Creating a supportive culture for online teaching: A case study of a faculty learning community

This case study describes the creation of a supportive culture for online teaching at a western university that was transitioning to a new learning management system. The case study highlighted the creation of a faculty learning community as one strategy to address the challenge of faculty working through a change process. The faculty learning community provided a space for the development of best practices in teaching, drawing from the pedagogical experiences of teachers from diverse disciplines. The learning community also provided a venue for expanding the technical knowledge level of faculty members with a range of comfort levels with varied technologies

Power of the Faculty: Consequences of No Confidence Votes for College Presidents

The roles of college faculty members have changed, often in relation to increased specialization of their functions as either teachers or researchers. Similarly, the college presidency has changed, relying less on faculty interactions and increasing reliance and interaction on external stakeholders. The result is a less faculty-centric college presidency. The faculty, however, still have significant expectations for involvement with the college president and have the use of a no-confidence vote to express their opinions about the performance of the individual in the presidential position. Drawing upon a sample of faculty senate leaders, the current study found that few of these individuals know whether or not their campuses have formal guidelines for no-confidence votes, yet they do see them as effective tools for protesting the presidency and expressing their approval for the president’s performance

Creating a supportive culture for online teaching: a case study of a faculty learning community. Faculty Publications. Paper 4. http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/edulead_pub/4

Abstract This case study describes the creation of a supportive culture for online teaching at a western university that was transitioning to a new learning management system. The case study highlighted the creation of a faculty learning community as one strategy to address the challenge of faculty working through a change process. The faculty learning community provided a space for the development of best practices in teaching, drawing from the pedagogical experiences of teachers from diverse disciplines. The learning community also provided a venue for expanding the technical knowledge level of faculty members with a range of comfort levels with varied technologies. Creating a Supportive Culture for Online Teaching: A Case Study of a Faculty Learning Community Colleges and universities throughout the United States, and throughout the world, continue to integrate technology into their instructional offerings Institutions have struggled to find consistent and effective ways of keeping faculty current with technological innovations In one western United States university of over 30,000 students, one of the academic colleges found aggravated problems with online learning as the learning management system underwent a significant upgrade. This academic college, one of eight on the campus, had an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students, and in the spring of 2010, offered 115 classes entirely online and 1,476 classes that had some technological element that would classify the course as a 'hybrid,' meaning that some significant element of the class was offered using a learning management system. In developing a response to the changed learning management system (LMS), the academic unit's leaders had to give special attention to the range of instructional and learning needs of the unit's students. Ultimately, the unit leaders consulted with the continuing education branch of the university for assistance in embracing the changes to the LMS, and jointly, the two units developed a faculty-in-residence program. The faculty-in-residence program was designed to support the goal of ensuring that unit faculty members were trained in developing courses and programs that encompassed best practices for teaching and learning online. In consultation with the university's faculty development center and through meetings and interviews with unit faculty, the faculty-inresidence developed and launched a faculty learning community initiative. The current discussion was drawn from the experiences of the faculty-in-residence's effort to establish a faculty-based learning community. Challenges to Transitioning Faculty A variety of scholars have discussed the importance of multi-tiered support for faculty members transitioning to online teaching, including technical and moral support (program or department, university staff, and faculty peers), education on changed processes for everything from entering grades and hosting discussions to new ideas about attendance and even student registration Part of creating a supportive culture for online teaching is effectively communicating the value of online education At the case study institution, online courses have been developed and offered for over a decade. Considering the state's financial situation and expanding enrollments with reduced state budgets, there was an encouragement for faculty members to use more technologically-mediated instruction. So although many faculty members had embraced and enjoyed online instruction, there were equally many who had resisted the growing use of technology. For those who had been reluctant users, the new LMS resulted in frequent complaints with the common cry of having to completely reconstruct course content and material. Additionally, the new LMS was adopted as the primary supporting mechanism for all courses, so that course handouts, additional readings, discussion boards, and in many cases even textbooks, were all instructed to be incorporated through the LMS. Creating a Faculty Learning Community The benefit of faculty learning communities as enablers of lasting change in higher education is well documented Session participants ranged from experienced online instructors to highly skeptical professors who viewed online instruction as nothing more than a passing fad. The structured sessions were augmented with informal, voluntary continued meetings throughout the semester, ultimately creating teams of faculty who cared deeply about each other. Admittedly, some faculty members simply went in their own direction and had little interaction with others, while some built email distribution lists, joined others for lunch in the faculty club, and yet others frequently met over coffee to discuss exciting new websites or online instructional methods that could aid in course design and effectiveness