To design and deliver meaningful professional development programs for faculty who teach online, the unit responsible for these activities should have a clear idea of what content participants might find most beneficial to their practice, as well as what can improve instructor and student satisfaction. Using an online survey, this study explored the perceptions of 314 faculty members at a mid-southern university as they relate to the online environment and institutional factors, personal factors, and student engagement and active learning. Faculty reported high levels of satisfaction with the accessibility of their courses and the technical support they receive, but reported lower levels of satisfaction with the effectiveness of online communication tools. The results also revealed a significant difference in how faculty rated their satisfaction with student engagement and active learning based on their level of experience, indicating that alternative approaches to faculty development might be necessary for those new to online teaching and learning.

The use of video lectures is a common method of delivering course content in online learning environments. Over time, our understanding of what makes an effective online video has evolved with advances in educational research and technology. In the past decade, free online video services such as YouTube have allowed widespread dissemination of instructional videos. Prevalence of high-quality instruction produced by organizations such as Kahn Academy has advanced our knowledge of effective video techniques and raised our students' expectations. Recent research has explored the elements of lecture videos and presentation styles that either contribute to, or detract from, student engagement. This paper explores one instructor's experience with teaching an online course in engineering economics multiple times, the original development of lecture videos and the subsequent editing and rework of those videos. Until recently, the effectiveness of the course videos was judged primarily from student feedback in course evaluations. However, the most recent version of our institution's learning management system allows collection of detailed student viewing data on the videos, including number of views, average view time and drop-off rates. Correlation between video viewing habits and student performance is explored and recommendations and lessons learned are provided.

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This article describes our study exploring Extension agents' philosophies of adult education and their perceptions of the role of Cooperative Extension for individuals and in the community. We surveyed agents in Arkansas using the Philosophy of Adult Education Inventory and open-ended questions related to the role of Extension. Most agents indicated the strongest level of agreement with the progressive philosophy. Two themes that emerged from the open-ended questions were agent as disseminator of information and impact of Extension on quality of life. Our discussion includes recommendations for professional development that involves examining one's personal philosophy of adult education.