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Learning Online for Teaching Online: A Formative Program Evaluation of a Hybrid Faculty Training Program

Song, Meiyi (2019) Learning Online for Teaching Online: A Formative Program Evaluation of a Hybrid Faculty Training Program. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

A growing trend in higher education is the increasing number of online course offerings. It is imperative for postsecondary institutions to provide faculty development programs that support faculty in online teaching. For the purpose of preparing faculty to teach online, the University of Pittsburgh offers a semester-long hybrid course in which they assume the role of online students, experience engagement strategies, receive instructor and peer feedback, and apply what they learn to their teaching. I am the designer and facilitator of this course. And I conducted a formative program evaluation to understand the overall usefulness of the course, the benefits of enabling faculty to be learners in a hybrid course, as well as what they learned and applied in their teaching traditional and online courses.
The findings showed that the participating faculty from the first two iterations found it useful and appreciated their role as learners in the course. They reported that they developed empathy and realistic expectations for online students. As a group, they applied in their teaching almost all of the important course design principles and notions taught in the course, and they reported that they used a wide range of technology as well.
This formative program evaluation sheds light on design choices for preparing faculty to teach online and what seemed to be essential to include as content in a faculty development program for online teaching. Enrolling interested faculty members in a hybrid or online course on how to teach online seemed to be a good way to help faculty develop empathy and realistic expectations for students in an online learning environment, and to enable faculty to apply important course design principles, pedagogical strategies, and technology use in their teaching. Additionally, this formative program evaluation also revealed evidence of some course design concepts, strategies, and instructional technologies that were quickly adoptable by the participants, indicating that those concepts, pedagogical strategies, and technologies should be included in professional development initiatives for online teaching.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Song, Meiyimes266@pitt.edumes266
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Thesis AdvisorAkiva, Thomastomakiva@pitt.edutomakiva
Committee MemberWashburn, Carolwashburn@pitt.eduwashburn
Committee MemberWang, Elaineelw51@pitt.eduelw51
Committee MemberDavis, Kelliannkelli.davis@pitt.edukelli.davis
Date: 25 September 2019
Date Type: Publication
Defense Date: 1 April 2019
Approval Date: 25 September 2019
Submission Date: 19 June 2019
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Number of Pages: 149
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: School of Education > Administrative and Policy Studies
Degree: EdD - Doctor of Education
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: Online teaching, hybrid, faculty development, faculty professional development
Date Deposited: 25 Sep 2019 15:29
Last Modified: 25 Sep 2019 15:29
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/36969

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