Supporting Postsecondary Faculty Transition to Rapid Online Teaching & Learning

North Carolina postsecondary faculty, similar to faculty around the world, who prepared their spring 2020 semester courses for face-to-face delivery, were required to quickly transition to Rapid Online Teaching and Learning (ROTL). This transition was expected within a short time frame, often one to two weeks, and for many faculty members, both time and resources to incorporate design practices found in high-quality online courses were limited. Faculty members demonstrated great determination and grit as they shifted to remote teaching and learning with a focus on the student success, even while feeling overwhelmed and disrupted themselves. Researchers examined two faculty-support programs designed to assist with the shift to online teaching during the COVID-19 crisis: one at a research-intensive, land-grant university and another for faculty at 58 community colleges, some of whom are enrolled in a CPED Ed.D. program. Lessons learned and thoughts on planning for future semesters are examined

Case Study on Coaching Community College Faculty Member Experiences Transitioning to Online Education During COVID-19

This embedded case study focused on the experiences of coaches and community college faculty who participated in the coaching portion of an emergency remote transition project. The transition project was holistically designed to support community college faculty who had prepped for face-to-face courses and were shifting to remote teaching in a short period of time. Coaching services were one element of the project that also offered webinars, creation of short tutorial videos, and other support services. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed. Coaching was successful in helping community college faculty transition from teaching in-person courses to fully online courses quickly. Community college faculty showed determination, resilience, and remained dedicated to their students' successful completion of the semester despite the worldwide pandemic.

A Holistic Professional Development Model

Institutions struggle to develop online curriculum that meets increasing student demands for online education. The explosive growth of online learning necessitates that many higher education faculty transition from a traditional classroom to a web-based format, sometimes with little or no training. This chapter describes a holistic online faculty professional development (PD) model developed through use of a concerns-based adoption model (CBAM). The CBAM model provides an affective and behavioral lens for managing change. Through two of CBAM's components called stages of concern and levels of use, a PD plan was constructed that approaches the transition to distance learning as an ongoing process rather than simply as technology training. The holistic PD model considers each faculty member as an individual with unique needs. Components of the PD model and new Center for E-Learning (CeL) development and program building are explained. Impact on faculty and students and recommendations for program planning and future research are included.

Perceptions of Employer Socialization Tactics During Junior Faculty Transition into Higher Education

Context: New faculty are expected to teach, be productive scholars, and provide service in order to earn tenure, but few experience the full spectrum of faculty responsibility during doctoral preparation. Recent evidence suggests mentorship and orientation are important during role transition. However, how employers facilitate role transition for new faculty remains unclear. Objective: Examine the perspectives of junior faculty members' organizational socialization into higher education, specifically focusing on mentorship and orientation sessions. Design: Qualitative study. Setting: Fourteen higher education institutions. Patients or Other Participants: Sixteen junior faculty (7 male, 9 female; age = 32 ± 3.5 years) representing 7 National Athletic Trainers' Association districts participated. At the time of the interview, all participants were within their first 3 years of a full-time faculty position. Main Outcome Measure(s): All participants completed a semistructured telephone interview. The interview guide was focused on the experiences of junior faculty and was developed based upon the literature and purpose of the study. We analyzed the transcribed interviews using a general inductive approach. Results: Mentors provided support to assist in the transition to faculty positions on a variety of topics, although formal mentoring programs are identified as helpful only if a relationship develops. Regarding the second theme, participants noted orientation sessions organized by the institution or department that provided a clear overview of the position. However, despite their use, many described the orientation sessions as not providing essential information that would have been helpful. Additionally, tenure and promotion processes often had purposefully vague criteria regardless of how thorough the explanation, leading to stress. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that higher education administrators help new athletic training faculty transition by providing mentors and orientation sessions. Findings also suggest that these experiences, at times, are not comprehensive and caused the transition to academe to be stressful.

A Holistic Professional Development Model

Institutions struggle to develop online curriculum that meets increasing student demands for online education. The explosive growth of online learning necessitates that many higher education faculty transition from a traditional classroom to a web-based format, sometimes with little or no training. This chapter describes a holistic online faculty professional development (PD) model developed through use of a concerns-based adoption model (CBAM). The CBAM model provides an affective and behavioral lens for managing change. Through two of CBAM's components called stages of concern and levels of use, a PD plan was constructed that approaches the transition to distance learning as an ongoing process rather than simply as technology training. The holistic PD model considers each faculty member as an individual with unique needs. Components of the PD model and new Center for E-Learning (CeL) development and program building are explained. Impact on faculty and students and recommendations for program planning and future research are included.

Student Engagement: A Principle-Based Concept Analysis

A principle-based concept analysis of student engagement was used to examine the state of the science across disciplines. Four major perspectives of philosophy of science guided analysis and provided a framework for study of interrelationships and integration of conceptual components which then resulted in formulation of a theoretical definition. Findings revealed student engagement as a dynamic reiterative process marked by positive behavioral, cognitive, and affective elements exhibited in pursuit of deep learning. This process is influenced by a broader sociocultural environment bound by contextual preconditions of self-investment, motivation, and a valuing of learning. Outcomes of student engagement include satisfaction, sense of well-being, and personal development. Findings of this analysis prove relevant to nursing education as faculty transition from traditional teaching paradigms, incorporate learner-centered strategies, and adopt innovative pedagogical methodologies. It lends support for curricula reform, development of more accurate evaluative measures, and creation of meaningful teaching-learning environments within the discipline.