Best Practices: Professional Development for Adjunct Faculty in Educational Technology

Purpose & objective

Purpose:
The Purpose of this presentation is
1) to share best practices in online professional development for adjunct faculty in Educational Technology.
2) to engage in discussion and feedback from the audience on the design and development of the online modules and other best practices.

Objectives:
1) The participants will be able to learn application of a systemic and systematic instructional design process to design an online training program.
2) The participants will be able to critically engage/discuss with the presenters about successful integration of ISTE standards for students and educators within the online modules.
3) The participants will be able to learn about the different technology tools integrated within canvas Learning Management System to design and develop the online modules.
4) The participants will learn about the assessment tools and data collected to evaluate the effectiveness of the online training program.
5) The participants will be able to provide feedback about other best practices that could be integrated into the online modules.

Educational Challenge: This proposal deals directly with one of the most important educational challenges faced by many Universities where more than 50% of faculty are hired as adjuncts or non-tenure track positions. This trend certainly impacts the quality and integrity of the programs offered at the University as most of non-tenure track and adjunct faculty do not go through the same rigorous hiring process as tenure-track faculty. Second the low financial remuneration for the adjunct faculty makes them less inclined to be invested into the University. The value that adjunct faculty members add to an institution is something that needs to be acknowledged by 1) actively including them in the campus community and culture 2) investing in training and retaining adjunct faculty by providing them with professional development and orientation that they can access at their own time and pace (as many have other employment commitments to make ends meet).

Technology Intervention: Online (self-paced) training and professional development program on Canvas

Models Employed: ADDIE Instructional Design Process and Quality Matters Rubric

Instructional Tools: Nearpod, Flipgrid, Studio and Adobe

Evidence of Success: Formative and Summative Evaluation through surveys and interviews

Outline

Content and Activities: The presenters will showcase the online professional development training and the different technology tools used to develop the training program. The presentation will be interactive with the audience using mobile apps like Nearpod to interact with the content and provide feedback.

Time: 20 minutes in the presentation and interactive activity and 10 minutes questions and answers.

Process: Device-based activities using mobile phone app like Nearpod

Supporting research

Benton, Steve, and Dan Li. "Professional Development for Online Adjunct Faculty: The Chair's Role." Department Chair 26.1 (2015): 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1002/dch.30027

Webb, Andrea S, Tracy J Wong, and Harry T Hubball. "Professional Development for Adjunct Teaching Faculty in a Research-Intensive University: Engagement in Scholarly Approaches to Teaching and Learning." International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 25.2 (2013): 231-238

Mohr, Sandra Coswatte, and Kaye Shelton. "Best Practices Framework for Online Faculty Professional Development: A Delphi Study." Online Learning Journal (OLJ) 21.4 (2017): 123.

Chitanana, Lockias. "A Constructivist Approach to the Design and Delivery of an Online Professional Development Course: A Case of the IEARN Online Course." 5.1 (2012): 23-48.