Planning for the Next Wave: Assessing Current Faculty Distance Education Training and Development Needs

Abstract

As part of a strategic effort to enhance support services for faculty engaged in distance education, a descriptive study was conducted to assess the perceived distance education training and development needs of faculty members at a southern region land-grant university. Results of the study indicated that those who responded felt distance education training should be conducted in a traditional format, such as a prescribed course or set of training materials, and that the best I• format would be self-paced training or a combination of formal, informal, and self-paced training. Respondents were almost evenly split on whether training should be mandatory or voluntary for faculty teaching distance education courses.

Understanding the experiences of instructors as they adopt a course management system

“…This finding may indicate why training so often does not lead to successful adoption/integration of a technology. There are many research studies conducted with the goal of improving faculty training (Ali, 2003;Bennett & Bennett, 2003;Fitzgibbon & Jones, 2004;Irani & Telg, 2001;Kagima & Hausafus, 2001;McCarney, 2004), but perhaps institutions should study how to provide more fertile opportunities for experimentation, as we found that this occurs before training and may indicate the likelihood of successful CMS adoption.…”

Demystifying the Puzzle of Applied Communications Research

“…Much of this research is increasingly conducted by nonacademic departments and applied communication units, mainly in attempts to improve editorial products, enhance customer service, or to show evidence of their worth or "impact" to the organization (Boone, Tucker & McClaskey, 2002;Tucker & Steel, 2003;Irani & Telg, 2001;Boone & Furbee, 1998;Wood-Turley & Tucker, 2003;Gerakis, 1997;Connors, Elliot & Heinze, 1994).…”

Chalkboards to Virtual Environments: Technology's Role in Expanding the Classroom to Provide Professional Development and Education for Agricultural Communicators

“…"Increasingly, many concepts and ideas cannot be taught without the aid of technology to represent and manipulate them" (Molnar, 1997, p. 5). However, the use of technology to teach is not without barriers as a study conducted by Irani and Telg (2001) reported the need for distance education training for faculty. Time, resources, and motivation were shared by faculty as critical elements that impact the actual implementation of distance education.…”