Faculty Training and Certification: A Panel Discussion

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Faculty Training and Certification A Panel
Discussion

• Planned and moderated by
• Boria Sax, Ph.D.
• Director of Online Research, Development and
  Training
• Mercy College

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With

• Donald Hart
• Director of Graduate Education, Thomas Edison
  State College
• Frank McCluskey
• Provost, American Public University Systems
• Robert McDole
• Instructional Technologist, Mountain State
  University
• Janet Moore
• Chief Learning Officer, Sloan-C
• Michael Lindeman
• Program Director, Illinois Online Network
• Tina Royal
• Director of Technology Assisted Learning, Marist
  College

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• The habits formed in an only classroom do not
  transfer will to an online format, so faculty
  members who teach online must be trained not only
  in technology but in pedagogy as well. Online
  teaching has been growing explosively but
  somewhat chaotically over the past two decades or
  so there are now scores of faculty training
  programs in the United States, but there is no
  standard for comparison and evaluation. Sloan-C
  is now engaged in examining the needs of
  universities in faculty training and
  certification, and this panel discussion is part
  of that endeavor.

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Carol Gravel did a survey of programs in
training and certification in online teaching in
2005. She summarized her findings as follows

• 1. The target audience is not all university
  professors/faculty. Programs are offered for
  trainers, administrators, etc.
• 2. Cost for an individual course is anywhere from
  200 1700. Cost of a "program" is anywhere
  from 995- 1900
• 3. The majority of certifications are offered as
  graduate certificates from colleges or
  universities.
• 4. Apprenticeship is not explicitly defined as
  part of the program in any of the online
  information.

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• We have asked people to participate who are
  involved in online education and faculty training
  in a variety of institutions and from a variety
  of perspectives. As in any live discussion, we
  look for fresh answers and spontaneous
  interaction from participants, but we can
  announce some of the basic questions in advance.

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A Few Basic Questions

• What do you feel faculty at your institution need
  to know in order to teach online?
• How do you evaluate the design and teaching of an
  online course?
• What training programs are in place at your
  institution? What are their successes and
  challenges?
• How do you motivate faculty to participate in
  training? With what success?
• What sort of training would you like to implement
  if you had the necessary resources and support?
• How might Sloan-C help?

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• We hope you can make it to our panel discussion,
  and ask questions of your own.
• Thank you for your interest.
• The End