Bringing Face-to-Face Instruction Back Into Online Faculty Development

The presenter is responsible for supporting professional development in the use of instructional technology for 60 adjunct and 10 full-time faculty members in a widely dispersed geographical area. Traditional face-to-face instruction is neither practical nor cost effective. Online self-paced courses are convenient but are not always well received by faculty. A new model was developed and piloted by the presenter which combines online, self-paced instructional modules with regularly scheduled live online faculty development sessions. The self-paced online modules consist of short, targeted multimedia demonstrations of technology applications that were created by the presenter and posted online. Faculty members were given access to the materials through the online content management system used by the institution. This provided some level of security for the materials but more importantly provided a system for data collection on usage and feedback. To supplement the self-paced, online modules, regularly scheduled live sessions on specific topics were presented using a state-of-the art webinar tool. During these webinars, faculty participants could see and hear the instructor using voice and video-over-IP (VOIP) technology. Participants could respond, ask questions and share experiences using inexpensive webcams or headsets. The instructor was able to demonstrate technology applications live and participants could take control of the applications to practice with the guidance of the instructor. Live trainings were also recorded for playback after the session. The new model was piloted during the current academic year and results have been collected and will be analyzed and presented in this session. Quantitative data collected focused on frequency of use of the self-paced modules as well as the participation in the online webinars. Survey data was also collected from participants that assessed their satisfaction with both modes of instruction, their self-assessment of proficiency with the newly acquired skills and their actual application of the new skills following the training. The emphasis of this presentation will be on the practical application of the tool used to create the online modules as well as the use of the webinar tool used in the live sessions. A live demonstration of the creation of a short lesson will be presented during this session. A webinar demonstration will be also scheduled during the presentation. If wireless web or mobile hotspot access permits, participants with laptops may be able to take part in the live webinar session. Although this presentation will demonstrate the use of the model for faculty development, the application of this model has also been used by the presenter in online graduate courses and may be of interest to anyone who teaches online courses or provides professional development online and wants to add a live component to the course or the training. Intermediate computer skills are recommended but not required to benefit from this session. This session would be appropriate for online faculty in K-12 or higher education, professional developers, military trainers and educators, workforce developers, and others providing online support for professional development. The goal of this session is to share results of a new faculty development model and to entice participants to experiment with applications of the model for their own professional development trainings and online courses. At the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to create their own short self-paced lessons and use a webinar tools for live interactive presentations. Sample lessons will be provided to all participants on CD-ROM.