In 2005, a Distance Education Report article noted that "course quality and workload are two big issues that often stand in the way of faculty members' willingness to participate in developing and delivering online courses" ("Course Quality and Instructor Workload: Pt. I," p. 4). Five years later, these same concerns are relevant. To be successful, approaches to faculty development and online course development must emphasize instructional effectiveness while also employing methods that promote efficiency and minimize workload. The proposed session will describe a practical model—the faculty workgroup model—that maximizes efficiency and emphasizes quality by combining technology- and pedagogy-focused faculty development, peer mentoring, expertise and resource sharing, and collaborative online course development. Faculty who wish to develop an online course are often faced with some version of this intimidating sequence: 1. Research online teaching and learning. 2. Propose an online course. 3. Participate in technology training (e.g., learning management system, lecture capture software). 4. Participate in online pedagogy workshops, if available. 5. Design course structure and navigation on own or with instructional designer. 6. Develop all teaching materials and course content. 7. Complete formal or informal course review process, and implement changes based on feedback. The faculty workgroup model offers a practical alternative: 1. A group of experienced and novice online teachers working in the same department, discipline, or program come together to design and develop content for a multi-section course or a single course that will be taught by more than one faculty member over time. 2. The facilitator—a workgroup member—leads the group in setting a schedule, identifying the learning objectives that will guide course development, assigning tasks, etc. 3. The expertise of each workgroup member is recognized, and members are called on to contribute knowledge about pedagogy, technology, subject matter, etc. Expertise is shared in a variety of formal (teaching demonstrations; responsibility for specific tasks) and informal (mentoring; sharing links and resources) ways. 4. The group meets once a month over the course of at least one semester and also works together by communicating and collaborating online. 5. Face-to-face meetings focus online pedagogy, course tools, etc. 6. Participation is promoted as both a service and a research opportunity. Importantly, this model emphasizes dividing up the workload among participants, tapping into the strengths of various members, using meeting times for mentoring and faculty development, ensuring that participants are invested in the process and the outcomes, and working together to select research questions and methods. These strategies result in a peer support network, faculty who are better equipped to transition successfully into online teaching or to improve their online teaching, and a high-quality, ready-to-teach course that will continue to be improved over time. Although the faculty workgroup model can be applied within any department or program, the presenter will share research on a workgroup that developed and studied a fully online section of first-year composition. This workgroup—which included an associate professor, an assistant professor, lecturers, and contingent faculty—succeeded in developing a course that passed the university's Quality Matters review on the first try with a very high score. The collaborative efforts of the workgroup members kept the workload manageable and ensured quality results. Student surveys and faculty interviews collected over the course of one academic year (4 faculty, 9 sections) reveal overall satisfaction with the course and achievement of key objectives. Finally, the presenter will emphasize that the workgroup model calls for continued collaboration beyond the initial development cycle. Obviously, student feedback, the availability of new educational technologies, and developments in our fields and in the distance learning literature challenge faculty to refine online courses over time. Once a course is built, those factors can lead to new workload and quality issues. Making improvements over time may be less intimidating that building a course from scratch on one's own, but a collaborative approach has a distinct advantage. Once the initial development and implementation phase is over, workgroup members can continue to share strategies and resources, discuss ways to respond to student feedback, and work together to discover, implement, and study effective ways of promoting "active learning, critical thinking, collaborative learning, and knowledge creation," "developing 21st century literacies," "reaching and engaging today's learner," adopting educational technologies, and "advancing innovation in teaching and learning with technology in an era of budget cuts" ("The EDUCAUSE Top Teaching and Learning Challenges 2009").
