Faculty Satisfaction

FACULTY SATISFACTION means that instructors find the online teaching experience personally rewarding and professionally beneficial. Personal factors contributing to faculty satisfaction with the online experience include opportunities to extend interactive learning communities to new populations of students and to conduct and publish research related to online teaching and learning. Institutional factors related to faculty satisfaction include three categories: support, rewards, and institutional study/research. Faculty satisfaction is enhanced when the institution supports faculty members with a robust and well-maintained technical infrastructure, training in online instructional skills, and ongoing technical and administrative assistance. Faculty members also expect to be included in the governance and quality assurance of online programs, especially as these relate to curricular decisions and development of policies of particular importance to the online environment (such as intellectual property, copyright, royalties, collaborative design and delivery). Faculty satisfaction is closely related to an institutional reward system that recognizes the rigor and value of online teaching. Satisfaction increases when workload assignments/assessments reflect the greater time commitment in developing and teaching online courses and when online teaching is valued on par with face-to-face teaching in promotion and tenure decisions. A final institutional factor-crucial to recruiting, retaining, and expanding a dedicated online faculty-is commitment to ongoing study of and enhancement of the online faculty experience.

Effective Practice Awards Submissions Due June 30

Submitted by janetmoore on May 27, 2010 - 1:06pm
New effective practices  submitted by June 30 are eligible for awards to be presented at the July 21, 2010 Emerging Technologies for Online Learning Symposium Awards Presentation Luncheon.
Thousands visit effective practices for innovative practices supported by eviden
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JALN 16.1 Building Student and Faculty Success

Submitted by janetmoore on January 26, 2012 - 11:43am
Evidence-based practice increases success
in online education
January issue of Sloan Consortium’s Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks features findings contributed by faculty researchers a
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Learning Analytics: Call for JALN Papers April on or before April 1, 2012

Submitted by janetmoore on January 15, 2012 - 8:15pm
 

Special Issue of JALN on Learning Analytics

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A Synthesis of Sloan-C Effective Practices, December 2011

$0.00
Volume, Issue - Date: 
Volume 16, Issue 1 - January
Author(s): 
Janet C. Moore
Oganization: 
The Sloan Consortium
Full article - Free: 
application/pdf iconjaln_v16n1_7_A_Synthesis_of_Sloan-C_Effective_Practices,_December_2011_0.pdf
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Keywords: 
learning effectiveness, scale, institutional commitment, cost effectiveness, access, faculty satisfaction, student satisfaction, quality framework, innovation, impact, replicability
Abstract: 
Encouraging continuous improvement in the quality, scale and breadth of online education, the Sloan Consortium invites practitioners to share effective practices. This report synthesizes effective practices submitted by Sloan-C members to the online collection at http://www.sloanconsortium.org/effective as of December 2011. The synthesis includes links to detailed postings about practices, including the authors and their institutions.
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Reading Between the Lines of Online Course Evaluations: Identifiable Actions that Improve Student Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness and Course Value

$5.95
Volume, Issue - Date: 
Volume 16, Issue 1- January
Author(s): 
Stephanie J. Jones, Texas Tech University
Oganization: 
Texas Tech University
$5.95
Keywords: 
online learning, faculty, student satisfaction, distance education, faculty behaviors, faculty interactions, course evaluations
Abstract: 

Students continue to demand and enroll in online courses, but are not always satisfied with their experiences. The purpose of this study was to determine if students’ responses to evaluations for online courses could be used to identify faculty actions that could lead to improved evaluation scores in teaching effectiveness and overall course value. Controversy continues to exist over the validity of student evaluations to measure faculty effectiveness and overall course quality. Faculty do not always utilize the collected data for the improvement of teaching. Results indicate that stimulation of learning had the most effect on perceptions of teaching effectiveness and useful and relevant assignments had the highest correlation to overall course value.

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January’s Facilitator of the Month – Bethany Bovard

Submitted by scoswatte on January 10, 2012 - 11:28am
January’s Facilitator of the Month –
Bethany BovardTags:

January’s Certificate Program Graduate - Silvia Braidic

Submitted by scoswatte on January 10, 2012 - 11:18am

Students who participate in traditional face-to-face courses have the opportunity to contribute to informal interactions with their instructors and classmates. However, these important exchanges do not always translate adequately into the virtual classroom, leaving students to feel that they are missing out on the interpersonal benefits of the traditional classroom. Although it is more difficult to engage in informal interaction in the virtual classroom, it is paramount as it contributes to overall student success. Moreover, students expect that a virtual classroom will integrate formal and informal activities where they are able to “e-see” their instructors and classmates every time they log in. In order for instructors to implement engaging informal interaction, they need to adopt virtual presence through the growth of an energetic classroom, utilizing tactics that increase and highlight their visibility in the course.

Description of the Effective Practice
Description of the Effective Practice: 

With the development of highly interactive technologies, increasing an instructor's virtual presence in the classroom is possible.  This paper describes how two distance learning administrators’ motivated and encouraged remote faculty to leave behind the impersonal virtual classroom and project their presence into every "corner" of the classroom. In the short term this initiative produced the following improvements: 1) increased communication (informal and formal) between distance faculty and their deans, 2) increased media content in course shells, and 3) increased participation of distance faculty in curriculum and course development.

Supporting Information for this Effective Practice
Evidence of Effectiveness: 


 

            Overall student-Instructor interaction in the classroom has increased. Preliminary data collected from the end-of-course survey suggest that students enjoy having a professor who is “present” in the e-classroom. As the Academic Deans review  evaluations' comments, such as “ I really feel that I know professor R….,” “ I never had an instructor who participated so frequently in the discussion board,” and other similar comments are becoming quite common. In addition, the number of student complaints stating a lack of instructor communication have decreased over 50% during the last two semesters. An additional benefit of this effort has been the level of responsiveness and involvement of faculty in college-related activities. Modeling behaviors and keeping all participants involved and accountable in any process has a definite effect on the outcome of the process. After speaking with a few faculty members about the different methods of communications employed by Open Campus, they noted that the administration is very involved in leading and supporting their faculty. Despite the positive results attained since the implementation of this communication plan, there is more work to be done. Instructor-student interaction is only one of the necessary pieces to increase student success and retention in the classroom. Therefore, the authors understand that in order to enhance the student learning experience in the classroom, other areas of online learning need to be evaluated and modified accordingly. In the future, the academic division at Florida State College Open Campus will be exploring different approaches to instructional design that have a greater level of student-instructor interaction and curriculum alignment.

           

 

How does this practice relate to pillars?: 
Student satisfaction - faculty collaboration and feedback
Faculty satisfaction - Faculty administration interactions
Learning effectiveness - faculty are more involved with the course design process, student feedback, stronger relationships between student and instructor.

 

Equipment necessary to implement Effective Practice: 

Access to a media center and faculty course shells.

 

Estimate the probable costs associated with this practice: 

None.

References, supporting documents: 

 

 

Allen, I.E., Seaman, J. (2008). Staying the course: Online education in the United States, 2008. The Sloan consortium and Babson Survey Research Group. Retrieved October 9th 2009 from http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/pdf/staying_the_course.pdf

 

Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning Theory. New York: General Learning Press.

 

Boettcher, J., V. (2009). Teaching Online Tip #4: The importance of Feedback: Another Dimension of Presence.  Retrieved March 9th 2011 from http://www.rider.edu/files/tlc-RiderTip4FeedbackFS.pdf

 

Ertmer, P. A., Camin, D., Connolly, P., Coulthard, G., Lei, K., Mong, C. (2007). Using peer feedback to enhance the quality of student online postings: an exploratory study.  Journal of Peer Mediated Education, Vol 12(2) Retrieved March 9th 2011 from http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue2/ertmer.html

 

Fish, W. W., Wickersham, L. E. (2009). Best practices for online instructors.  The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, Vol. 10(3), pp. 279-284.

 

Gaytan, J., McEwen, B. C. (2007). Effective online instructional and assessment strategies.  The American Journal of Distance Education, Vol. 21(3), pp. 117-132.

 

Sugar, W., Martindale, T., Crowley, F., E. (2007). Online professor’s face to face teaching strategies while becoming an online instructor. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, Vol. 8(4), pp. 365-385.

 

WPI Academic Technology Center (2007). Providing feedback in your distance learning course.  Retrieved March 9th 2011 from http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Collaboratory/Teaching/feedback.html

 

Contact(s) for this Effective Practice
Effective Practice Contact: 
Dr. Jose Fierro
Email this contact: 
jose.fierro@fscj.edu
Effective Practice Contact 2: 
Dr. Sheri Litt
Email contact 2: 
sblitt@fscj.edu
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Transforming distance education curricula through distributive leadership

$5.95
Volume, Issue - Date: 
Volume 15, Issue 4 - November 2011
Author(s): 
Mike Keppell, Charles Sturt University
Author(s): 
Carolyn O’Dwyer, Charles Sturt University
Author(s): 
Betsy Lyon, Charles Sturt University
Author(s): 
Merilyn Childs, Charles Sturt University
$5.95
Keywords: 
flexible and blended learning, distributive leadership, design-based research, fellowships, transformative change, transformative learning
Abstract: 

 This paper examines a core leadership strategy for transforming learning and teaching in distance education through flexible and blended learning. It focuses on a project centered on distributive leadership that involves collaboration, shared purpose, responsibility and recognition of leadership irrespective of role or position within an organization. Distributive leadership was a core principle in facilitating the transformation of learning and teaching through a Teaching Fellowship Scheme that empowered leaders across a regional distance education university. In parallel, a design-based research project analyzed the perceptions of the Teaching Fellows in relation to blended learning, time/space, peer learning, innovation and equity issues in relation to distance education.

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© 2011, The Sloan Consortium ®