Faculty development for strengthening online teaching capability: a mixed-methods study of what staff want, evaluated with Kirkpatrick’s model of teaching effectiveness

Abstract

Background: Globally, tertiary teachers are increasingly being pushed and pulled into online teaching. While most developments in online education have focused on the student perspective, few studies have reported faculty development (FD) initiatives for increasing online teaching capability and confidence from a staff perspective. Method: We designed and evaluated FD workshops, using five datasets, and the use of H5P software for interactive online teaching. We used educational theory to design our FD (Mayer multimedia principles, active learning) and evaluated our FD initiatives using the Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) 2006 modified Kirkpatrick levels. Results: Teaching staff reported that Communities of Practice were important for their learning and emotional support. Uptake and deployment of FD skills depended on the interactivity of FD sessions, their timeliness, and sufficient time allocated to attend and implement. Staff who applied FD learning to their online teaching created interactive learning resources. This content was associated with an increase in student grades, and the roll-out of an institutional site-wide H5P license. Conclusion: This paper demonstrates an effective strategy for upskilling and upscaling faculty development. The use of H5P as a teaching tool enhances student learning. For successful FD, we make four recommendations. These are: provide just-in-time learning and allocate time for FD and staff to create online teaching material; foster supportive communities; offer personalized support; and design hands on active learning.