Abstract
The professional development of online teachers is now commonplace in most universities. Alongside the relatively straightforward decision to provide professional learning support for novice and experienced online educators within universities, decisions about the nature and content of such support are not always as clear cut. The study aimed to gather evidence about the experiences and views of current students and staff which, in turn, informed a set of pedagogical guidelines that could be used as the basis of professional learning programs for novice online teachers. Using a mixed methods research design, data were gathered using questionnaires, reflective journals and focus groups to determine the threshold concepts about online teaching, and perceptions of ideal online learning contexts. As well as identifying threshold concepts about online teaching and perceptions of teachers’ and students’ ideal views of online learning contexts (reported elsewhere), the study produced curricular guidelines to inform the design of professional development outputs for online teachers in higher education contexts. This article reports on an example of how these professional development guidelines were implemented at one higher education institution to provide wide-scale implementation of a professional development program for academic staff engaged in online teaching.
Highlights
The professional development of online teachers is commonplace in higher education
The identification of threshold concepts associated with online pedagogy formed a framework that was used to inform pedagogical guidelines to transform the capacities of novice online teachers in a specific institution
The main purpose of this study was to develop guidelines to inform the design of professional development (PD) curricula to transform the capacities of novice online teachers in higher education
Summary
The professional development of online teachers is commonplace in higher education. As well as identifying threshold concepts about online teaching and perceptions of teachers’ and students’ ideal views of online learning contexts (reported elsewhere), the study produced curricular guidelines to inform the design of professional development outputs for online teachers in higher education. This article reports on an example of how these professional development guidelines, based on identified threshold concepts of online pedagogy, were implemented at one higher education institution to provide wide-scale implementation of a professional development program for academic staff engaged in online teaching. Support for the development of skills and knowledge about online teaching can be offered in the form of on-campus or online activities (such as workshops, guest speakers, mentoring programs) and resources (such as self-help and “how-to” instructions, and exemplars of good practice) Such provisions seek to maximise faculty staff engagement (Elliott, Rhoades, Jackson, & Mandernach, 2015). A set of PD guidelines is presented along with a description of how these guidelines were applied in the design of a professional learning program for novice online teachers in one higher education institution
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