Archive for the ‘Faculty Development’ Category

MOOC Makers: Professors’ Experiences With Developing and Delivering MOOCs

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been described as purposeful educational resources for teaching, open educational initiatives, competency-based learning, and the like. They have also been described as an agent of higher education’s deterioration. Although MOOCs are often discussed in terms of their current and future usefulness, or lack thereof, in higher education contexts, very […]

McGraw-Hill Education Expands its Free, Virtual Professional Development Series for College Instructors

Upcoming PD event on the science of critical thinking will feature renowned cognitive scientist and provide strategies to help students develop a growth mindset McGraw-Hill Education

New Project Aims to Use Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Teacher Training

(TNS) – WORCESTER – A new government-funded research project at Worcester Polytechnic Institute aims to use artificial intelligence in hopes of revolutionizing the way teachers evaluate their own performance in the classroom. Computer science professor Jacob Whitehill and his colleagues have received a $750,000, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation to develop the Automatic […]

Download White Paper: Off to On: Best Practices for Online Team-Based Learning(TM)

Off to On: Best Practices for Online Team-Based Learning(TM) The four TBL essentials are: Groups must be properly formed and managed Team assignments must promote both learning and team development Students must receive frequent and timely feedback Students must be accountable for the quality of their individual and group work Team-Based Learning Collaborative

External Factors That Impact Online Instructor Performance: A Study Measuring the Impact of Decision Fatigue & Quality Matters Recognition of Courses on Online Instructor Evaluation

Evaluating employee performance can be challenging in any occupation. This paper looks at external factors that exacerbate this difficulty to include decision fatigue of the evaluator and quality of course design when using a master course model. Questions raised include: what are external factors that need to be considered when addressing the instructor evaluation process […]

Quality Control Versus Academic Freedom: Walk the line

Colleges and universities incorporate online education using a variety of approaches. For some, there is little oversight applied to course design; faculty members enjoy free reign to engineer course structure as they wish within a college’s learning management system. At other institutions, instructors manage pre-written courses and serve only to grade assignments and answer student […]

The Impact of Program-Wide Discussion Board Grading Rubric on Student and Faculty Satisfaction

In addition to learning more about a topic, online discussion activities may be used to develop skills in reflective practice, critical evaluation, and leadership. Faculty often spends a great amount of time and energy developing discussion assignments that will improve these skills and align with course learning outcomes.  Facilitating and evaluating online discussion assignments can […]

Differences of Instructor Presence Levels in Predominately Online Versus Predominantly Not Online Courses within the Community College Setting

The increase in the number of students enrolling in online courses (Allen & Seaman, 2013; Bennett, Evans, & Riedle, 2007; Seide, 2016) and students’ concern of the level of instructor presence in the predominately online course (Jaggars, 2014; Queiros and de Villiers, 2016; Tichavsky, Hunt, Driscoll, & Jicha, 2015) are reasons this research is necessary. […]

Educators’ Preparation to Teach, Perceived Teaching Presence, and Perceived Teaching Presence Behaviors in Blended and Online Learning Environments

Teaching in blended and online learning environments requires different pedagogical approaches than teaching in face-to-face learning environments.  How educators are prepared to teach potentially impacts the quality of instruction provided in blended and online learning courses. Teaching presence is essential to achieving student learning outcomes, yet previous research has focused on student perceptions of teaching […]

Digital resources for faculty development in e-learning: a self-paced approach for professional learning

 Since a growing number of universities have adopted e-learning or blended solutions, faculty development is increasingly seen as a crucial strategy to prepare faculty members for innovative teaching practices. However, a number of barriers prevent faculty from attending training programmes, including scheduling and logistic constraints. Offering a flexible online format for training should provide opportunities […]