Faculty Development,Learner Support and Evaluation in Web-Based Programs

Student growth patterns in Web-enhanced and on-line courses lead the University of Central Florida (UCF) to expect large populations for both categories. The authors describe the UCF process for implementing and evaluating Web-based instruction. The office of Course Development and Web Services supports faculty in preparing and delivering their on-line courses. Additionally, faculties are given support for the transition through a semester-long course in Web-based teaching. The Center for Distributed Learning provides administrative and registration services in addition to coordinating and marketing interactive television, video, and Web-based courses. The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning provides additional support for faculty as they work with the new technologies. Finally, UCF is conducting a comprehensive impact evaluation of distributed learning including differential success, demographic trends, impact on teaching, and impact on students with differing learni ng styles. The model used at UCF is compared with the Twente TeleTOP method (De Boer, 1999) and the generalizability of this model to other institutions is discussed.     

中美基础护理教育课程比较

本文采用个人访谈和文献(内容)分析的方法，就课程设置、时间分配、临床实习和师资等方面对中国3年制中等护理教育标准课程与美国21个月制协士护理教育课程进行对比分析，以揭示中美护理教育体系的区别，为促进中国护理教育的发展提供依据。     

Faculty members’ perceptions of online program community and their efforts to sustain it

This study investigated faculty members’ perceptions of program community and what they do to support it in online graduate programs. Researchers developed and administered an online survey to ascertain perceptions of program community among education and engineering faculty members at United States, land-grant, research-extensive universities. Three hundred forty-four faculty members responded. Most participants thought that fostering community beyond courses was important. Faculty members used a variety of strategies to accomplish this task, including social media, synchronous communication and advising, face-to-face socials and orientations, and cohort models. Yet, many also relied on classroom strategies. Several participants indicated that they and their students lacked the time, resources or interest to pursue program community and that geographical distance and university reward policies complicated its establishment. Differences via discipline, gender and years of online teaching experience were also reported.     

TEACHING COMMUNITY COLLEGE FACULTY MEMBERS ON THE INTERNET

This article details the experiences of a university professor and former community college president in teaching World Wide Web based graduate courses to faculty members from Florida's community colleges. These courses have provided faculty members from various parts of the state access to advanced educational opportunities. Courses have been particularly relevant to the day-to-day activities of full-time and adjunct teaching faculty members. For those who might be interested in converting traditional courses for Web-based delivery, tips are included on designing course materials and using technical experts. Emphasis is placed on the needs of the learner to maximize the benefits of this type of distance education. The 12 canons for distance learners, which served as guideposts, as community college faculty member-students progressed through the courses are included. Discussion of various course material components provides insight into the need for thoroughness in overall course design. Course evaluation results, which highlight the appreciation of community college faculty member-students for the way in which the courses were conducted, are included. For example, convenience and exibility were ranked highly as positive reasons for taking Web-based courses. Problem areas are also identified. Teaching graduate courses on the Internet to community college personnel has become an important endeavor in Florida. The University of Central Florida has made a commitment to expand the number and types of courses offered in this manner to address the needs of all students. These courses are particularly important to community college faculty members and administrators who may be precluded from taking relevant graduate courses because of geographical or time limitations. Hence, through the magic of the Internet, courses are available at their fingertips.     

Preparing Students to Take Online Interactive Courses

Electronic communication and World Wide Web skill levels for graduate students entering a Master of Science in Education degree program with online components were examined before and after completion of an introductory technology skills course. Results indicated that students can identify their weaknesses and can subsequently develop skills for using electronic communication, the World Wide Web, and related activities through an online course designed to prepare them for success in taking subsequent online courses. The findings support views that Web-based courses require some skills that may be new for the student, and that students will require varying degrees of instruction in how to deal with technology-based learning.     

Teaching Time: Distance Education Versus Classroom Instruction

This study presents time-and-task records of faculty and teaching assistants' time for comparable computer-aided design courses at two state universities in the midwestern United States. One course was taught at a distance and the other course was a conventional face-to-face course. Results indicate a distance course takes less time to teach than a traditional classroom course, if student enrollment and assessment procedures are not included in analysis. When analyzed on a per-student basis, both faculty and teaching assistant time was higher for the distance course.     

ENHANCING CLASSROOM COURSES WITH INTERNET TECHNOLOGY: ARE COURSE WEB SITES WORTH THE TROUBLE?

This article reports the findings of a survey of faculty who publish course Web sites associated with their classroom courses. The communication goals and educational objectives of the sites were identified and evaluated, along with the investment of time and resources required to create and maintain the sites. Most instructors indicated that their goals for the Web sites have been entirely or largely achieved, and most consider the sites to be essential to successful course design. Some of the sites have accomplished administration and communication objectives not readily achievable through traditional, nonelectronic classroom procedures. In contrast to Web usage in distance learning courses, however, few of the sites made use of the Web as an instructional medium to deliver partial or complete learning modules online. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study for present and future classroom faculty.     

Notes on authors

Faculty perceptions of the viability of candidates with online doctorates for a tenure-track assistant professor position in management were examined. Survey results of U.S. faculty members in management departments at institutions accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) indicated that most (90%) would not hire someone with an online degree for a tenure-track faculty position. Given comparable teaching and research records, all candidates with traditional doctorates were rated higher than those with online doctorates. Common reasons given by respondents as to why they would not consider someone with an online doctorate included poor quality of instruction, lack of credibility of an online degree, lack of face-to-face contact, lack of AACSB accreditation, lack of rigorous discourse, and lack of mentoring.     

Considerations for Faculty Preparing to Develop and Teach Online Criminal Justice Courses at Traditional Institutions of Higher Learning

Criminal justice programs at traditional institutions of higher learning have been moving toward offering courses online and, in some cases, placing entire programs online for the better part of the past decade. In competition with for‐profit institutions, many traditional colleges and universities have expanded their distance education programming to include online courses and programs to attract students. As a result, the number of criminal justice students has increased, as have the profits for home institutions. With this growth in the online education market, the criminal justice faculty member has been thrust, willingly or unwillingly, into the world of online teaching—a method of instruction foreign to many instructors. From the authors’ experience at their current (and in the case of the lead author a second) institution, this paper addresses many issues that must be considered by faculty members before embarking on this type of time‐intensive initiative.     

Comparing Web, Correspondence and Lecture versions of a second-year non-major Biology course

A comparison of correspondence and Web versions of the same course indicated that, although the students were very satisfied with the Web version, the correspondence section achieved the higher mean final scores in three of the four semesters while the Web course achieved the higher mean score in only one semester. A literature search indicated that there are very few studies which compare the relative successes of Web-based courses and traditional (lecture) courses as this present study does. In addition most of these other comparative studies are based on only one offering of the Web-based course, whereas the present study evaluates the Web-based course over four different semesters.     

The Best and the Worst

Faculty workload is based on the amount of time spent on teaching, research, and service. The workload varies according to institutional focus, teaching field, type of course, course level, and instructional format. Compared with traditional face-to-face courses, online courses require a disproportionate investment of time and effort by faculty, necessitating special consideration when calculating faculty workload. The authors examine the workload for faculty teaching online courses in community colleges, specifically, the number of online classes taught per semester, class sizes for online courses, incentives for online instructors and how the workload for online instructors is calculated. Results indicate inconsistent practices within and between institutions; the workload for online instructors based on class sizes is less than, equal to, or more than that of faculty teaching face-to-face courses. Further investigations into common practices at other institutions and dialogue between administrators and faculty to discuss workload issues are recommended.     

Course Design,Quality Matters Training,and Student Outcomes

ABSTRACT

North Carolina Central University (NCCU) recognized the need to address the increasing rates of Ds, Fs, and Withdrawal by students matriculating in online courses. Led by two science faculty, a faculty learning community in partnership with the NCCU Division of Extended Studies was created to assess online science course offerings and instruction. Faculty within this learning community completed the Quality Matters (QM) “Applying the Quality Matters Rubric” course. This online training course, coupled with services provided by the NCCU Division of Extended Studies, offered the faculty learning community a variety of pedagogical strategies to meet their instructional needs. All faculty participating in this learning community completed the online training course and all faculty indicated that they implemented changes in their subsequent online course offerings. This article describes the impact of that training and the application of quality course design standards in the Quality Matters Rubric on the design and student outcomes for an Introductory Biology course over four terms. As faculty learning communities are broadly utilized, it is anticipated that this article may present an effective strategy to increase the quality and quantity of online science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses at similar institutions.     

Effective Practices in Distance Education

Summary

Distance education is changing the landscape of higher education and many faculty are now developing Web-based courses. This paper describes the lessons learned by the authors' experiences and research and offers a specific set of pedagogical and assessment strategies that they have found to be successful in online settings. The authors have found that classes delivered on the Web provide a viable option for professional development of K-12 teachers, and that the learning that occurs is of equal quality to those university courses taught on campus. Web-based courses offer students an opportunity to take courses anytime, anyplace.     

The efficacy of embedding special education instruction in teacher preparation programs in the United States

This study examined the effects of embedding special education instruction into preservice general education assessment courses. Participants were teacher candidates in the United States enrolled in a required evaluation and measurement course (n=208). A self-report survey was developed assessing knowledge of and attitudes toward teaching students with learning disabilities. Results indicated that embedded instruction significantly increased teacher candidate's knowledge of inclusion terminology and assessment adaptations (p<.01), and improved confidence levels in meeting the needs of students with learning disabilities improved by 60% over the control group. These results suggest the need to provide faculty in the content area adequate professional development opportunities to ensure that current special education best practices are embedded across the curriculum of teacher candidates.     

Time demands in online instruction1

This article reports findings from a Mellon Foundation research project at Syracuse University with regard to the time demands placed on teachers and learners in online courses. This exploratory research was primarily a study of cases involving three online courses and one face‐to‐face course. The focus of the study was the effects of different forms of communication and collaboration on time invested by teachers and learners. The online courses made use of e‐mail, threaded discussion forums, and online chat sessions; the face‐to‐face course used e‐mail in addition to a course Web site and lectures. Learning outcomes and retention in the three online courses were similar to outcomes and retention in comparable face‐to‐face courses at this institution. Students invested slightly more time in online courses whereas faculty, all of whom were experienced online teachers, invested considerably more time in their online courses. An analysis of interviews with online teachers at other institutions confirms the finding that experienced online teachers invest significantly more time in online teaching than their counterparts in face‐to‐face settings.     

Exploring teachers’ perceived self efficacy and technological pedagogical content knowledge with respect to educational use of the World Wide Web

Research in the area of educational technology has claimed that Web technology has driven online pedagogy such that teachers need to know how to use Web technology to assist their teaching. This study provides a framework for understanding teachers’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Web (TPCK-W), while integrating Web technology into their pedagogical practice. Furthermore, contemporary educational researchers have highlighted the significance of teachers’ self-efficacy, conceptualized as the teachers’ perceptions of their own competence at teaching, and related to instructional strategies as well as teaching effectiveness. The major purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ perceived self-efficacy in terms of their TPCK-W. This study aimed to develop a new questionnaire, namely the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Web (TPCK-W) Survey to explore teachers’ self-efficacy in terms of their TPCK-W, and additionally to assess their attitudes toward Web-based instruction. The participants in this study were 558 teachers from elementary school to high school level in Taiwan. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the TPCK-W survey developed in this study has satisfactory validity and reliability characteristics. The results indicate a lack of general knowledge about Web-related pedagogy amongst the teachers surveyed. The correlations between teachers’ self-efficacy in terms of their TPCK-W, their attitudes regarding Web-based instruction, and their background variables were also examined. Correlations were found between self-efficacy and positive attitudes to web-based instruction. Older and more experienced teachers were found to have lower levels of self-efficacy with respect to TPCK-W, though teachers with more experience of using the web (including for instruction) had higher levels of self-efficacy with respect to TPCK-W.     

Chickering's Seven Principles of Good Practice: Student Attrition in Community College Online Courses

As online enrollments escalate, so does concern about student attrition rates. There is an abundance of literature addressing student success in online courses, particularly using constructivist learning theories to create engaging learning experiences. Also emerging from the literature is the Seven principles of good instructional practice by Checkering and Gamson as an accepted rubric for evaluating effective online instruction. This study focused on whether the use of instructional strategies as measured by the seven principles had an effect on student attrition rates in online courses. Full and part-time faculty at three community colleges in Virginia who taught online course(s) in the last three semesters completed an online survey to determine the extent to which they used instructional strategies reflecting the constructivist-based seven principles in their online courses. Scores from the survey were then compared to the attrition rates in their courses. Results indicated both groups strongly used instructional strategies reflecting the seven principles of good practice in their online courses with full-time faculty scores ranging a bit higher. When the results for the principles were examined individually rather than as a set, both groups scored lower on principles reflecting innovative instructional strategies. No relation between the extent to which faculty reported using those instructional strategies and student success as measured by attrition rates were found. However, a moderate relation was found with the third principle, “encourage active learning.” This indicated that faculty who made strides toward actively engaging students found some success in reducing student attrition.     

Distance Learning on the Internet: An Exploratory Study

The Internet and Web-based technologies have become a popular platform for the development and delivery of distance learning (DL) programs in an online class setting. While these programs have proven popular with both students and faculty, few research studies have been done to determine the impact of these virtual courses on student learning and/or satisfaction. This article presents the development of a Web-based course model and the results from an exploratory study conducted to determine the effectiveness of this model on student satisfaction. Results from the survey reveal that the students had a positive experience with this Web-based course model. Students were generally satisfied with the online learning environment, appreciated the flexibility of being able to access course material any time and any place, and were satisfied with quality and course content.     

FOREWORD

ABSTRACT

The study reported in this paper examined the types of professional-development activities, support systems, and organizational structures necessary for community college faculty to make transitions from traditional teaching to Web-based teaching. Results indicate that (a) instructional change can by initiated through sustained professional development; (b) change is more meaningful and effective when it occurs in context over a sustained period of time; (c) faculty can embrace innovations when supported by knowledgeable professionals and their peers; and (d) students welcome the use of Web-based components in course work. The implications for practice may be useful to those wishing to increase faculty's online instructional competence.     

The digital course training workshop for online learning and teaching

A primary concern with Information Technology (IT) training has been that IT-based training focuses upon the technical or point and click aspects of learning management system (LMS) platforms and pedagogy-enhancing software without any concern for the content of the courses. The Digital Course Training Workshop (DCTW) approach examined in this article addresses this concern by supporting a content-first approach. The DCTW approach—an initiative at a Midwestern University—is aimed at supporting faculty through the process of transitioning from face-to-face (F2F) courses to online teaching. Participating faculty enter the week-long seminar with traditional course content and leave with digital content transitioned into the appropriate LMS platform. This article is intended to stimulate reflections on the need for systematic faculty professional development programs and activities to help higher education faculty in the transition process from traditional to online courses.