Moving Forward With Faculty: Accommodating Diverse Needs During & After COVID
Concurrent Session 9
Brief Abstract
Like many institutions last summer, Hilbert College enacted transformation change by supporting over 90 faculty and adjunct instructors in transitioning all courses to the online environment. Depending on the data gathered throughout the process, this presentation tells the story of how we accommodated faculty with an asynchronous course bolstered by synchronous meetings. Faculty developed strong courses, learned a lot, and some even had fun doing so. You’ll not only learn how we worked to maintain course quality and manage the project but responded to initial survey findings to better accommodate a wide range of faculty skills and interest levels.
Presenters
Additional Authors
Extended Abstract
Like many institutions last summer, Hilbert College enacted transformation change by supporting over 90 faculty and adjunct instructors in transitioning all courses to the online environment. Depending on the data gathered throughout the process, this presentation tells the story of how we accommodated faculty with an asynchronous course bolstered by synchronous meetings.
One of our main goals was to ensure the quality of the online courses. We started with a Quality Checklist and Time on Task spreadsheet, which set standards and expectations. These were further discussed in the 8-week asynchronous facilitated online development course in which we enrolled all faculty. The course covered the difference between face-to-face, remote, and online instruction, emphasizing how traditional courses often need to be re-visioned in order to engage learners. Other segments included assessments, activities, and content. As faculty progressed through the online development course, they shared parts of their own courses with their peers and facilitators, who also reviewed the courses every two weeks and provided feedback. These strategies supported faculty, built community, and resulted in quality online courses.
Communication with faculty and project management improved throughout the duration of the course development. Weekly synchronous meetings with cohorts organized by department helped to streamline communication as well as project reporting mechanisms with status updated on a weekly basis. In the presentation, we’ll cover further adjustments made in response to faculty survey results and feedback, including communication planning
Accommodating various faculty needs and interests begins with understanding and continues by charting specialized pathways through standard content. Based on feedback from the Hilbert faculty, we created a needs assessment that asked about faculty technical skills, experience with online instruction, and teaching philosophies. One way of addressing these needs was by creating specific content and activities for faculty who need an additional challenge. We accommodated technological skill sets by including a section that taught LMS basics, which would be completed by all training participants. This leveled the playing field and insured that all faculty could approach subsequent content at the same level.
Although we learned along the way, our strategies not only led faculty to design quality courses but also improved their confidence about developing and teaching in the online environment, benefiting the institution and its students.