Introduction
Successful online course experiences for students and instructors depend on the expertise and dedication of a well-prepared online instructor (Ko & Rossen, 1998). New instructors need comprehensive training to ensure a strong start, and continuing support and services throughout their distance education experience to promote maximum quality and satisfaction in the online courses they teach (Lieberman & McNett, 2000). When online instructors are fully equipped with proper technical skills, familiarity with the online learning environment, and most importantly, a true awareness of effective online pedagogies and teaching strategies, the online learning experience they create for students have the highest potential to succeed (Bedore, 1997).
Professional Development Training at Alpha Community College
This article presents the perspectives of faculty at Alpha Community College as they consider how professional development training is provided for faculty teaching online at their institution and how well that training is transferred into effective online teaching. The Carnegie Foundation classifies Alpha Community College as a medium-sized 2-year college serving a medium-sized rural population area. Alpha Community College had 46 online classes scheduled during the Fall Semester 2008, and 82 in Fall Semester 2012. Four full-time instructors who taught both traditional and online courses were interviewed: Professor Jones, Dr. Snow, Professor Walker, and Professor Criner. Table 1 summarizes their teaching experience.
Alpha Community College Participants’ Background Information
| Participant | Teaching Experience | Online Experience | Teaching Area | Department |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Professor Jones (DLC and I) | 9 years | 7 years | Psychology | Social and behavioral science |
| Dr. Snow (T and I) | 11 years | 2 years | English | English |
| Professor Walker (I) | 9 years | 7 years | Accounting, business law | Business |
| Professor Criner (T and I) | 5 years | 2 years | Computer science | Computer science |
| Average | 8.5 years | 4.5 years |
Note: I = Instructor, DLC = Distance learning coordinator, T = Trainer.
Perceptions of Online Education
The instructors interviewed had a very positive perception of online education. This was not always the case. When Alpha Community College first offered online classes many instructors were faced with a “culture shock.” These instructors were against online education because they feared change. Professor Jones stated:
I actually heard that from our instructors. I know it's a fear of change. It comes out of a concern for what's going to happen to my job. Our philosophy (at Alpha Community College) is, if you do not want to teach online you do not have to.
If we force people into it; the quality will not be there. We don't want to force people to do something they are uncomfortable with, not to mention stepping on their academic freedom and intellectual freedoms.
One of the instructors interviewed was totally against the online education program. This instructor had now adopted the philosophy that online education offers students the same education as a traditional classroom experience. She has become one of two instructional designers at the college. Dr. Snow stated:
When I was first introduced to online education I was against it. I thought there was no way online education could be as effective as face-to-face education. I believed this was a technique teachers and students were using to try to get out of doing their work.
Experiencing an online course enabled this instructor to change the way she thought about online education. While working on her doctorate, she took classes online. She describes the effect of those classes: “I really started learning a lot and enjoying the process, so I volunteered to teach an online English course.”
Evolution of Alpha's Faculty Training for Online Teaching
Professional development training for online instructors has steadily progressed at Alpha Community College since the first online classes were offered in 2001. According to Professor Jones, “When the college first offered online classes it was to stay in competition with other schools and the college offered very little training.” All of the instructors agreed they had to figure out how to use the course management system, WebCT, on their own. Professor Walker had to teach herself through trial and error:
TRAINING!!!! My biggest challenge was the technology. I obtained the knowledge for teaching online classes through trial and error. My formal training came from classes I was taking in my doctoral program, which dealt with integrating technology into the classroom setting.
According to Professor Criner, the need for training for online instructors was clear in that first online class:
I am kind of laughing because that first online class was a fiasco. You get better with experience and learn from your colleagues, learn from your mistakes; learn from classes you take and those you teach. Training would have helped tremendously.
To address this lack of training, instructors began offering their own workshops, sharing what they had learned about WebCT. Dr. Snow remembered:
I took a small workshop that was offered by another instructor who was using WebCT. The workshop was centered on how to use the tools provided by the software but I wouldn't say that would be considered formal training.
Using WebCT tools was a point of confusion when Alpha Community College began offering online classes. According to Professor Jones, “Instructors needed to know more about the hardware tools found in the software used for online classes. What does this tool do? At that time, it was difficult, because I didn't know how to use it.”
To address the training needs expressed by the instructors, the college contracted WebCT to provide training. After Blackboard purchased WebCT, Alpha Community College converted to Blackboard and Blackboard was contracted to provide training. Blackboard personnel visited to the college each semester (summer excluded) and conducted a two-day, 14-hour training session on the mechanics and methodology of online class environments. As Professor Jones described:
We now have Blackboard instructors come to Alpha and train our faculty. Since I have been in charge of the distance education program, we have had a formal training process in place. Not only on the pointing and clicking, but also on the online strategies needed for successful online classes.… The training consisted of pedagogies of online classes and provides examples of good and bad courses. The training includes hands-on training where the instructors receiving the training develop their courses during the training sessions. The training includes transitioning a class from the traditional lecture format to an online format. This has become part of the culture we have adopted at Alpha Community College.
Infrastructure Support
Over time, Alpha developed an organizational structure to support online education. Professor Jones, one of the first instructors to teach online at Alpha, was appointed as the collegewide division chair for distance education (distance learning coordinator). She displayed enthusiasm about the steps the administration at Alpha had taken to reorganize the online education program into a separate division of the college:
We have recently reorganized distance education and the President has appointed a distance education chair and a small President's Advisory Committee for distance education. This committee makes recommendations about policies, procedures and so forth for the college.… One of the standards does say that your budget reflects your commitment to online distance education. We did not initially have distance education in our budget; however we now actually have a line item in the budget for distance education. So we are moving in the direction that we're actually following through with our goals and plans for distance education. We are writing a 3-year plan, strategic plan, for our process for the goals we want to accomplish. Our ultimate goal is to have a virtual campus that has administrators, just like a regular campus. Eventually, that is where we want to go and we're getting there.
The administration's decision to develop a Distance Education Faculty Manual was important. The manual included items such as: distance education policies, online course approval steps, and tips for a successful online course. This manual was posted on the Alpha Community College website and focused on the procedures to which each online instructor must adhere.
Another administrative decision that helped the transition of Alpha Community College to an online environment was the administration's decision to require, not only online instructors, but all division chairs and associate deans to attend training for online teaching. The policy set forth in the Distance Education Faculty Manual requires:
All division chairs and campus associate deans are trained in best practices of online instruction. This is to enhance the evaluation process for online instructors. All division chairs and campus associate deans must meet with the distance education chair to discuss the evaluation items before they meet with the instructors.
Instructional Designer Support
The interim president at Alpha Community College appointed two online instructors during the fall semester 2008 to the position of instructional designer. Using instructional designers, Alpha was able to supplement the training provided by Blackboard with follow-up training and support for faculty. Dr. Snow, another instructional designer, stated:
The college does a combination of training where we do bring in someone from Blackboard who is a certified trainer. In addition to that, Professors Walker, Jones, and I have been providing training for new online instructors for our campuses. We go from campus to campus and train instructors on how to use the tools. My responsibility is to review the learning styles or teaching strategies as practices for the online environment. In addition to that, I have also held open labs where instructors come after they have finished training and are in the process of working on new courses. I help them get hands-on feedback during that lab session. I have reached out to instructors since I became an instructional designer this term. My future plans are to develop an online resource site for instructors to utilize at their convenience and also to have me there to answer questions and have resources for them to utilize. I want to start offering the open lab sessions once or twice a month instead of once a semester.
Transfer of Learning
Training, including professional development training for faculty teaching online, is useless if it cannot be transferred into performance (Yamnill & McLean, 2001). Learning is of little value to organizations (and community colleges) unless it is transferred in some way to performance (Holton, Bates, Seyer, & Carvalho, 1997). Therefore, this article uses Holton's (1996) transfer of training model as the lens for viewing the training provided to community college instructors teaching online. The model proposes three primary outcomes and three primary inputs of a training intervention. The three primary outputs are: learning, individual performance, and organizational results. The three primary inputs are: motivation to transfer, transfer climate, and transfer design (Holton, 1996). According to Holton (1996), motivation to transfer comprises four categories: intervention fulfillment, learning outcomes, job attitudes, and payoff. Transfer climate was described by Schneider and Rentsch (1988) as a “sense of imperative” (cited in Holton et al., 1997, p. 97) that arises from a person's perception of his or her work environment and its influences on the extent to which that person can use learned skills on the job (Yamnil & McLean, 2001). Training design can be summarized as the characteristics of the learning environment, such as the materials, opportunities to practice, providing feedback, and learning objectives. Using the components of Holton's transfer model, this section identifies the factors that contributed to faculty at Alpha Community College successfully applying what they learned during training in their online courses.
Motivation to Transfer
When Alpha Community College adopted online education in 2001, instructors encountered a changing role in the new online classroom. Dr. Snow stated:
I think that it (online teaching) is a changing role; and I think that it is very important for instructors to realize it is a change. As our role as an instructor changes; it becomes a different environment. It is a type of culture, which I have to adjust to in the way I interact with students, motivate with students, inspire students, and communicate with students.
Factors external to Alpha Community College influenced instructors’ motivation to teach online and to apply what they learned in their training. According to Dr. Snow,
When I began my doctorate program, I was very skeptical about online classes and thought I was not going to learn very much, however I'd jump through the college hoops and take the required courses and get my Doctor of Philosophy degree. However, to my surprise, when I started taking online courses I really started learning a lot and enjoying the process—so much so—I volunteered to teach an online course at Alpha Community College.
Transfer Climate
Administration Support. At Alpha Community College, the administration has been very supportive of the culture change to an online environment and has provided funding and other resources to train their online faculty. Dr. Snow stated:
Our current college-wide dean is very supportive. She wants to see it (online education) grow, she wants to be sure we have the resources to help it grow and to help it grow positively to ensure quality. She supports the instructional designers; she supports Professor Jones in her role as distance education coordinator, and sees that this is one of the best ways our college can grow. We currently have a new president who will be arriving in January. We had an interim president this past year. He was weak in the area of technology, although he seemed to understand the importance of technology. The president and vice-president who were here before the interim president seemed to have the attitude that there was no way online education could have quality. They would say, yes, we need to do it; however, the resources weren't devoted to online education.
Appropriate Technology. The use of WebCT, and later Blackboard, as campus course management systems, not only enabled the college to offer distance education courses but to also transform the traditional classroom. Instructors at Alpha Community College not only utilize their skills obtained through professional development training for an online course but also incorporate these skills into their traditional classroom. Professor Walker stated:
Even though I don't teach all my classes in a traditional or online format, I supplement each and every class, and have for years, with an online supplement. I tell my students it is extremely important they prepare for class, especially in accounting class. If you do not come to class, you will not pass. If you can't make it to class, I have materials and resources out there for you. There is no reason why you cannot keep up. This is why the Powerpoints, lecture notes, quizzes, and these things are out there for them.
Transfer Design
Instructional designers provided professional development training to online instructors in their real-life work environments. The training was provided using lecture, PowerPoint, and web-based techniques the instructors could use in their own courses. Online instructors were always looking for new ideas to enhance students’ learning. Professor Criner added:
Microsoft 2007 has a great tutorial on their website, so as I was sitting in the training listening to his (instructional trainer) advice and recommendations, and this was one of the items I decided to incorporate into my online class as a web link.… As my students have a problem, for instance inserting a page number, they can go to the Microsoft Office 2007 website and click on the tutorial. It walks them through the process. It is those kinds of other content areas that I will be able to add to my class.
Student-student and student-faculty interaction. Dr. Snow believes that the most difficult part of online instruction was adjusting the way she interacted with students:
Our role as instructors has changed to a different environment a type of culture that I have to adjust to in the way, in which I interact with students, motivate with students, inspire students, and communicate with students. I think one of the things I have to do is be more of someone who facilitates, guides the students, advises them with the resources (quality resources), and then encourage them to interact with those resources and to interact with others in the online course, including myself and their classmates, in order to help them understand the course content.
One of the methods used by the online instructors to facilitate interaction was the discussion board, which they learned to use during their professional development training. Professor Criner described her use of discussion boards in her online classes:
I have discussions, which are solely related to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. I facilitate discussions on these areas with the students. I send powerpoint presentations to my students for each section we cover. Students work on assignments individually and I grade them and provide timely feedback. If it is wrong, then I'll say you should go back and readdress this issue, look at page so and so in your book, and send the assignment back to me. Once they are completed, I can grade your work again. There is a lot of communication, particularly with assignments and of course, I have assessments, little quizzes, for each section we cover.
Prompt Feedback. Students needed help in assessing their existing knowledge, frequent opportunities to perform and receive feedback, and time to reflect on what they have learned. The instructors provided numerous methods in providing prompt feedback to the students. E-mail, online discussions, tutorials, and other methods were utilized throughout the semester. Professor Walker used an accounting personal trainer. The students submitted their answers and immediately received feedback. He described the process: “This gives students immediate feedback, not by providing the correct answer but by indicating which questions were wrong.” The students are then allowed to rethink the problem and resubmit their answers.
Learning and Individual Performance
A review of the class materials, syllabi, and other course documents used by the instructors show that the instructors used a variety of pedagogical practices in their online courses. These pedagogical practices, which enabled instructors to design their online course with student learning outcomes at the forefront, are presented next, classified by phases of instruction—presentation, guidance, and assessment.
Presentation. Professor Jones used course content and student discussions to introduce the topics of the course materials in her online class. She required students to present discussions each week on the course materials and respond to other students’ discussions. This method kept the students actively participating in the class, gave them access to other students’ understanding of the course material, and provided them with critical thinking opportunities.
Guidance. Professor Jones used the discussion area as a means for question-and-answer segments. She encouraged students to use the questions forum to post their comments, questions, or concerns about the course materials. She also encouraged the use of e-mail and responded to student e-mail in a timely manner. In addition, she provided supplementary online resources, such as PowerPoint presentations and lecture notes, to complement the required readings and discussions.
Assessment. To allow for assessment and evaluation of the students’ understanding of the course materials, Professor Jones required students to complete assignments for each chapter covered in the course. She also gave three exams. Professor Jones stated, “I require that students take all three exams at a testing center.”
Lessons Learned From Alpha Community College
The experiences of the instructors at Alpha Community College provide several insights that can be of help to other institutions developing online courses and programs. The key lessons learned for these instructors are:
Instructors teaching online need training on how to use the course management system being used to deliver their online courses and training on effective pedagogical practices for online teaching. Institutions err when they only provide training on how to use the features of the course management system.
Administration support is critical. The administration must provide a support structure for their faculty teaching online. The structure does not have to be as elaborate as the one at Alpha Community College but it must provide general policies for online teaching, sufficient training and ongoing technical support for faculty teaching online and an adequate course management system.
Faculty teaching online will begin to change their face-to-face teaching by incorporating online tools and pedagogies into their face-to-face classes. This is an important unintended consequence of faculty learning to teach online. The use of online tools to engage students at a distance can be employed to engage resident/local students as well.
An institution does not have to have all the answers to all the online questions before embarking on a move to online education. Like Alpha, other colleges can start slow with a few courses and a few interested instructors. The success of those initial courses and instructors will serve as a beacon of possibility to others on the campus.
About the authors
