Page 18 - UWI QUALITY CIRCLE Vol.19 May 2017

n today’s complex online environment, it is crucial to overcome
The Nexus between Faculty Professional
Development and Student Success
BY DR. FLORENCE GILZENE-CHEESE INSTRUCTIONAL DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR ACADEMIC PROGRAMMING AND DELIVERY DIVISION THE UWI OPEN CAMPUS
Ichallenges associated with addressing online students’ learning needs. Institutions must take a practical approach to supporting student success through faculty professional development.
In The UWI Open Campus, the Programme Delivery Department has created a professional development model for all new online faculty to ensure that they can effectively support online student engagement and success. The department uses a training structure to prepare quali ed individuals to deliver its online courses. The training process covers several teaching and personal development competencies, which support student achievement. Two aspects of the approach are below.
The link between student engagement and motivation from facilitators – Adult learning theory supports an equal relationship between the facilitator and the learner. Watson (2015) believes that this engagement should be supportive and collaborative
rather than having a lecturer imposing information on the learner. Successful teaching online is measured in what students learn. Training for successful teaching is facilitated through a simulated delivery process – trainees engage in a learning lab where they are the facilitators as part of their own development. Facilitators are encouraged to provide initial guidance for learning tasks, set clear expectations for meeting learning goals and help students to use challenges and failures as constructive problem based learning cases. This allows the facilitators to build critical thinking and problem solving skills into their delivery, equipping the learners to solve their own problems while gaining competence in the content area.
Meaningful learning and its relationship to competency development – A successful online professional development training process must allow for experiential engagement which uses faculty knowledge base as the foundation for new information. Though some facilitators may be unfamiliar with the pillars of a successful online environment, their life experiences should be used to facilitate growth as they become familiar with the online environment. Some useful tools for leveraging this knowledge are the Teaching Perspective Inventory and the Visual, Aural, Read/ write, and Kinesthetic (VARK) learning style inventory. These tools give the facilitators valuable insight into how they can use their teaching inventory and learning styles to support students in their own development by placing emphasis on students’ learning preferences.
The Open Campus celebrates student achievement by ensuring that trainee faculty are themselves successful ‘online students’. They get a rst-hand look at the student experience online and the exibility that is necessary when they encounter challenges during their preparation. Faculty who are comfortable in the online environment are better able to support student success in online programmes.
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