Teaching Online Workshop

I am following the advice of Stephen Downes and will be posting the material for my upcoming presentation at the Teaching, Learning and Technology Conference at the University of Ottawa, Feb 26-27, on my weblog. Hopefully, this will provide a basis for an informal discussion about faculty development initiatives related to instructional technology. As Downes has suggested this could potentially "add a dimension not possible to achieve with a strictly in-person event", given the limited time for the presentation. By sharing my notes in advance of the conference, individuals will be able to peruse the material and reflect on some of the ideas I have posed. This format will give us more time and more ways to deal with specific questions people may have about the workshop we have created. I will be interested to see if this approach garners any attention, once I notify the conference organizers and other people from related fields.


My presentation is entitled, "Effective Strategies for Empowering Faculty to Teach Online". Along with my colleague, Rosemary Waterston, I design and deliver a 30 hour online workshop for faculty to develop best practices for learner-centered, web-based instruction. This workshop is accredited as part of the Continuing Medical Education Certification Program offered by the Centre for Faculty Development in Medicine, at the University of Toronto.

My presentation will focus on 3 areas;

Structure for delivering the workshop
Themes explored and resources used to train faculty about teaching online
Strategies designed to promote faculty collaboration in the development and delivery of online learning


Structure for delivering the teaching online workshop
A hybrid delivery format is used for the workshop . It begins with an in-class session and includes an orientation to online learning in the Blackboard courseware environment, a guest lecture presentation by a faculty mentor, and some group activities designed to arouse interest and motivation and to establish the instructional purpose. For the next several weeks, participants are encouraged to login daily to review online lecture notes and resources, participate in asynchronous and synchronous discussions and to complete the required learning activities. The workshop concludes with a face to face session where participants reflect on their web-based learning experiences.

The UofT ‘Teaching Online Workshop’ was created to help educators to teach online by giving them an opportunity to experience web-based learning. The contextual setting for the workshop was authentic in that instructors were learning in the same environment they would be required to use for teaching. We believe that in order to be an effective online teacher, instructors must experience web-based learning from the student perspective (Gold, 2001). Being exposed to the strategies and dynamics of online learning is the best way to inform instructors about the benefits and challenges of this mode of delivery. The knowledge gained from these experiences will help instructors to decide how to best integrate online learning as part of their course delivery. During the workshop the participants are actively engaged in identifying strategies for personal course development and delivery.

The main advantage of providing the workshop online is the degree of flexibility it offers faculty to work around their teaching, research and clinical commitments. They are able to access the material from home and a variety of work locations. Live presentations and synchronous chats are archived for those unable to attend the sessions in ‘real time’. Although the timelines and the structure of the content are provided by the instructors, the progression through the learning content is self-directed. This is an important delivery strategy as not all of the material is equally relevant to each of the participants. The learners will be able to customize the learning by selecting the resources applicable to their specific course. This approach also allows the instructors to focus their attention on the individual learners and address specific questions or challenges related to the development of each course.

Questions for consideration?

What factors influence the decisions about the format for delivering faculty development workshops?

What are some of the significant instructional challenges associated with creating and delivering faculty development workshops?

How have you used technology to overcome some of these challenges?

Future postings will continue to explore the material for my upcoming presentation.

References
Gold, S. (2001). A constructivist approach to online training for online teachers. JALN, (5)1, 36-57