Pivoting Our Online Faculty Mentor Program: Mentoring after Unmasking

Concurrent Session 5

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

Taking advantage of chaotic times, post-pandemic, we are re-envisioning our online faculty mentor program. We will share our story of how we pivoted our program to address issues of effectiveness and engagement in supporting the professional development of those faculty designing and delivering online courses.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Karen Hein, Middle Tennessee State University

I am an instructional designer with Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). I began my professional career as a librarian at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), teaching online in the library science programs at both UNO and the University of Missouri. I moved into faculty development and instructional design at UNO in 2011, working for the distance education unit as the Senior Coordinator for Instructional Design and Faculty Support. After completing my PhD in Educational Studies with an emphasis on Internet-Based Education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I served as the Director of UNO's Center for Faculty Excellence. In that position, I was responsible for creating and supporting campus-wide faculty professional development opportunities and consulting with faculty on teaching and learning, with a particular focus on teaching with technology and online learning. I moved to MTSU in January 2021, focusing more specifically on instructional design of online learning experiences.

Additional Authors

Extended Abstract

 

ur institution established an online faculty mentoring (OFM) program in the early 2000s in efforts to support faculty new to teaching online.  Originally designed to use peer review processes for initial online course development and subsequent course revision, experienced faculty reviewed courses and provided feedback using a locally-developed quality checklist.  Integrating more robust professional development and mentoring activities were on the “wish list” for program evolution.  At the same time, the institution and the unit responsible for overseeing the development of distance education / online learning began strategic initiatives to grow our online presence, including hiring a new chief online learning officer, a new director, and a team of instructional designers.  Additional changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic positioned us to re-evaluate our mentoring program to determine improvements. 

 

This presentation highlights how we pivoted our program to move from a course review model to one of learning communities and mentoring.  This model takes better advantage of faculty expertise and taps into the benefits of community and connection we know to be critical in building successful online teaching and learning experiences (see the large body of research literature surrounding Garrison’s (2000) Community of Inquiry framework).  Others can benefit from our story as we share more details on the history of our program and how we determined our actions for transforming our practices. An update on our progress (successes and challenges) in implementing the changes will be provided.  

 

PLAN FOR INTERACTIVITY

The presentation will begin by gathering more information about participant experiences with mentoring programs and elements considered important for mentoring to be successful.  A learning community session will be modeled so that not only will participants learn about our pivoted mentoring program but they’ll get to experience what it’s like to be part of our community.  Feedback on the model session will be requested.

OUTCOMES / TAKEAWAYS

The participants will leave this workshop with the knowledge of how to develop or revise an Online Faculty Mentoring program focused on learning communities and will have had the opportunity to participate in a professional development activity. Participants will also leave with new tools they can use in their online environment after participating in the faculty learning community.