Faculty Development for On-line Educators

Lawrence C. Ragan, Director Instructional Design and Development Penn State’s World Campus

Goals

• To explain/highlight the role of faculty development within the World Campus

• Describe faculty development initiatives

• Q&A

Philosophy of Faculty Development

• Faculty are one of the most critical resources

• Faculty need new skills/competencies

• Faculty desire learning opportunities

• Faculty development must be multi-dimensional

History of FC at World Campus

• Started in 1995

• Provided “intro to DE” style programs

• IDE (AT&T funded project) enabled sponsor of more FD programs

• Today’s programs--rich assortment of offerings

• Part of ID&D mission

Faculty Development Goals• Provide skills in technology and

pedagogy

• Use existing FD University-wide programs

• Provide varied formats (independent/ cohort, on-line/print, synchronous/ asynchronous, individual/group)

Faculty Development Resources

• 1/4 Grad student position assigned to Faculty Development

• Annual budget item (separate from ID&D)

• Access to tech support and ID&D staff

On-line FD Design

• Fac Dev 101-- started in 1998

• Goal: provide faculty with “distance student perspective”

• Cohort-based FD opportunity (instructor lead)

• Grad student “project” with staff input

• Initially opened in 1998 to PSU only

On-line FD Experience

• Limited response (3/20)

• Limited access by faculty

• Tremendous external interest

• Revisit our approach

Fac Dev 101 (today)

• Consists of public site with information on

–a) authoring content for on-line courses,

–b) instructing an on-line course

• Consist of “private” space for PSU-only dialog

Fac Dev 101

•

http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/facdev101/

Most Common Question

• Would you mind if we use your materials to develop our own version of Fac Dev 101?

• Of course we’d mind but you are welcome to link to our site.

The Faculty Development Bigger Picture

Goal of the Online Course

• Enables the students to reach the learning objectives of the course

• Supports the teaching process and. . . is cost efficient and learning effective

• Enables success for both teacher and student

Fac Dev Program Formats (formal)

• Hands-on workshops

• Seminar Series

• DE Links

• Annual Conference

• Faculty Thinktank

Wish List Fac Dev Strategies

• “Certify” WC faculty

• Provide incentives (payment, equipment, etc...)

• Encourage broader use of web-based resources

• Construct “Faculty Lounge” as a fac dev resource

www.worldcampus.psu.edu

Slides: www.personal.psu.edu/lcr1