Consideraciones finales

sometimes on a one-on-one basis without any specific set goal. Other times, the training was prearranged in a group setting, on a specified professional development day. A third informal aspect of professional development was through peer-to-peer interaction, where some instructors in my study opted to seek out help from those in their department, or learned more by helping other instructors new to online teaching.

Most of the context for the one-on-one training involved the participant taking on the teaching of an online course, seeking out the IT professional on campus, and planning a time to sit down. In one college, it was a mandatory session that virtually “unlocked” the access to the website shell in order to add material. On the other campus, the sit-down was not required, but recommended. Most participants expressed that the types of

training received most often were on their own time, with an individual from the college IT department who focused on getting them the technology training they desired.

A number of participants expressed a belief that more time devoted by the college in the form of professional development days or seminars in order to dialogue with colleagues already teaching online courses would be a helpful way to learn more of the technological aspects of teaching online, as well as gaining more pedagogical strategies

to reach online learners. To further this, the idea of committees of institutional support often came up as ways participants wished to learn more about teaching online.

Training was one-on-one. Of the 14 participants, five deeply discussed their one-

on-one training. The first area to be discussed was the idea of colleague support, where a participant in the study openly admitted to turnkey training colleagues who were new and were seeking his help.

I meet with them. Initially I talk with them about, you know, what they want to do, what their goals are. And then we set up a little schedule where they need to -- they, you know, get all their materials together, and then what I do is I create a development shell. And then, I help them with the -- with the technology in terms of, you know, how do I convert this document? How do I put it in the shell? But we spend a little bit of time talking about the architecture of it and how they need to get everything together prior to actually putting it into the shell. (S. Jones, personal communication, Feb. 16, 2012)

Some participants discussed the fact that their college offered training on an as- needed basis, and at times, faculty members would need to seek out training on their own, or turn to colleagues for guidance.

And I sat with the tech support. They set the shell up for me. They actually gave me suggestions on how to set it up because of how they knew it worked, and then I went home and put in whatever I wanted to put in. I mean, there was no do this, do that. So there's very little instruction there, which is a little concerning for me. (H. Potts, personal communication, Feb. 20, 2012)

Successful support for online teaching is dependent on the ability of the colleges to offer both personalized as well as broad-based ways to engage and support faculty who are teaching online courses. The willingness of institutions to invest in technical support and equipment is necessary to implement successful online programs (Magnussen, 2008).

We were offered assistance in setting up and using Blackboard, the interface. There was a -- there still is a tech person here who’s primary job is to help faculty. And he -- I met with him for probably two to three hours, a one-time session, and he walked me through Blackboard, showed me how to upload assignments, how to use the grade book. (S. Jacobs, personal communication, Feb. 8, 2012)

But the two people that they hired to help full-time, one was supposed to be the director of the technical helpdesk for the students, and the other was the person who was hired to help faculty develop actually the physical components of the course. He was phenomenal. And so he came to my office, sat down with me, helped me hands-on put the thing together and then I could just replicate that process whenever I wanted to add a new assignment, add a new lecture. (J. White, personal communication, Jan. 25, 2012)

We have a gentleman on campus so I sort of got one-on-one instruction from him. I knew what I wanted to do and, you know, basically laid it out. I laid it out on hardcopy and said, this is what I need to do and I know that, you know, we have access to certain things -- at that time we had access to certain things for students to reach out online for, but he was pretty much the guru to set up a Blackboard. (L. Lane, Feb. 15, 2012)

The theme of one-on-one training as a commonality among some faculty members provided insight into the characteristics of faculty members as adult learners who utilized initiatives to seek out ways to improve their online teaching experience. Faculty members critically reflected and shared that the training they received in the one- on-one context was beneficial since faculty could choose the time for the training, as well as gain assistance in any specific area in which they are concerned.

The positive response from faculty members in regards to one-on-one time for training allowed me to believe that one-on-one training should be a dedicated part of the training of any faculty members who are going to teach online. Faculty members as adult learners are able to focus on areas they need help with or are interested in learning about in order to become proficient at teaching online and reaching those enrolled in their courses.

Training was offered in a group setting. One of the community colleges with

participants in the study seemed to offer more training in a group setting, such as in- service days, or through a committee of instructors from the college who had taken an interest in designing professional development for online instructors. Of my study

participants, 36% percent noted that each respective community college had a small group of faculty members dedicated to the growth of online teaching and learning. The participants shared that faculty members who were currently teaching online would utilize their time to work on curriculum and training initiatives for the college

implementation of online courses. One college had a group that was growing, and the other college seemed to be in a struggle to gain more support for the growth of technology-based initiatives on campus.

And I think -- I think the college is making progress. One of the things that I brought you is we, each January, have a professional development day. In the fall, we always have a professional day and it’s sort of -- you know, what's new at the school? Welcome back, etc. etc. But this Fall, this January, it actually was

developed around the idea of online teaching. (J. White, personal communication, Jan. 25, 2012)

We actually have a distance learning organization on campus, and so they are constantly striving to find things that would be of use for us. (S. Brown, personal communication, Jan. 10, 2012)

…I think as we hire new people – you know, as people retire and newer younger people come in who grew up with computers who feel comfortable with them and who want to teach online and they – they can be part of that Committee and know that it’s wonderful to feel that you have support not only from the technical advisor or advisors but from your own colleagues. And there is – what else is nice about that is there is a tremendous, tremendous feeling of camaraderie with people who teach online… (L. Stein, personal communication, Feb. 20, 2012) Those who received professional development in a group setting, or are part of their college committee to help develop and organize ways to provide professional development to online teachers, suggested that more was needed from the college to prepare online teachers. There was a perceived need for a more formalized approach to how instructors learned to teach online. Faculty members in this sub-group shared that they were encouraged by the college to work together to develop ways to help instructors

meet increased numbers of students taking online courses, student needs, and consistency when teaching an online course.

The faculty members who participated in the study most often shared some satisfaction with the way their respective colleges had offered training to teach online. Most instructors seem to value the training they received regardless of how it was offered. Some faculty members did feel that more professional development was needed so that more faculty members would see the value of teaching online. The differences between the two groups were that those who received the training in a group setting often felt many colleagues were disconnected, and that the value of teaching online had been diminished by the way training was quickly covered in a group setting. The one-on-one training seemed to provide more value to the instructors because of the emphasis on the adult learner. Often there were not restraints on what could or had to be offered as training. Many of the faculty members reported that some aspect of training for which they requested assistance in their individualized training impacted their instructional delivery.