Nursing faculty perceptions of preparation and support for effective online teaching

Abstract

Background: The steady growth of online education has resulted in the need for more faculty. Faculty have an integral role in creating the structure, processes and environment for effective student learning and, thus, require preparation and support to effectively perform this new role. As nursing programs expand capacity with online course delivery, the author found limited research on faculty perceptions of preparedness for teaching online. The purpose of this study was to explore faculty perspectives of teaching nursing content online in prelicensure baccalaureate nursing programs. In this article, the focus is on one specific aspect of the study, that is, the data that sought a deeper understanding of how prepared nursing faculty perceived they were and supports they needed for effective online teaching.Methods: The exploratory-descriptive, mixed-methods study design was based on document analysis, an online survey completed by 32 faculty (53.3%) and interviews with 16 faculty in a representative sample of 13 Ontario Colleges.Results: Institutional and faculty supports related to all best teaching practices. More faculty received an orientation to technology compared to the pedagogy of teaching online and experienced some challenges with these supports.Conclusions: Much more time was required for online teaching for which faculty should be compensated in workload assignments. Findings suggest that both technological and pedagogical training be integrated to faculty development programs and faculty be engaged in these programs prior to teaching online.