Increasingly, professors in higher education are asked by institutions to deliver online courses to provide accessible programming, to address student demand, or to respond to competitive and economic pressures (Abrami et al., 2006; CCL, 2009; Naidu, 2006). Shifting to online learning is never smooth, however, and there has been some faculty resistance to that shift (CCL, 2009). The transition to online learning may be difficult because of the required paradigm shift. Teaching in a virtual classroom requires learning and application of new skills and, as Naidu (2006) observes, may also require "de-skilling" (p. 61) of ingrained face-to-face practices. As the instructional designer for a small university in Canada, I work with professors who teach undergraduate and masters-level online courses. In my support role, I seek to clarify the ways of interaction, learning, and knowing in an online context. I challenge the professors I work with to really think about the why of what they are doing. While many studies have been done on the experience of online learners and how they negotiate their sense of place in a virtual classroom (Dalziel, 2008), few focus on the influence of learning design and professors' orientation to online learning. The focus of this doctoral research has been to gain an understanding of how Master of Education (MEd) professors transition from face-to-face classrooms to online spaces. The questions guiding the research were: (a) Do MEd professors change perspectives on teaching and learning when they move to an online teaching environment? (b) How do they negotiate identity and build community online? (c) Is it necessary for online professors to redefine teaching style and content to match the online learning environment? The purpose of this presentation is to explore the answers to these questions and to recommend appropriate supports for professors new to teaching online. Methods Action research methods incorporate and encourage participants' connections with what is being studied. I, as the researcher, was an integral member of this group. The professors I worked with traced their own learning and explored their own support needs. Five sources of data informed this research study and allowed for triangulation: (a) A survey questionnaire to collect background information on faculty members' teaching experience and self-assessed technological skills levels; (b) Transcripts of three focus group sessions with 6 participants, (c) Transcripts of one-to-one interviews with each participant; (d) Journals from participants, and (e) My own field notes/journal. Results Conversation analysis explored how participants transitioned to becoming effective teachers in the blended, synchronous-asynchronous online teaching environment. Participants used their reflections to identify ways they could improve their practice. In this presentation, I will present the results of this study, paying specific attention to how instructional designers can support professors' transition to online learning. Conclusions Dalziel (2008) bemoans "our lack of progress on sharing ‘pedagogical know-how' among educators …We have not captured the teaching processes that expert educators use to bring learning alive in their e-learning courses" (p. 375). This research project has addressed this by improving practice and informing the work of instructional designers who are charged with the task of assisting with the design of online curriculum. Moreover, this research project has provided space for faculty members to be reflective and introspective about their own online teaching experiences and to share their experience with colleagues. By sharing stories of experience and discussing design rationale, not only can instructors new to online teaching benefit, but also the potential exists for the emergence of a community of learning where conversations will advance personal and professional learning, and, subsequently, improve learners' experiences (Dalziel, 2008). This study has brought a very specific and new body of knowledge to the rich body of literature and research data that is now available regarding the pedagogy of teaching online. The study is unique because it is focused narrowly on professors of education—experts in the field of education—who are learning to teach in an online environment, an environment that requires these educators to use traditional, synchronous, face-to-face classroom teaching tools as well as the asynchronous capabilities built into online teaching and learning tools. By talking about online educational processes and receiving advice on the online design of these processes, "then not only could a novice educator benefit from the work of experts, but all educators could collectively adapt and improve each other's work, leading to improved quality overall" (Dalziel, p. 376). References Abrami, P. C., Bernard, R. M., Wade, C. A., Schmid, R. F., Borokhovski, E., Tamin, R., Surkes, M., Lowerison, G., Zhang, D., Nicolaidou, I., Newman, S., Wozney, L., & Peretiatkowicz, A. (2006). A review of e-learning in Canada: A rough sketch of the evidence, gaps, and promising directions. Montreal, Canada: Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University. Canadian Council on Learning (2009). The state of e-learning in Canada. Ottawa, Canada: Author. Retrieved from http://www.ccl-cca.ca/pdfs/E-learning/E-Learning_Report_FINAL-E.PDF Dalziel, J. (2008). Chapter 24. Learning design: Sharing pedagogical know-how. In T. Iiyoshi & M. S. V. Kumar (Eds.), Opening up education: The collective advancement of education through open technology, open content, and open knowledge (pp. 375-387). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Retrieved from http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters /0262033712chap24.pdf Dell, C. A., Hobbs, S. F., & Miller, K. (2008). Effective online teacher preparation: Lessons learned. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4(4), 602-610. Fein, A. D., & Logan, M. C. (2003). Preparing instructors for online instruction. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, No. 100. 45-55. Kincheloe, J. L. (n.d.). Learning to teach: Exploring the epistemology of practice. Retrieved from The Freire Project: http://freire.mcgill.ca/articles/node%2065/Teacher%20Education /Learning%20To%20Teach.doc Naidu, S. (2006). E-learning: A guidebook of principles, procedures and practices. Bengali Colony, New Delhi: Commonwealth Educational Media Center for Asia. Retrieved November 19, 2008, from http://www.cemca.org/e-learning-guidebook.pdf Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. Wenger, E. (2006). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm
