Strategies for Training Online Faculty
1. Workshop
A series of three one-hour WebCT workshops were offered to all faculty. To
allow hands-on experience, all workshops were offered in the computer lab. To
accommodate as many faculty as possible, each series was offered both in the
morning and afternoon.
Each attendee was given access to a WebCT course so that they could orient
themselves and manipulate its features. The workshops were designed so that
the first one was simple to understand and only talked about the general features
of WebCT. The third workshop of the series required them to perform hands-on
exercises, such as uploading PowerPoint files to WebCT and participating in
threaded discussions. All attendees were provided packets that contained instructions
on every exercise that was performed. Articles dealing with pedagogical principles
in online instruction were also shared. On the last of the series, two of the
faculty members most experienced on WebCT were asked to give advice on how to
facilitate online instruction and to avoid pitfalls when using WebCT.
2. Help Page
A personalized WebCT Help desk was developed to offer faculty assistance with
commonly performed WebCT tasks. It was titled, “Learning How to Use WebCT”,
and is available to all faculty once they access their WebCT. The Help Page
contains workshop handouts as well as updated information on WebCT and distance
learning. In addition, faculty were told WebCT also offers support in its help
center. WebCT’s monthly newsletter is also circulated via e-mail to all
faculty who are involved in WebCT.
3. Brown Bag
After the workshops were offered and the WebCT Help page was created, an hour
was allotted every month for informal faculty meetings to share experiences
using WebCT. The main goal of the brown bag lunches was to provide a forum for
faculty to communicate best practices for teaching online.
4. Individual Support
Individual support was provided to faculty who sought assistance. While some
faculty chose to meet in their personal office space, others chose to e-mail
or telephone questions as they arose. The faculty’s perceptions of individual
assistance were varied, as some expected the technical team would upload and
design courses they were teaching. Others understood individual assistance was
only for troubleshooting. The Associate Dean for Community Services handled
requests of individual assistance to ensure each faculty-support person did
not have too much scheduled at one time. A tally was created for the hours devoted
to individual faculty assistance, which will be evaluated at the end of the
school year to decide whether to adjust the number of support people.
5. Distance Education E-mail Communique
A distance education e-mail communiqué was attempted to update faculty
on interesting points about distance learning. Resources included nursing, technology
and education journals as well as professional organizations, including the
U.S. Department of Education, Distance Education at Postsecondary Education
Institutions, Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training
Council, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, and the American Nurses
Association.
6. Web Library
A distance education library was also created in the School of Nursing. It
consists of resources and references on distance education in nursing, and includes
a copy of the WebCT series workshop handouts. The Web library has a number professional
policy reports on distance education, including the National Association of
State Boards of Education’s policy on e- learning, the National Center
for Education Statistics Report on Higher Ed and Technology, and the Regional
Accreditations Commission report for evaluation of electronically offered degree
and certificate programs.