Faculty Development, Selection, and Training

Faculty development and training is critical to the success of any distributed learning program. The pedagogy of effective distributed learning is significantly different from that of the traditional face-to-face class. [Page 167]Without guidance, many faculty who are planning their first online course try to emulate their standard course, perhaps by scheduling a synchronous chat during a specific class time. This approach, however, fails to leverage the potential of technology for online teaching, while losing the benefits of oral communication and the ability to read body language inherent in the face-to-face class. Therefore, a critical aspect of faculty development is knowledge of how students learn and how an online course can be structured to maximize learning. More obvious, perhaps, is the need for faculty to develop ...