scholarly journals Online Continuing Professional Development: An integrative approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelica Risquez ◽  
Dara Cassidy ◽  
Gearóid Ó Súilleabháin ◽  
Roisin Garvey ◽  
Sinead Spain
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Integrative Approach ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Practice Approach ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Very High

This paper reports on the design, development, delivery and evaluation of an online continuing professional development (CPD) course in the area of online teaching by three Irish Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). The course was developed in the context of a nationally coordinated effort to promote CPD of those that teach in Higher Education through digital badges. Survey results suggest a very high overall satisfaction rate with the course as a whole, increased levels of knowledge and confidence in relation to teaching online, and also intended transference to practice. While the external motivator of demonstrating engagement through the digital badge arose in the surveys and focus groups, it did not feature particularly strongly. Implications for CPD are discussed in relation to internal and external drivers and motivations around CPD for higher education teachers, and the need for opportunities for participants to interact and engage in the manner reminiscent of a community of practice approach.

scholarly journals Examining Higher Education Instructor Perceptions of Roles and Competencies in Online Teaching

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Martin ◽  
Swapna Kumar ◽  
Liane She
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Instructional Designers ◽  
Online Instructors ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Lifelong Learner ◽  
Online Instructor

Online instructors adopt various roles and perform various competencies in the design and delivery of online courses. In this study, online instructor roles are categorized into eight types including Subject Matter Expert, Course Designer and Developer, Course Facilitator, Course Manager, Advisor/Mentor, Assessor/Evaluator, Technology Expert, and Lifelong Learner. Through survey-based research with 141 online instructors, this study examines competencies that online instructors perform based on various roles. When rating competencies, overall categorical means for all the roles were rated above 4.00, which showed that they used all these roles. The highest rated items and lowest rated items are discussed in addition to the connection between research and practice in online teaching. Online instructors who participate in training and who collaborate with instructional designers rated the frequency with which they perform the competencies to be higher. This study has implications for online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators who design and deliver online learning and offer professional development for online instructors.

scholarly journals Badge of honour? An exploration of the use of digital badges to support a partnership approach to faculty development

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 18-29
Author(s):  
Angelica Risquez ◽  
Dara Cassidy ◽  
Gearoid O'Suilleabhain
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Digital Badges ◽  
National Agency ◽  
Partnership Model ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Partnership Approach

This article describes a professional development initiative facilitated through a transformational partnership model. In this context, we discuss our experience of piloting an online continuing professional development course in the area of online teaching, which offered a digital badge for successful participants. The course was the result of a partnership between three Irish higher education institutions and a national agency that had initiated a nation-wide scheme to create and disseminate a range of open access collaborative professional development courses to promote the professionalisation of teaching and learning, with a specific digital badge being available for each course. We investigated the interplay between the digital badge issued for the course we piloted, and other potential intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. Digital badges appear to be a weak motivating factor in initial enrolment and engagement, although for some participants, they did motivate continued engagement and completion. We discuss implications in relation to internal and external drivers and motivations around professional development. We also offer reflections on the larger context in which badges might be used or valued by course participants in their professional environments. Implications for practice or policy: For digital badges to motivate learning, educational developers and institutions need to associate them with intrinsically meaningful rewards. Partnership between higher education institutes and non-accrediting bodies can drive the development and wider acceptance and use of digital badges as a tangible and agreed currency of learner and learning achievement. Learners benefit most from digital badges when they are linked to and facilitate the development of personal identities associated with disciplinary and professional communities.

The challenges of continuing professional development among academic staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3B) ◽  
pp. 79-89
Author(s):  
Yaroslava Belmaz ◽  
Oksana Horovenko ◽  
Liudmyla Bakhmat ◽  
Lesia Kalashnikova ◽  
Maryna Shevchenko
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Motivating Factors ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Professional Interest ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Self Development ◽  
Research Questions

The research is focused on studying continuing professional development (CPD) of academic staff in Ukraine. The starting point is to analyze various definitions to describe the concept and defining skills crucial for CPD activities. To study various aspects of CPD, the questionnaire was created and made available from September to November, 2020. It was used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data to address the research questions, particularly the attitude, advantages, obstacles, etc. The findings of the study suggest that for most respondents CPD is a necessary component of professional activities indicating that the most motivating factors are self-development, self-improvement and professional interest. The respondents consider courses, internships, online seminars and webinars to be the most effective listing courses and conferences as the most often chosen ways of CPD. The majority of the surveyed noted that they had up to 10 hours of CPD during the quarantine in spring 2020 with focus on technical characteristics, forms and methods of online teaching.

Equipping Educational Developers for Inclusive International Programs in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-40
Author(s):  
Davinia Sánchez-García ◽  
Emma Dafouz
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
International Programs ◽  
Teacher Professional

Given the internationalization process of higher education across the globe, continuing professional development (CPD) of academic staff is vital to ensure the quality of teaching and learning. Under such scenario, the European Erasmus+ project “Educational Quality at Universities for Inclusive International Programmes” (EQUiiP) identifies the role of the internationally-oriented educational developer (ED) as crucial to higher education institutions (HEIs) and provides these institutions with the means to support academic staff and hereby enhance the quality of internationalized programs taught in international classrooms. Consequently, this chapter provides the conceptual rationale behind the EQUiiP project, delves into the needs of teacher education programs and the role played by the EDs, and describes the EQUiiP project and its outcomes by providing concrete examples of its inclusive CPD program. Finally, some implications and recommendations for teacher professional development, with specific reference to the Spanish setting, are offered.

Online Higher Education: Faculty Satisfaction and Its Antecedents

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 509-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa T. Stickney ◽  
Regina F. Bento ◽  
Anil Aggarwal ◽  
Veena Adlakha
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Faculty Satisfaction ◽  
Education Faculty ◽  
Higher Education Faculty ◽  
Organizational Policies ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Learning Programs

The nature and antecedents of faculty satisfaction in online higher education have not received much scholarly attention yet, despite the growing literature that indicates the relevance of faculty satisfaction for outcomes such as the success of e-learning programs, student learning, and student satisfaction. This exploratory study surveyed 171 faculty members from multiple institutions of higher education to learn about their experiences teaching online and to examine factors that might affect their satisfaction. Our study finds that higher education faculty who teach online are generally satisfied, and that satisfaction is more likely if there is appropriate training, and if teaching online allows for flexibility in their schedules. Although a weaker relationship, results also suggest that faculty are more satisfied teaching online when institutional support and organizational policies uphold online teaching efforts. Contrary to our expectations, however, our findings show that faculty who are more satisfied with support for technical elements of the online teaching environment, are less satisfied teaching online. Implications for research and practice are discerned through both the presence and absence of support for three sets of hypotheses, regarding faculty, institutional and technical factors.

scholarly journals Culture Club: Experiences of running a journal club for continuing professional development in higher education

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-89
Author(s):  
Jim Christopher Turner ◽  
Amanda Mason ◽  
Roger Harrison ◽  
Tunde Varga-Atkins
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Complex Terrain ◽  
Journal Club ◽  
Continuing Professional Development ◽  
Technology Journal ◽  
Journal Clubs ◽  
Subject Areas ◽  
Potential Area ◽  
Complex Subject

This article discusses the experiences of a journal club established to enable staff from different higher education (HE) institutions and roles to develop their knowledge and understanding around a shared interest in the areas of internationalisation and educational technology.  Journal clubs have been used, mainly within the field of medicine and healthcare, to facilitate group learning. The club enabled the group to navigate a complex terrain of literature, develop a focus for reading and identifying a potential area for research and collaboration. Members of the journal club experienced several benefits from participation which are discussed together with the challenges of sustaining engagement over time. The article concludes with highlighting ways in which journal clubs can provide a fruitful form of continuing professional development in higher education, particularly in complex subject areas that traverse numerous roles and domains and makes recommendations for those considering establishing a journal club for similar purposes.    

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