of the movement to network education. Instead politicians, university administrations and computer and telecommunications companies have decided there is money in it. But proposals for a radical "retooling" of the university emanating from these sources are guaranteed to provoke instant faculty hostility."
    • Kelly Hermann
       
      As a red-head, I'm just glad they didn't use the phrase "red-headed stepchild." LOL
  • The implementation of online education shows both promise and peril. Computer mediated instruction may indeed introduce new and highly effective teaching paradigms, but high-quality teaching is not always assured. Administrative decisions made without due consideration to pedagogy, or worse, with policies or technology that hampers quality, may cause much wasted time, money and effort of both faculty and students.
  • In training, a particular package of knowledge is imparted to an individual so that he or she can assume work within a system, as the firefighters do for example. According to Noble, training and education are appropriately distinguished in terms of autonomy (Noble, 1999). In becoming trained, an individual relinquishes autonomy. The purpose of education, as compared to training, is to impart autonomy to the student. In teaching students to think critically, we say in effect "Student, know thyself." Education is not just the transmission of knowledge, important as that is, but also has to do with the transformation of persons (and the development of critical thinking skills).
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  • Does good teaching in the classroom translate to good teaching online? If so, what elements can be translated and which ones can't or shouldn't?
  • "The shared mantra of the faculty and staff during the development of this document was that "good teaching is good teaching!" An Emerging Set of Guiding Principles... is less about distance education and more about what makes for an effective educational experience, regardless of where or when it is delivered."
  • Good practice encourages student-faculty contact. Good practice encourages cooperation among students. Good practice encourages active learning. Good practice gives prompt feedback. Good practice emphasizes time on task. Good practice communicates high expectations. Good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning.
  • Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of class is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement. Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students' intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.
  • At first glance, teaching a class without the ability to see and hear the students in person appears daunting. The enlightened, quizzical, or stony facial expressions, the sighs of distress or gasps of wonder, and even the less-than-subtle raised hands or interjected queries that constitute immediate feedback to a lecture, discussion, or clinical situation are absent. Yet the proponents of online instruction will argue that these obstacles can be overcome, and that the online format has its own advantages. In the online experiences documented in the "Net.Learning" (www.pbs.org/netlearning/home.html) videotape, which our seminar viewed early in the year, Peggy Lant of the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo presented a striking example that occurred in her class' online discussion of civil war. One student's comments were especially gripping as she had just survived a civil war in her home country. Shy students who have trouble participating in a classroom discussion are said to feel more comfortable in an online setting. The ability to sit and think as one composes a question or comment also can raise the quality of the discussion. Susan Montgomery at the University of Michigan has developed an interactive website that addresses diverse learning styles through the use of multimedia (Montgomery, 1998).
  • Teachers, trainers, and professors with years of experience in classrooms report that computer networking encourages the high-quality interaction and sharing that is at the heart of education. ...(The) characteristics of online classes... generally result in students' contributing material that is much better than something they would say off the top of their heads in a face-to-face class. There is a converse side, however. Just after the passage above, Harasim cautions (Harasim et al. 1995) On the other hand, unless the teacher facilitates the networking activities skillfully, serious problems may develop. A conference may turn into a monologue of lecture-type material to which very few responses are made. It may become a disorganized mountain of information that is confusing and overwhelming for the participants. It may even break down socially into name calling rather than building a sense of community.
  • At what cost is this high degree of interaction, the need for which we suspect is student motivation and the professor's (online) attentiveness, achieved? In the previous section it was noted that charismatic professors of large (several hundred student) classes might indeed reach and motivate the students in the back row by intangible displays of attentiveness. Online, attentiveness must be tangible, and may involve more effort than in a face-to-face setting. These considerations imply an inherent limitation of online class size; size is determined by the amount of effort required to form a "community of learners."
  • Small class sizes and the linear dependence of effort on student numbers are indicative of the high level of interaction needed for high quality online teaching
  • The best way to maintain the connection [between online education and the values of traditional education] is through ensuring that distance learning is 'delivered' not just by CD ROMs, but by living teachers, fully qualified and interested in doing so online ... [P]repackaged material will be seen to replace not the teacher as a mentor and guide but the lecture and the textbook. Interaction with the professor will continue to be the centerpiece of education, no matter what the medium.
  • and Ronald Owston, who points out (Owston, 1997) "...we cannot simply ask 'Do students learn better with the Web as compared to traditional classroom instruction?' We have to realize that no medium, in and of itself, will likely improve learning in a significant way when it is used to deliver instruction. Nor is it realistic to expect the Web, when used as a tool, to develop in students any unique skills."
  • Facilitating Online Courses: A Checklist for Action The key concept in network teaching is to facilitate collaborative learning, not to deliver a course in a fixed and rigid, one-way format. Do not lecture. Be clear about expectations of the participants. Be flexible and patient. Be responsive. Do not overload. Monitor and prompt for participation. For assignments, set up small groups and assign tasks to them. Be a process facilitator. Write weaving comments every week or two... Organize the interaction. Set rules and standards for good netiquette (network etiquette)... Establish clear norms for participation and procedures for grading... Assign individuals or small groups to play the role of teacher and of moderator for portions of the course. Close and purge moribund conferences in stages... Adopt a flexible approach toward curriculum integration on global networks.
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    Love the step child reference!
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    Have I not struggled with this throughout this course?!
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    Joy and I talked about this in discussions. I am now struggling with making a project mgr. aware of this at work. The vendor training online was boring so lets deliver it all in person. Junk is Junk online or in person!
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    That body language we mentioned in discussions this week in ETAP687
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    MERLOT-Teaching at internet distance
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    module 4 merlot
William Meredith

Faculty Concerns about Online Teaching - Online Colleges - 0 views

  • Despite increasing rates of enrollment in online colleges, the most recent studies show that faculty in all fields has mixed feelings about the quality of online courses and online teaching. This has been a consistent trend for several years
  • 48% of faculty who have taught online thought that online courses were inferior to on-the-ground courses, and only 37.2% thought that online and face-to-face courses were equivalent in quality and outcomes.
  • According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, more than 50% of college faculty consistently report that institutional support for teaching and developing online courses is below average
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  • One of the biggest concerns that college faculty have about online education is that students do not take such courses as seriously as they take face-to-face courses. Commercials promoting “college in your pajamas” do not help the reputation of online students.
  • For faculty opinion about online education to change, online faculty needs more support and respect from their colleges and respect
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    Building more respect for online learning
lkryder

Faculty Development for Online Teaching as a Catalyst for Change | The Sloan Consortium - 0 views

  • This action research study explored the change in face-to-face teaching practices as a result of faculty professional development for online teaching. Faculty’s initial teaching model is typically born from that of their own teachers, and they teach as they were taught. However, few have any online experience as a student or a teacher. Learning to teach online may be a catalyst for faculty to reflect on and evaluate their current teaching practices.
  • The results of the study indicated that learning to teach online has the potential to transform faculty’s assumptions and beliefs about teaching, changing their face-to-face teaching practices.
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    A good discussion of how faculty learn to teach, how training to teach online improves their classroom practice, and the use of adult learning strategies
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    The impact of training to teach online on classroom practice is very strong.
Irene Watts-Politza

Increasing Access to Higher Education: A study of the diffusion of online teaching amon... - 0 views

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    This paper reports on research from 913 professors from community colleges, four-year colleges, and university centers in an attempt to determine potential barriers to the continued growth in adoption of online teaching in higher education. Four variables are significantly associated with faculty satisfaction and adoption or continuation of online teaching - levels of interaction in their online course, technical support, a positive learning experience in developing and teaching the course, and the discipline area in which they taught. Recommendations for institutional policy, faculty development, and further research are included.
Donna Angley

Best Practices for Online Instructors (revised) - 1 views

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    Online education has become increasingly popular in higher education, which is a trend that will continue as more universities have begun to heavily invest in online teaching due to student demand. While best practices for implementing online instruction are well documented in previous literature, factors identified in this review of literature serve as reminders that should be considered by higher education faculty to enhance the quality of their online courses. Teaching online requires a faculty member to think differently about teaching and learning, learn a host of new technological skills, and engage in ongoing faculty development for design and development of quality online instruction.
Kristen Della

Faculty Learning Communities - 0 views

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    Faculty improve their teaching practices through collaborative dialogue with peers focused on student learning challenges. [more on Faculty Learning Communities] Theme Leader: Emiliano Ayala, emiliano.ayala@sonoma.edu Topic > Subtopic: Developing Instructional Expertise > Faculty Learning Communities Institution: Sonoma State University Status: Available - go to case story
Alicia Fernandez

eCoaching Tip 51: A Garden of Three Presences - Social Presence, Teaching Presence and ... - 1 views

  • Social presence is the ability to project oneself socially and affectively in a virtual environment. You achieve social presence by being a real -- three-dimensional -- person to your students. Another way of saying this is that you let yourself be known as a person with a life in addition to your role as a teacher/mentor.
  • teaching presence is the work of teaching both before and during the course. It includes the designing and developing the course and in directing and supporting the learners during the course delivery. Teaching presence is manifested in the course materials -- in the syllabus, assignments, choice of readings and discussions. Teaching presence is also manifested in everything the faculty member does to guide, support and shape the learners' experiences. Effective teaching presence sets clear expectations and supportive guidance.
  • Cognitive Presence is the extent to which a group of learners are able to 'construct meaning through sustained communication.' (Garrison, 2006)
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  • Faculty sets high expectations for student inquiry and expectations Faculty examine student responses and probes, challenges, questions encouraging thought and analysis of ideas and content Learners participate thoughtfully in the discussions, responding to content and thoughts and questions from other learners so that a sustained communication occurs. Faculty and students strive to ensure that project outcomes are long-lasting and meaningful.
  • Cognitive presence requires a focus on meaning and not on covering conte
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    Of all the best practices for online teaching, the most important practice is "being there." Being there is the core of presence, letting your students know that you are there to direct, to guide, to listen and to share your expertise with your learners. This tip takes you on a guide through a Garden of Three Presences for Online Teaching and Learning - Social Presence, Teaching Presence and Cognitive Presence (Garrison, 2006b). This tip defines the three types of presence and then lists tools and behaviors - for both faculty and students -that support these three types of presence.
Danielle Melia

EBSCOhost: Training for faculty who teach online - 0 views

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    The development and progress of distance education through online technologies has grown over the past ten years. Though community colleges across the United States have seen the largest increase, are its faculty members prepared to teach online? The following study examines strategies administrators may use to train faculty who teach online courses at the community college level.
William Meredith

Managing Virtual Adjunct Faculty: Applying the Seven Principles of Good Practice - 0 views

  • Virtual adjunct faculty have largely carried higher education into the cyber classroom. Adjunct faculty have always been broadly used in higher education, especially in the community college setting. Nationally, adjuncts teach 30-50% of all credit courses. At community colleges, adjuncts compose about 60% of all faculty (Gappa and Leslie, 1993).
  • About 80% of all online course offerings are taught by virtual adjuncts. About 70% of the active 250 adjuncts teaching in the program reside in the state of Florida , and the other half in assorted states.
  • As colleges and universities work steadily to get full-time faculty onboard with distance learning, virtual adjuncts have eagerly stepped up to fill the void, thereby enabling institutions to respond promptly to market demand.
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  • Having familiar, collegial, and multiple points of contact helps them develop and maintain the confidence they need to be successful teachers. And, mentoring is a proven-effective strategy for support, improvement, and community building.
  • Peer-based sharing is the most effective model for the professional learning community
  • These required training opportunities allow new adjuncts to actively learn about FCCJ's instructional culture, and build community with other instructors. They actively discuss their teaching experiences, best practices, learn new strategies for teaching online, and apply those strategies to the courses they are currently teaching.
  • In the online environment, Virtual Adjuncts need to know clearly what the institution's expectations are of them, and whether they are meeting those expectations. There is very little continuity among contemporary online programs, and each institution has its own instructional priorities, goals, constituencies, and definitions of excellence. Many adjuncts teach simultaneously at multiple institutions, and so it is important to define expectations clearly.
  • . Adjuncts who know that they are working for a professional organization are more likely to feel a sense of pride in their affiliation, and feel accountable to the institution.
  • Maria Puzziferro-Schnitzer
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    How to manage a growing cadre of online adjuncts.  Provides great numbers on percentages of adjuncts.
Kristen Della

Assessing faculty work: enhancing individual and institutional performance - 0 views

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    Faculty Development.Faculty Performance.
Alicia Fernandez

The Technology Source Archives - Effective Student Preparation for Online Learning - 0 views

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    This study has engendered several recommendations for the use and design of online orientation courses. Effective student and faculty preparation for the Web-based teaching and learning environment can make a significant impact on student success in their studies, thus increasing retention and curriculum completion.
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    This study has engendered several recommendations for the use and design of online orientation courses. Effective student and faculty preparation for the Web-based teaching and learning environment can make a significant impact on student success in their studies, thus increasing retention and curriculum completion.
alexandra m. pickett

Seven Principles of Effective Teaching - A Practical Lens for Evaluating Online Courses - 0 views

  • Principle 1: Good Practice Encourages Student-Faculty Contact
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      Our SLN research shows that the highest predictor of satisfaction with online instruction among online students is the quantity and quality of interaction with the online instructor. How would you move that research finding into practice in your own online course? How do you see that understanding expressed in our course ETAP 687?
  • Principle 2: Good Practice Encourages Cooperation Among Students
    • alexandra m. pickett
       
      The second highest predictor that we have found in our SLN research of satisfaction and high levels of reported learning among online students is the quantity and quality of interaction between students. Knowing that, what implications might that have in the design of online activities in your online course?
  • The "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education," originally published in the AAHE Bulletin (Chickering & Gamson, 1987), are a popular framework for evaluating teaching in traditional, face-to-face courses. The principles are based on 50 years of higher education research (Chickering & Reisser, 1993). A faculty inventory (Johnson Foundation, "Faculty," 1989) and an institutional inventory (Johnson Foundation, "Institutional," 1989) based on these principles have helped faculty members and higher-education institutions examine and improve their teaching practices.
Francia Reed

Faculty attitudes toward technology - 0 views

Tabata, L. N. and Johnsrud, L. K.( 2008). The impact of faculty attitudes toward technology, distance education, and innovation. Res High Educ (2008) 49:625-646 DOI 10.1007/s11162-008-9094-7 This ...

technology faculty

started by Francia Reed on 02 Jun 11 no follow-up yet
Michael Lucatorto

Using collaborative course development to achieve online course quality standards | Cha... - 1 views

  • The common practice of systematic design, such as the ADDIE model, simply did not fit well with the academic culture (Moore & Kearsley, 2004; Magnussen, 2005). Over the past two decades, instructional designers in higher education have needed to redefine their role and practice. The role of a change agent emerged as instructional designers worked side by side with faculty to rethink their teaching in order to integrate technology into course design and delivery (Campbell, Schwier, & Kenny, 2007). Not only do instructional designers play the role of advisers to faculty and department on issues of curriculum and course quality, they also play a vital role in faculty development and institutional change when it comes to researching and implementing new learning technologies. Undoubtedly, instructional designers in higher education need to modify their approach and design models to fulfill their widening role and to make meaningful contributions. New design prototypes have evolved through field experience in higher education (Power, 2009), and role-based design has been proposed to transform the field of instructional design (Hokanson, Miller, & Hooper, 2008).
  • There was strong agreement among participants that the guidelines are more helpful for new and less-experienced faculty members.
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