Preparing Dozens of Faculty to Teach Online in a Month or Less

This scenario is not all that uncommon. Just when you've got your faculty development program zipping along nicely, you find out that you've got a huge, unexpected increase in online courses or programs next semester. Program growth is generally good news, but you cringe at the thought of all the 18-hour days it will take to get these faculty prepared for any resemblance to quality online teaching. First of all, ditch the idea of a series of face-to-face training sessions that focus on the course management system. It will be nearly impossible to get all faculty in attendance, and you probably won't have time for make-up sessions. The recipe for this scenario consists of three parts: a short online training course focusing mainly on the pedagogy; a peer mentoring system; and a just-in-time technical support system. The online training course should include some basic course management system information, but most faculty will pick some of this up by their participation in the course. The online training course should focus more on how faculty can make their courses successful for students, and will give the faculty a first-hand look at the student experience. In the peer mentoring component, faculty should be assigned to veteran online faculty who agree to allow them to visit their own courses and assist them with course design and pedagogical questions that arise. This will also free up administrator time to focus on other many other support issues that will arise in the short weeks leading up to the beginning of the "growth" semester or quarter. Lastly, several temporary employees or trained student assistants should be available for an expanded call center to enable these new faculty to get just-in-time assistance by phone or email during the weeks preceding the term as well as the first few weeks of the term.

Five Ways to Boost Online Faculty Morale This Month

1. Positive Feedback. Send each faculty member a personalized email thanking them for their good work, and pointing out some of their strengths. Copy department chairs on exceptional ones. Remember to always be looking for them doing something right!
2. Enlist their Wisdom. Select a few top faculty and ask them what their top secret tip is for their online teaching success. Then take a digital camera and ask them to record a 20-30 second “spot” talking about this secret. Edit all these clips together into a 5 minute clip, and post to your faculty resource page.
3. Be an Extended Family. Be diligently aware of any personal issues going on in the lives of online faculty, particularly adjunct ones. Use tools such as FaceBook, group blogs, or email lists to virtually recognize birthdays, births of children/grandchildren, and coordinate offers for assistance if times are tough (illness, natural disasters, etc.).
4. Have a Contest. Contests are fun, educational, and build team spirit. Do these weekly or monthly on topics such as program or institution trivia and award small prizes (institutional t-shirts, recyclable grocery bags, small gift cards, etc.)
5. Offer a Mini-Conference. Faculty love to get presentations on their vitas, so develop a two-day mini-conference (online of course) where those who choose can present 30-minute webinars on relevant online teaching topics.

Getting Aquainted

I think that the single biggest challenge that faculty and students face in an 100% online course is the feeling that they don't really know each other at all. This can be overcome, but it is very difficult, and requires an ongoing and creative effort by the instructor to reach the students. This part is not so bad for most instructors - but there's more. It also requires that the instructor show his or her vulnerability so that the students can view him or her as a real person. This all starts in the first week of the course in the getting-aquainted exercises. There are lots of get-to-know you exercises, but my very favorite of all time is called "100 Things About Me." This is simply where you make a list of random statements about yourself, some of which are quite personal, and then ask students to do the same. I have my own list that I created a few years ago, and try to keep somewhat updated. Check it out and see if you don't feel like you know me a lot better.

5 Things Not to Cut from Your DL Budget

I recently read Fred Miller's Educause article, 10 Ways to Cut Your IT Budget. While I have long argued that distance learning is not really an IT function, there were a couple of cuts that he suggested that I would apply to distance learning. First of all, he said to wait another year before getting new computers. This is a no-brainer but probably gets overlooked and can save gobs of money. Another tip was to negotiate prices with vendors. Just a couple of years ago, this would have probably not worked, but now everybody knows that frugality is expected and cool.
Now, what would I NOT cut from a DL budget?

1. Personnel. No way, no how. As the economy helps to drive increasing DL enrollments, the entire system will fall apart without the support staff. It is quite likely that increased staffing would even provide an overall payoff in terms of even more enrollments.
2. Communication systems. This includes advanced telephones, live helpdesk systems, etc. We have to be more efficient in supporting faculty and learners than ever before and premiere communication is money well spent.
3. Course management systems. I suppose that some folks are thinking this is the best time to start looking at lower-cost home-grown systems and stop writing the mongo checks to you-know-who. Not me. The transition costs would be enormous in the short-run, and it's the short-run (hopefully) where we are all having our money woes.
4. Some travel. Clearly, I'm cutting back on the number of trips and having a lot of meetings by phone or online technologies. But I would not cut out all travel because I know that much of it really provides cost-benefit. At our annual DLA Conference, for instance, I learn more in three days from my colleagues about marketing, faculty development, student support, etc. than I normally do in six months. DL is a notoriously busy field, and we absolutely have to invest a little money and immersive time for learning. I have to pick and choose these opportunities carefully. A conference with a registration fee of over $400 is less likely to happen this year.
5. Marketing. This is probably one of the most important times for marketing online programs since the early 2000s.

Cats and Dogs in Online Universities

I just returned a few days ago from our annual DLA Conference where my colleague, Janice Hilyard of Darton College, received a well-deserved Wagner Award. In her acceptance speech, she spoke of how far advanced the marketing techniques of for-profit online institutions are as compared to traditional institutions. In her quest to learn more about their recruitment processes, she said she often asks for information in her dog's name. Then when phone calls come in asking for "Sadie Hilyard," she knows who they are from. So, beware, my cat may soon be requesting information from an institution near you.

When Online Universities Flounder

Recently, some online initiatives in higher education have made the news, but not because of their success, but because of their failure to meet hopes and expectations. This week it was the Global Campus of the Universityof Illinois (story). Why do some struggle to attract enrollments in spite of millions of dollars invested where others easily thrive? I think that one primary reason has to do with administrative structures. Too often, these structure are cumbersome and clunky, and try to fit key processes - such as course development and student support - into traditional frameworks. For online programs to meet their potential, programs must be set up in a way that allow for rapid decision making and response times to issues rather than waiting on faculty committees. Faculty must be involved in the course development process as content experts, but as invited or paid team members rather than the drivers of the process. This is a key reason why for-profit insitutions and two-year colleges seem to grow more quickly - even when their tuition is high. Other elements of success: developing a pool of qualified faculty ready for last-minute assignments, a self-sustaining budget, and a strong student support system.

Four Rules for Facebook Friendships with Students

It seems like just a mere year or so ago, I thought that never in a zillion years would I befriend any of my students on Facebook, for fear that I would seem like one of those middle-aged-people-in-denial who frequents bars for 20-somethings, or worse - simply "creepy." Now, even in my relatively sparse use of Facebook, I've been amazed, first-hand, at its sheer power and force at breaking down social barriers and building or rebuilding relationships (ex: my 7th-grade best friend whom I probably would have never happened to cross paths with again is now my Facebook friend, among others). Now, one of THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES in the online classroom is clearly building a sense of community, creating a personal environment, feeling truly connected, blah,blah, blah. So, with so many folks on Facebook (and over 1200 more have joined since I started writing this just a few minutes ag0), the question of whether or not to integrate it somehow with online teaching is no longer if - but when. To reduce my worries about privacy, appropriateness, etc., I've made myself a little list of Facebook rules.

1. Be real, but not overly revealing. This means no heavy political banter, no off-color remarks, and a careful eye for embarassing photos from the long-ago past, posted by friends and "tagged" to me. Revealing too much is just like going to a company cocktail party and drinking too much and thus saying too much - except that on Facebook it might be there forever.
2. Make it useful and efficient. If I'm going to put some time into Facebook each week, I might as well multi-task. Use it for some virtual office hours and pre-exam study sessions.
3. Protect your privacy. Leave off the home address and make sure that Facebook settings are such that profiles, postings are not available to those beyond the "friend" list.
4. Make sure it's optional for students. Most students are going to be on Facebook. But some are not, and do not want to be - or maybe they are and they just don't want to be your "friend." They must feel no disadvantage whatsoever for this choice.

Advice from Students: How to Succeed in an Online Class

One of my areas of passion is online retention - so I've talked to a lot of students (both informally and through research) in trying to see why some succeed where others fail. Interestingly, when talking to students who withdrew from online courses, I've realized that reasons were rarely related to instructor issues. More often than not, the students did not fully realize what taking an online course would be like. Their advice to other students:

1. Understand that you will spend a lot of time on the computer.
2. Log in to your online course every day.
3. Expect to do a lot of reading - probably more than in a f2f course.
4. Know where to go for help, and don't hesitate to ask for it.
5. Get started on the course as soon as possible - log in on the very first day of class.
6. Don't wait until the due dates to post discussion assignments.

I use these tips, and variations of them, in both online and f2f orientations for online students. Yes, they may seem quite elementary to those of us who teach, support or otherwise breathe online learning, but now I realize that we can't overestimate how critical it is for new online students to know what to expect before their courses start.

A Hip, New Blackboard

Today brought the long-awaited release of the much hyped Blackboard 9. According to Inside Higher Ed, early reviewers are impressed with its snazzier, cleaner look and easily-modified login pages. This version also allows those who loathe change to choose different looks instead, such as older versions of Blackboard and the clunky WebCT templates (these are starting to seem almost retro now). Also - cool changes in the interface itself, allowing course designers to click and drag elements around on the page. What I like most, though, is the integration with social tools, such as FaceBook - students can get reminders of test and assignment due dates at their favorite social sites without entering Blackboard. Blackboard 9 would probably be the most exciting new technology I've seen all week if my husband hadn't come home with a Wii Fit the other day.

Fun Idea for Posting Instructor Photo in Online Course

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the importance of instructors putting their photos in their online course. Now it's probably better to have it up there in the beginning of the course, but here's a neat idea that I've done before if you want to wait a couple of weeks into the course. Post four pictures - one of yourself and three of other people who look quite different from you. Let students guess, based on what they've gleaned from your interactions, which one is the real you. In my experience, only about 15 percent picked the real me, and it was a bit of a fun time for all. Fun is always good.

Why Didn't I Think of This?: Student Teachers in Virtual High School

There's needs to be a new word like maybe jealyspired to describe how one feels when they read about something so good and so cool that they actually feel totally inspired but also jealous about not being The One to think of it. That's how I feel about what University of Central Florida and Florida Virtual High School are doing. UCF's student teachers will spend seven weeks of their student teaching in the online classroom. The implications are really big on this one, and to be honest, this isn't the first time I've been jealyspired by UCF or FVHS.

The Watchful Proctor (Now Isn't That Redundant?)

The other day I was asked how to keep students taking online tests in a proctored test site from opening other browsers and looking for the answers. Wait.....isn't that the point of the proctor? So maybe we need lock-down software in situations where there is no proctor, but if the proctor is a real, live person then he or she should clearly be able to tell whether or not a student is opening multiple browsers when taking an online test. This assumes, of course, that the proctor is really watching. That he or she is on premises and is paying attention to his or her proctorees. Of course we don't have guarantees of this watchfulness - but neither do we in the face-to-face classroom. The point (again) is that it's really no easier to cheat in front of a Dell computer in 2009 than it was on row 7 of the lecture hall in 1979.

Five Quick Ways to Get Better Online Teaching Evaluations

One fear that instructors have is that their teaching evaluations, and thus their prospects for promotion and tenure, will head south when they start teaching online. Not the good south in the beaches-of-Miami way, but the ugly one. This fear is well-founded as we often hear depressing stories of once-loved classroom teaching stars bathed in criticism and contempt after their first online teaching foray. No need to despair - here's five small changes instructors can make to lead to happier evaluations.

1. Always, always answer student emails within 24 hours. Just one slip, one late day, and your evaluation from that student will fall precisely 20 percent (this exact statistical calculation is based on my personal experience and occasional failure to follow this rule).
2. Speaking of rules, be a little more flexible about student deadlines and rules. Making exceptions, being understanding, and nice has its rewards. And smile when you make exceptions, even if nobody can see you.
3. Let them know you as a person, not just an information-dispenser/course guide. Tell them about your weekend, your seven cats, your allergy to corkscrew-shaped pasta, the musical Eiffel Tower bookends you bought for 50 percent off at Target yesterday, your obsession with Newhart reruns, whatever. Tell them something about you every week, and include pictures and audio sometimes. And be funny sometimes.
4. Do an informal formative evaluation midway through the term, and actually make some changes based on the results. Tell them the overall results of the evaluation and the changes you are making.
5. Increase the amount of personal feedback you are giving - go beyond the blanket stuff to the whole class. Yes, this one is actually not so quick.

Smile for the Camera if You're Teaching Online

Okay, so I keep reviewing all these online courses for quality awards, and one of the easiest way to get two (of eighty-something required) points is for instructors to simply put their picture in their course. Now I've looked at about five in a row with no picture - not even pictures of the cat or dog or fish or iguana. Folks, we don't take online courses because we don't want to see what teachers look like. If I didn't want to see what my instructor looked like, I'd just go back to Ohio State and take one of those 8 am physics classes with 800 people in them and sit way, way in the back where I couldn't see - nor even really hear as my final grade reflected. So what's up with the lack of pictures? Do you really want your icon to be a gray sillhouette or a red X? Or do you only have a Polaroid and can't find any film? I admit, I don't like (loathe) having my picture made. Especially flash pictures because one or more eyes always winds up shut plus I always feel like I look old and fat (until I get the picture out a few years later and wish I still looked that way). You wouldn't believe how many shots it took just to get the one little profile. But anyway, online teachers and administrators, get your pictures up - in your class, on your blog, etc. In a couple of days, I'll share a really neat way to introduce your picture in an online class that's already started. You will like this idea.