Remote Faculty Support

EDUCAUSE LEARNING INITIATIVE | SEPTEMBER 2017

The resources below explore the many ways that colleges and universities can provide professional development and other kinds of support for faculty who teach online and who, increasingly, live and work at a distance from campus. In many cases, faculty support uses the kinds of tools and services that instructors increasingly use in their teaching and learning, providing faculty with the opportunity to use teaching and learning technologies to learn how to better use those same technologies in their courses.

Untethering Faculty Development (2016)

California State University Channel Islands is pursuing a model of untethered faculty development, which enables faculty to participate in online learning opportunities that reflect the ways in which faculty increasingly teach their courses. This webpage includes an overview of untethering and links to related articles and resources, including a step-by-step guide to untethering.

Recruiting, Orienting & Supporting Online Adjunct Faculty: A Survey of Practices (2015)

This report from The Learning House and WCET reports findings from a survey of two- and four-year institutions about the hiring and support of adjunct faculty who teach online. The survey investigated policies for adjuncts, responsibility for course design, professional development, and recruiting.

Valencia College: Digital Professor Certification (2017)

Valencia College offers instructors a Digital Professor Certification that provides professional development specific to questions of pedagogy and technology in online and hybrid environments.

Best Practices in Online Faculty Development (2012)

This paper from The Learning House outlines a set of practices that colleges and universities can pursue to support faculty in their efforts to teach effectively online. The paper discusses the role of part-time faculty, the value of setting clear expectations upfront, and the need for oversight of instructors teaching online.

Getting Started with Online Faculty Development (2015)

This brief resource provides an overview of how an institution can implement a program of online faculty development. Included are tips related to immediate-term activities (collecting and sharing online resources and incorporating those resources into existing faculty development) and to longer-term steps (using e-learning tools, social media, and online conferencing tools).

Untethered Teaching Communities of Practice Portfolio (2016)

In the blog post, the author chronicles two years of experience with communities of practice (CoPs) concerned with untethered teaching. For each of the four CoPs, the blog provides video, full reports, and other resources.

Faculty Development Programs: The Frequency and Variety of Professional Development Programs Available to Online Instructors (2016)

This article from the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks details the kinds of support that colleges and universities provide to faculty who teach online. The author conducted a quantitative survey covering more than two dozen types of professional development for faculty.

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