What each of the articles in this collection represent are practical real-world examples of faculty development programs directed at improving online teaching. All of the authors were forthright in sharing their experiences of initiatives that were both successful and unsuccessful. This is a tremendous benefit to those who subsequently undertake similar initiatives, as they can devote their time and energy building on an existing knowledge base as opposed to creating a new one. Each of these studies has at least in some way informed the design of the teaching online workshop at UofT. As with the other studies the purpose of our training is to provide faculty with the experience of an online learner while completing steps towards the development and delivery of their own course. Similar approaches in the design of the courses was also used. Generally, a well-circumscribed body of information was examined within a structured learning environment. The common themes that were explored included; effective practices for teaching and learning, choosing instructional technologies, instructional design methodology, and cooperative learning strategies. Activities were associated with specific material presented to the learner in each unit. For example, upon reviewing material on “How Instructional Technologies Help Learning” the participants are required to complete the corresponding section in their design template.
An additional aspect of the workshops that were cited was the first-hand exposure to a wide variety of educational theories and practices. Participants were actively engaged and given the opportunity to individually reflect on their experiences in order to build upon their prior knowledge of teaching. Collaborative learning exercises provided the social construct for participants to negotiate understanding by exposing them to multiple perspectives and interpretations. This took a variety of forms. Through group discussion, learners worked towards a common understanding of best practices for teaching and then collectively applied the criteria for evaluating web-based courses. In some cases, the instructional design templates developed by faculty were peer reviewed. This kind of exposure lead to Gold's conclusion that, “teachers exposed to the course significantly changed their attitudes towards online instruction, seeing it is as more participatory, and interactive than face-to-face instruction”. The contextual setting for many of the workshops was authentic in that instructors were learning in the same environment they would be required to use for teaching. Experiencing web-based learning from a student perspective helps instructors to become effective online teachers. Being exposed to the strategies and dynamics of online learning seemed to be the best way to inform instructors about the benefits and challenges of this mode of delivery.
A combination of delivery strategies were employed and ranged from blended to fully online sessions. Many began with some type of in-class session and included an orientation to online learning in specific web-based environments. Faculty mentoring and group activities were a common theme throughout making use of asynchronous and synchronous technologies to complete the required learning activities. The main advantage of providing the workshops online seemed to be the degree of flexibility it offered faculty to work around their teaching and research commitments. They were able to access the material from home and a variety of work locations. Although the timelines and the structure of the content were provided by the instructors, the progression through the learning content was self-directed. This was an important delivery strategy as not all of the material was equally relevant to each of the participants. The learners were able to customize the learning by selecting the resources applicable to their specific course. This approach also allowed the instructors to focus their attention on the individual learners and address specific questions or challenges related to the development of each course. To deal with the workload of this approach, team teaching was often implemented to enable a high level of service to faculty. Many of the workshop also served as models for the delivery of web-based education. The instructors used the technological features of the online environments to illustrate the effective online teaching practices articulated in their workshops. For example, email was used to provide individualized feedback, to communicate the expectations and timelines for the learning activities and to synthesize main points of discussion. The asynchronous discussion board reflected the diversity of perspectives and provided an authentic audience for participants to articulate their ideas. The groups section promoted the value of collaboration in the course design process. Multiple examples of online courses and instructional technology were also presented in the web-based materials.
The evaluation of these programs overwhelmingly indicated that faculty development programs aimed at improving online teaching were valued by participants and increased the range of instructional strategies and technologies that they were able to employ.
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