Online Faculty Certification

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Online Faculty Certification

• Presented by
• Dr. Vesta Whisler
• Ivy Tech Community College
• East Central Region
• vwhisler_at_ivytech.edu

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Topics

• Why we certify our own faculty to teach online
• How we certify faculty to teach online

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Why Certify Our Own Faculty?

• Online courses are in demand
• Quality of online courses is in question
• Many faculty have never taught an online course
• Many faculty have never taken an online course

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Informal Survey 1

• If you think
• online courses are more in demand on your campus
  this academic year than last
• hold up your smiley face
• If not,
• hold up your frowney face

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Online Courses are in Demand

• UOP Online saw 70 enrollment increase
• up from 29,000 students in 2001
• to 49,400 in 20021
• Postsecondary schools expect online enrollment
  growth to continue to accelerate
• expected average growth rate for online students
  for 2004 was 24.8
• up from 19.8 in 20032
• 1Gallagher, S. (2002, October). For-profit
  postsecondary online programs grow rapidly by
  meeting student needs. The Education Economy.
  Boston Eduventures, Inc. ).
• 2Sloan Consortium (2004). Entering the
  Mainstream The Quality and Extent of Online
  Education in the United States, 2003 and 2004.
  http//www.sloan-c.org/resources/survey.asp

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Online Courses are in Demand

• In 2000-01, about half of all course
  enrollments in distance education courses were at
  public 2-year colleges.33NCES National Center
  for Education Statistics. The Condition of
  Education 2004, Section 5 on Contexts of
  Postsecondary Education, p. 85http//nces.ed.gov/
  pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid2004077

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Ivy Tech Statewide DE Stats
Includes online video courses. In 2004, 92.8
were online, 7.2 video.
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Ivy Tech Statewide DE Stats
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FASTNET Students

• FASTNET saw a 100 enrollment increase
• up from 150 students Fall, 2004
• to 300 in Fall, 2005
• For each 8-week session

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Why Certify Faculty?

• Online courses are in demand
• Quality of online courses is in question

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Informal Survey 2

• If you think
• online courses are as good as (or better than)
  face-to-face courses on your campus
• hold up your smiley face
• If not
• hold up your frowney face

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Quality of Online Courses

• A majority of academic leaders believe that
  online learning quality is already equal to or
  superior to face-to-face instruction.
• Three quarters of academic leaders at public
  colleges and universities believe that online
  learning quality is equal to or superior to
  face-to-face instruction4
• 4Sloan Consortium (2004). Entering the
  Mainstream The Quality and Extent of Online
  Education in the United States, 2003 and 2004.
  http//www.sloan-c.org/resources/survey.asp

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Why Certify Faculty?

• Online courses are in demand
• Quality of online courses is in question
• Many faculty have never taught an online course

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And Even More Important . . .

• Many faculty have never taken an online
  course.

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Why Certify Online Faculty?

• Most of us
• have experienced what its like to take a f2f
  class
• from the students perspective.
• Many, however,
• have NOT experienced what its like to take an
  online class
• from the students perspective.

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Informal Survey 3

• If you
• are (or know) a faculty member
• who has taught online
• AND taken an online class
• hold up your smiley face
• If you
• are (or know) a faculty member
• who has taught online
• but not taken an online class
• hold up your frowney face

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Faculty Professional Development

• Takes time
• Adjuncts sometimes hired on the fly
• Takes money
• PDG funds in short supply
• Online classes are fairly new
• Not available when many of us earned degrees

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Why Certify Faculty?

• Online courses are in demand
• Quality of online courses is in question
• Many faculty have never taught an online course
• Many faculty have never taken an online course

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Topics

• Why we certify faculty to teach online
• How we certify faculty

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Online Faculty Certification Course

• Online experience
• The expectations
• The participants
• The results

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Personal Online Experience

• Late 90s Ivy Tech
• Top Class
• Self-taught
• SMSU CIS Not my passion
• Capella University Online Learning My passion
• Lotus Notes
• Ivy Tech Statewide
• Adopted Blackboard 5 First Class
• Franklin University
• Online faculty training
• Ball State Blackboard 6
• Ivy Tech Blackboard 6
• 2004 FASTRACK FASTNET
• University of Phoenix
• OE/OWA
• Intense online faculty training

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Realization

• Not everyone interested in teaching online
  classes for Ivy Tech has been as immersed in
  online learning as others.

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Solution

• Share what we know with others
• Develop internal training modules

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The Expectations

• Four modules
• Minimum participation 3 days a week
• Successful completion of at least 80 of
  assignments
• 1 Credit Hour 16 contact hours
• Four weeks 4 contact hours/week

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The Participants

• First class (July, 2005)
• All current prospective FASTNET Instructors
  (full-time or adjunct)
• Certified 27 faculty
• Second class (Sept, 2005)
• New FASTNET Instructors any interested Region
  06 faculty (full-time or adjunct)
• Certified 18 more faculty
• Third class (Oct, 2005)
• Any interested Region 06 full-time and adjunct
  faculty
• Mandatory for full-time faculty in some divisions
  in Region 06
• 20 currently participating
• Next class (Feb, 2006)
• Any interested person qualified to teach for Ivy
  Tech
• 8-week option

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The Results

• Participants were asked What are the five
  most important or memorable things you learned
  from this course?
• How to work in groups.
• How powerful discussion boards can be
• The use of rubrics to encourage students to
  contribute even more than they currently do in my
  classes.
• Building a sense of community in an online class
  is very important and how icebreakers can help

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Results, continued . . .

• One distinction that is important as an
  instructor integrating learner-centered activity
  is to act as a coach or facilitator and give
  support but not too much.
• Plagiarism How to detect it as well as the
  variety of information available on this topic.
  The group discussions/input helped out
  tremendously.
• Time Management The on line learning will demand
  a more structured time management style from the
  typical student who may wait to do all homework
  in one night.

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Results, continued . . .

• The assignments helped me to brush-up on Ivy Tech
  Policies and Procedures.
• Above all, the best part of this course was the
  vivid and stimulating interaction between all the
  participants.  It reinforced a notion that I
  already had after teaching several online
  classes--that online classes can certainly be
  just as interactive as f2f classes, and sometimes
  even more so. 
• The entire process of checking grades, posting to
  the digital drop box, downloading assignment
  sheets, and everything just helped me to get a
  better idea of what my students see on the
  student side of eLearning. 

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Results, continued

• The importance of an autobiography to a student. 
  I learned a lot about my classmates. 
• I learned how to use external links. 
• I really like using a syllabus template, I think
  this allows for consistency and does not allow
  you to forget something. 
• I certainly have learned how to walk in my
  students' shoes.

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In Summary . . .

• Why we certify faculty to teach online
• Because its important to share best practices
• How we certify faculty to teach online
• Online, of course ?

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Question Answer Time