Online Faculty Development: Disorienting Dilemmas In Learning To Teach Online

This dissertation explores how faculty development for online teaching in higher education might facilitate transformative learning and the transfer of instructional practices across teaching modalities. The first manuscript examines how the essential constructs of transformative learning are promoted in online faculty development and which elements of faculty development help to foster transformative learning. The second manuscript describes a case study that emerged from a university faculty development seminar to prepare instructors to teach online. The purpose of this study was to examine how, if at all, the Online Faculty Development Seminar changed five participants’ perspectives of teaching. This study found written reflection activities, combined with dialogue with colleagues, and having experienced instructors come in to tour their courses and discuss lessons learned contributed to perspective transformation. The third manuscript examines whether instructional practices introduced in the seminar would transfer to instructors’ in-person teaching and how faculty development and the experience of teaching online may have facilitated that transfer. The study found participants experienced perspective transformations that affected how they perceived their role as instructors, and they transferred some online course design and instructional practices to their in-person teaching. These practices included incorporating more digital tools to in-person courses, communicating clearly and transparently, designing courses with intentionality, and paying forward the lessons they learned to assist colleagues transitioning to teaching remotely in Spring 2020. Findings suggest that a structured course design process, self-reflection activities, opportunities to dialogue with colleagues, and course tours from colleagues aided in transfer of practices across modalities.