The Service Approach to Helping Faculty with Online Course Design

There are clearly several approaches to online course design, with varying opinions as to the resulting quality. Frequently, we see a simple approach that attempts to move elements of a traditional course to the online environment, with a typical course unit consisting of learning materials, related discussions, and some type of assessment (project, quiz or test). Instructional designers may take a different approach that often considers learning outcomes and assessments first, and then builds backwards upon these. So what happens when the instructional designer and the faculty do not agree on the approach? What if the instructional designer is certain that his or her approach is the surest way to enable the development of a high-quality course? I tend to err on the side of the faculty on this one. Ultimately, they must feel comfortable in teaching this course, must feel ownership in order to be fully engaged, and will learn best not from what they are "told," but by a process of trial-and-error. Our primary function in distance learning administration, above all others, is support. While our programs skyrocket as traditional programs remain flat, we must humble ourselves to remember to remain customer focused (students and faculty). We can guide faculty and inspire them and give them just-in-time training, but we can never tell them what they need. It would be like going to McDonald's and ordering a Big Mac, and the server telling you that you would be much better off with a salad instead. Now, I realize that this is completely contrary to what is considered many to be top-banana instructional design. In fact, Cathy Moore, who has one of the best instructional design blogs in the world, flat out warns against becoming an "order taker" or letting online courses become an "information dump." Sure, this is ideal. But higher education is a different world both in terms of traditions (yes, some date back from centuries ago) and in governance.

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.

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.

My DLA Forecast for 2009

As we say goodbye to an unforgettable year, here's what I think is in store for 2009, at least in the world of online learning:

• A greater emphasis on the financial benefits of distance learning. Higher ed administrators who were previously lukewarm about DL will work on number crunching to see exactly how online learning lowers the instructional cost per student.



• Organizational structures will continue to evolve with DL departments increasingly aligned with academics rather than IT groups.



• eLearning will make its formal entrance into the mainstream with its appearance on the mission statements of more and more traditional institutions.



• Dramatically increased use of social networking tools (like Facebook) in online learning - for both instruction and support. Facebook will "age" a bit as more and more faculty and over 30 folks hop on for DL purposes and then get a little addicted themselves.



• Less one-on-one support for faculty as resources get further stretched (more courses but little or no new staff). The bad news is we'll see more group training sessions, but the savvy administrators will develop better, easy-to-use (and locate) online tutorials as well as mentoring programs.



• Big emphasis on green. Although gas prices are lower, the Summer of '08 is not forgotten. Online learning provides the obvious answer here. We'll slowly see more telecommuting of DL faculty and staff as well. Lots and lots and lots more online meetings.



• More streamlined approaches to quality, evaluation, and retention. More software entries such as that offered by Starfish Retention Solutions that will help us become accountable in a systematic way.



• Increased development and marketing of online courses and programs to the Hispanic community as well as those who support this population, such as teachers and healthcare providers.

Five Ways to Make Virtual Adjuncts Feel Connected to the University

One common concern regarding the use of adjunct and part-time faculty is that they are not integrated into the life of the university. Here are five simple ways to create a more inclusionary environment:

1. Initial training should include not just expectations about online teaching expectations, but also detailed information about the institution itself.


2. Require participation in at least one traditional faculty activity, such as committee involvement (virtually)


3. Sign them up for all electronic communications (daily bulletins, announcements) sent to on-campus faculty and staff.


4. Foster an administrative DL structure that provides the same level of support and respect afforded to on-campus instructors teaching DL courses. Record, digitize and post on the web all f2f training sessions for on-campus online instructors.


5. Send them a t-shirt with the university mascot when they first sign on.

DLA2009 Call for Proposals

I am thrilled to announce that we have just opened up the Call for Proposals for our 10th Annual DLA Conference, to be held June 21-24, 2009 at the King & Prince Resort at St. Simons Island, Georgia. There are so many people who attend this conference year after year who tell me that it is their very favorite DL conference - so much discussion, learning, yummy food and fun. Though this conference is specifically for those administering DL programs (directors, deans, support staff, etc.), we usually have a fair number of online faculty who present related research. Our proceedings are bound and printed, rather than just being on a CD. Among the conference strands are: managing growth in DL; training and support; budget; marketing; ethics and copyright; quality assurance; and organizational issues. I would love to see some proposals this year about the potential impact of the Higher Education Act on DL, as well as issues related to the economy. The proposal process is simple and will take you just a few minutes.

DLA Weekly Word: Unconference

An unconference is a relatively new concept that we can apply not only to professional conferences, but also to training sessions. An unconference is different in that the topics and discussions develop during the conference, and are produced by the attendees rather than the organizers. Generally, unconferences do focus on a particular theme. Kaliya Hamlin has an entire blog devoted to the topic on unconferences. What I like about using these for training sessions is that the discussions and learning are rarely stale, and tend to address the most timely, burning issues. In my 4-month Distance Education Certified Trainer Program, we have an unweek, where activities and discussions are extremely unplanned. It's the ultimate in peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.

Is Low-Attended Group Training a Waste?

One major problem in preparing instructors to teach online is the scalability of our training programs. While the very nature of training support often requires one-on-one, just-in-time assistance, many areas lend themselves to a group training session. The primary advantage of the group training is that it lends itself to scalability - you can simply reach more people at once. The problem? I hear it all the time (and studied it when doing my dissertation). Often, only a handful of people show up! No matter how engaging the topic, faculty are simply too busy or lack the incentive to set aside time for group training. At one point, we actually decreased our own group training sessions because of the low attendance. And the, in the course of my research, the light turned on. These sessions were not a waste of time. Why? Because these five or six people who attended were going out and informally sharing what they had learned with other faculty! So, when you think you are reaching just a handful, there is a huge ripple effect, and you may actually be reaching 100 or more. Don't toss out the group training.

Ingredients of The Amazing Faculty Lunch

People from all over our campus often ask me how we manage to have what may be the most popular faculty lunch on campus. Beyond the effort we put into our Evites, a creative menu and monthly theme (with recorded music, decorations, hats) each month, we have also made it fast-paced and a pretty enjoyable learning experience. Now, this is a far cry from the regular old brown-bag lunch. This is a regular monthly meeting attended by 50 or more faculty who teach online courses from various departments all across campus. If it weren't for this lunch, many of these people would never know one another at all. We include menu cards that have monthly issues meant to prompt informal lunch discussions, and set up in a horsehoe arrangement that encourages conversations. The big highlight is the Seven-Minute Sizzle. This is a seven-minute presentation, delivered by one of the faculty member, about something interesting they are doing in their online courses. We usually wrap up with a drawing for some small prizes (decor such as a plant or books about online teaching). Although it would be challenging to measure, my sense is that a great deal of informal but critical learning about online teaching goes on during these meetings.