Learning to Teach Online: An Investigation of the Impacts of Faculty Development Training on Teaching Effectiveness and Attitudes toward Online Instruction

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between one approach to training for online faculty and the ways in which the program influenced the participants’ teaching effectiveness and attitudes toward online instruction. Two research questions guided this study: (1) how did participating in an intensive course redesign intervention influence instructors’ teaching effectiveness in the online environment? and (2) how did participating in the training influence instructors’ beliefs or attitudes about online teaching? The theoretical framework guiding this study was the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model, developed by Mishra and Koehler (2005). Using a concurrent, mixed-methods design, this study used five data sources: (1) participants’ application narratives, (2) post-training program evaluation data; (3) instructors’ pre and post-training course syllabi, (4) pre and posttraining student evaluations of teaching scores, and (5) a post-training follow-up online survey.

Findings to the first research question revealed that instructors demonstrated (a) statistically significant change in the incorporation of elements into the redesign of their syllabi, and (b) improvements in their teaching abilities as self-reported in the follow-up survey. However, there were no significant changes in their student evaluations of teaching pre-and post. Overall, then, instructors demonstrated modest improvements to their overall teaching effectiveness. Findings to the second research question revealed that, prior to training, instructors were highly optimistic about their course redesign plans and the skills and knowledge they would develop. After delivering their redesigned course online, participants were less optimistic and satisfied with their training experience than they had been immediately following it, and multiple instructors cited a need for additional or continued training and support.