Faculty as Authors of Online Courses: Support and Mentoring

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Faculty as Authors of Online CoursesSupport and
Mentoring

• Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Ph.D.
• Senior Instructional Designer
• Deborah Cotler, Ed.M.
• Instructional Designer
• Simmons College

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Overview of Todays Presentation

• Introduction
• Preliminary concerns of faculty (video)
• What first timers need to know
• Faculty perspective (video)
• Support Framework (developed out of patterns of
  need)
• Two case studies
• Whats helpful?
• Faculty perspective (video)
• Support Strategies (building on what faculty say
  is helpful)
• Institutional framework (roles and guiding
  questions)

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Our Present Context

• Its not just pioneers second wave are
  asked/expected to develop hybrid and fully-online
  courses
• Its not an either/or
• Faculty who are second wave in relationship to
  technology may be pedagogical pioneers
• We need listen to mainstream faculty to hear that
  perspective and identify patterns of need

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Mary Jane Treacy, Honors Program
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Vicki Bacon, SHS (Adjunct)
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Bob Goldman, Mathematics
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Preliminary Concerns
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Faculty Preliminary Concerns

• Loss of quality
• Loss of control
• Failure
• The person with few preliminary concerns was
  taken aback by the difference between her
  expectations and the actual experience.

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Online Authoring Whats Different?

• Posting of a session is distinct/separate from
  teaching the session
• Metaphor session as musical score
• Tone
• Part
• Timing
• Structural flow
• Requires faculty to develop a new skill set

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What First Timers Need To Know
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Faculty What Peers Need to Know

• Youre teaching in a new medium
• Look at models, consider what will/wont work for
  you
• Your writing needs to be both explicit and
  inviting
• Because this is authorship, revisions and
  versioning are part of the process
• Think ahead and clarify the plan
• Your role will feel different

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Online Courses Require New Skills

• be explicit in writing up assignments
• write with a familiar tone that conveys both
  meaning and personality
• sequence online learning activities
• phrase and sequence questions that prompt
  meaningful discussion
• integrate formative assessment into pilot
  offerings, and use that assessment to make
  constructive revisions

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Support Framework (patterns of need)

• Instructional Designer helps faculty learn
• How to author a coherent, integrated learning
  experience
• What needs to be composed in advance and what can
  be improvised
• How to attend to emotional needs of online
  learners
• How to keep students engaged and oriented online
• To consider what the course looks like from the
  students perspective (formative assessment)

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Formative Assessment Questions

• How many hours did you spend working on this
  module?
• What are your suggestions for improving this
  module? Please also fill us in on problems you
  encountered with technology, directions, or
  organization of material.
• Considering the objectives for this module, what
  do you think is the most important thing you
  learned? What questions remain?

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The Framework in Action

• Two Case Studies
• Sports Psychology (Vicki Bacon)
• WebStat (Bob Goldman)

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Sports Psychology
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Pilot Formative Feedback

• Student engagement lagged
• Key concepts not grasped
• Students unclear about tasks

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The Evolution of an Activity
First Assignment Construct Your Genogram
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Sample Genogram
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WebStat
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Pilot Formative Feedback

• Minor in-line modifications made to sequencing
• Course lacked community
• Technology underutilized

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Revised Version

• Focus on interactivity and community
• Required group assignments
• Chat and whiteboard tools incorporated
• Increased use of multimedia

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Version Two Improvements
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Faculty What helped?

• Planning, guidance, feedback, editing
• Feedback from instructional designer whos
  knowledgeable, but not a subject matter expert
• Mapping things out
• Formative assessment
• Moral support (companionship)
• Hear it from them

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What Helped?
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Support Strategies

• Building on what faculty say was helpful
• Establish optimal conditions for dialogue
• Clarify goals for students understanding and
  skill development
• Brainstorm ideas
• Work with faculty as writers and as revisers

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Suggested Authorship Process

• Articulate a template
• Model a sequence of authorship that begins with
  an analysis of students ideas (including
  misconceptions)
• Encourage faculty to have someone else read
  material, looking for areas that need
  clarification
• Help faculty recognize their voice and find that
  voice in writing
• Set up a process for revision (versioning) that
  draws on formative assessment and peer feedback

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Avenues for Support

• Building a community of practice through
• Annual Tech Fair (with posters of exemplary
  faculty work)
• Workshops, conferences, and a faculty institute
• Theme-based Faculty Lunch Series (designing
  groupwork, facilitating discussions, increasing
  student engagement, formative assessment)
• Fellowships and Mini-grants

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Final Words

• Recognize that support for online learning is a
  systemic issue (institution-wide)
• There are many questions that Academic
  Administrators and Program Directors may not know
  to ask
• Be proactive in providing guiding questions and
  in clarifying role expectations (see handouts)

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Visit us on the web

• http//my.simmons.edu/services/technology/ptrc
• Go to articles newsletters for this
  presentation