From Driving to Thriving: How an Institution's Quality Course Initiative Guided Online Faculty Development During and After a Crisis

Concurrent Session 7

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Creation of faculty development programs is often a lengthy process and programs may be limited to small enrollment. However, the pandemic created the need for preparing large amounts of faculty for online teaching in a short time. This session will discuss how an institution's burgeoning quality initiative scaffolded a new faculty development experience and how it will inform future faculty development.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Corrinne Stull, University of Central Florida

Corrinne Stull is an Instructional Designer at the University of Central Florida's Center for Distributed Learning (CDL). Corrinne holds a B.A. in Digital Media with a focus on Web Design and previously worked in web development. Her interest in combining technology and education to design and create online learning experiences led her to pursue an M.A. in Instructional Design & Technology, focusing on Instructional Systems. In her current role, Corrinne specializes in personalized adaptive learning software and strategies. Other research interests include online course accessibility, active learning strategies, quality in online courses, and the use of OER materials. Additionally, Corrinne is the coordinator of CDL's Faculty Seminars in Online Teaching, standalone seminars offered periodically for collegial dialogue around best practices in online teaching.

Co-presenter: Roslyn Miller, University of Central Florida

Roslyn Miller is an instructional designer at the University of Central Florida with more than 20 years' experience as an educator in public, private, military, and university settings. She holds a BA in mathematics from Harding University, an MS in secondary education from Mississippi State University, and a PhD in curriculum and instruction from Mississippi State University. Roslyn specializes in quality course design, assessment, and STEM education.

Co-presenter: Nancy Swenson, University of Central Florida

Nancy Swenson has a MA degree in Educational Technology from the University of Central Florida. She has a B.S from Florida International University in Business Education. Nancy has worked at the Center for Distributed Learning at UCF as an Instructional Designer since 2000. Prior to working at UCF, she taught business education classes in the public school system for 13 years. She has also worked as an adjunct with Florida Virtual School, Valencia Community College, and the University of Central Florida. Her online teaching and learning research interests include usability, accessibility of online education, quality of online courses, and universal design for learning. Nancy has presented on similar topics at a variety of conferences including: EDUCAUSE, EDUCAUSE Southeast, SLOAN-Consortium International Conference on Online Learning, EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) Webinar, and Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA) Annual Conference, and Accessing Higher Ground, Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN)

Extended Abstract

Introduction

The design, development, and implementation of new faculty development programs is often a detailed and lengthy process, requiring much planning and time, as well as many resources. Additionally, many faculty development courses may be limited in the number of participants they can accommodate. So what do you do when you must quickly design, develop, and implement a new faculty development course in a mere few weeks, for hundreds of faculty members, while maintaining quality? 

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic last summer (2020), we could not deliver our standard faculty development offering which prepares faculty members to teach fully online and partially online (blended) courses because the course itself is blended, and is designed to involve face-to-face sessions. Additionally, our standard course is designed to accommodate approximately 40 participants per cohort (one cohort per semester), and we had over 350 faculty members that suddenly needed to be taught how to design, develop, and deliver their own quality online courses as soon as possible. It was clear that our standard course would not accommodate our immediate needs and that we needed to create something new. Thus, a team of instructional designers collaborated to quickly design, develop, and implement a new faculty development course that could accommodate a large enrollment without sacrificing quality. 

Session Details

In this session, we will discuss how we leveraged our institution's burgeoning initiative for quality online courses to create a new faculty development experience. The presenters will focus on how the quality course initiative drove the design of the faculty development course itself, as well as how it was ingrained throughout the course for the faculty participants and the development of their own courses. Additionally, we will discuss how the end product went better than expected, both for the preparation of our faculty members, as well as the advancement of our institution's quality initiative. Finally, the presenters will discuss how this experience will continue to inform future faculty development courses and faculty preparation. Participants will be engaged via discussion, Q&A, and interactive polls.