Building a Virtual Faculty Community Sara Sander, Program Chair Catherine Flynn, Director of Faculty School of Arts

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Building a Virtual Faculty CommunitySara
Sander, Program Chair Catherine Flynn, Director
of FacultySchool of Arts SciencesKaplan
College

• The 9th Annual Sloan-C International Conference
  on
• Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN)
• The Power of Online Learning Implications for
  Teaching and Learning
• November 14-16, 2003Orlando, Florida

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Purpose of the Virtual Faculty Community

• Faculty satisfaction directly corresponds to
  faculty performance.
• Building a community among faculty members is a
  critical strategy for online institutions
  committed to growth and prosperity.

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Faculty Training Recruiting

• The Training Process is the first step in
  integrating faculty into learning communities
  Faculty are trained in cohorts to establish
  relationships and develop a collegial environment

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Training Process

•  How to be a Successful Online Instructor
  Course
• Mentor Assignment
• Course Shadowing
• Teleconference

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Online Training Course

• How to be a Successful Online Instructor
• Builds familiarity with Kaplans platform
• Establishes community of instructors
• Provides practice in facilitating online seminars

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Mentor Assignment

• Leverages strengths in veteran faculty
• Builds confidence for new and veteran faculty
• Establishes levels of performance expectation

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Course Shadowing

• Tied to mentor assignment
• Provides model behavior for new faculty to
  emulate
• Further strengthens Kaplans model of community

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Teleconferences

• Real-time connection for new and veteran faculty
• Opportunity to address issues with immediate
  feedback
• Social engagement that builds sense of team and
  community

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Question Answer Sessions

• Four teleconference QA sessions are held each
  quarter so faculty can . . .
• Share Best Practices
• Generate ideas through faculty connections
• Discuss student concerns, issues of pedagogy,
  technical challenges.

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Professional Development Workshops

• Quarterly workshops for faculty across Kaplan
  College
• Faculty driven topics address issues relevant to
  online learning
• Faculty present and share areas of expertise,
  research and knowledge

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Faculty Retreat

• Kaplan hosts annual retreats to bring faculty
  and administration face-to-face to -
• Present research findings
• Discuss training issues
• Share ideas on strategies for effective
  implementation of distance learning programs

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TechnologyTechnology meets the needs of
community and pedagogy

• In addition to the traditional means of
  communication such as email and instant
  messaging, Kaplan has several phases of
  technology roll-outs to assist faculty in staying
  connected.

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Faculty Directory

• Divided by discipline
• Access granted to full- and part-time faculty
  through Kaplan Portal
• Provides photos, names, contact information,
  biographical data, research interests

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Academic Meeting Minutes

• Password-protected online site permits review of
  minutes to all academic meetings across the
  College
• Faculty stay current on curriculum and policy
  changes, as well as the direction of the college

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Faculty Message Board

• Phase Two of Kaplans Connection Project
• Message Boards divided by discipline
• Will facilitate faculty communication in an
  asynchronous manner on topics relevant to their
  discipline

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Course DevelopmentGone with the old..in with
the new

• Course Development Teams connect faculty and the
  Kaplan Technology Group
• Teams consist of -
• faculty member
• editor
• instructional designer
• and a pedagogy expert

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Course Development cont.

• The Team strategy approach to course development
  ensures that all areas of expertise are
  represented and that students will have a
  successful course experience.

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Cognate Area Meetings

• Include all faculty who teach in a given
  discipline or course
• Course leaders schedule and facilitate
• Meetings address issues specific to delivery of a
  particular course or within a specific cognate
  area
• Faculty work together to identify needs and
  issues specific to their course.
•  

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Conclusion

• The virtual environment supports and enhances
  many community building activities that assist
  organizations like Kaplan College in providing
  faculty with a rich and enjoyable experience.
  Faculty satisfaction directly corresponds to
  faculty performance. Building a community among
  faculty members is a critical strategy for online
  institutions committed to growth and prosperity.
  
•