Lesson 3 - Implementing Online Learning

Identifying the problem is much easier than fixing it. In particular, the culture especially of universities protects the existing system. Academic freedom is often used as an argument for the status quo, and unions in the college system insist on payment for instructors for any time spent on training over and above their normal teaching load. As Bates and Sangrà (2011) have pointed out, this is a systemic problem. It is difficult for a university, for example, to change for fear that their best young researchers will move to another institution where training in teaching is not demanded.

There are many different ways to address this challenge. I set out one possible strategy below.

First, it has to be recognized and accepted by institutional leaders, teachers, instructors, and faculty, the relevant unions, quality assurance boards, and state funding agencies that there is a major problem here. Donovan et al. (2019) in a national survey of post-secondary institutions in Canada found that while 71 percentage of all institutions rated online learning as very or extremely important for their long-term future, 79 percentage reported that the main barrier to greater adoption of online learning was inadequate training and in only 29 percentage of institutions was required in order to teach online.

Developing skilled teachers (and that’s what we need in schools, colleges and universities) is as much economic development as an educational issue. If we want people with the knowledge and skills needed in a digital age, then teachers must get the knowledge themselves about how to develop such skills, and in particular, recognize that learning technologies and online learning are critical components in the development of such skills.

It is much more economical and effective to prepare instructors properly at the start of their careers than to try to get large chunks of their time for training while in their mid or late careers. Although technology will change over time, the basic essentials of teaching and learning are relatively stable. Thus the problem needs to be tackled at the pre-service level. For those wishing to work as faculty in universities, we need to examine the post-graduate degree and in particular the Ph.D., to ensure that there is adequate time for courses on and practice in post-secondary teaching, or develop a parallel route for developing teaching and research skills.

Ideally the state or provincial Council of Universities or Colleges, or school boards, should get together and develop a comprehensive system of training for all teachers and ensure that such programs are continually updated. Similarly, a common plan and set of standards needs to be established across a jurisdiction for hiring and promotion linked to proper training in teaching and learning, through the establishment of appropriate working groups that would include professionals from learning technology units and professional development offices.

We need to walk the talk, and use technology to support professional development. Increasingly, centres for teaching and learning are creating web sites with ‘on-demand’ resources for faculty and instructors, such as best practices in using video, podcast production, or designing a course with technology.  Too often, though, other faculty development support sites focus on the technical operation of technology or just provide a schedule of faculty development workshops, rather than providing pragmatic advice on best educational practice in the use of a particular technology or medium. Also, teachers and instructors need to know about such sites – and use them.

The system-wide working groups should agree on a ‘core’ curriculum, minimum standards, and measures of performance for pre-service training in teaching for each sector. These standards should include the knowledge and skills needed by learners in a digital age. No person should be hired to new positions that have a major teaching component without recognized training in teaching, once the training system is in place.

ALT (Association of Learning Technologists), the UK, provides professional accreditation of learning technologists, operating at three levels (novice, career, advanced) through certified membership of ALT (Association of Learning Technologists). It uses a combination of personal portfolios of work and peer assessment. A similar program could be extended to teachers and instructors, enabling a form of accreditation based on the practice as well as taking courses.

For in-service professional development, one strategy would be to require an individual professional the development plan for every teacher or instructor annually negotiated between the teacher and their head of department. This plan would include regular up-dating in new teaching methods and technologies, similar to the compulsory professional development programs for medical practitioners. Different individual professional development plans will be needed for different subject areas.

Governments should exert pressure on school boards, colleges and universities to ensure that an adequate the pre-service and in-service training system is in place, as a condition of future funding. Governments should refuse to fund any public institution that does not follow the standards for training in teaching set and endorsed by the relevant system-wide authorities.

Integrate Internally

Blended and fully online teaching and learning technologies should be seen as integral components of professional development, not as separate activities. Therefore faculty development offices should be integrated with learning technology support units into Centres for Teaching and Learning (either centrally or divisionally, depending on the size of the institution), where this has not already occurred.