Award-Winning Faculty Online Teaching Practices: Roles and Competencies

Authors

  • Florence Martin University of North Carolina Charlotte
  • Kiran Budhrani University of North Carolina Charlotte
  • Swapna Kumar University of Florida
  • Albert Ritzhaupt University of Florida

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v23i1.1329

Keywords:

Online Instructor Roles, Online Instructor Tasks

Abstract

Given the explosive growth of online learning in institutions of higher education, we are in dire need of guidelines for instructing new and continuing online instructors on how best to teach in online spaces.  The purpose of this study was to identify the roles of the online instructor and categorize critical competencies for online teaching based on a review of research, and the perspectives of award-winning online faculty. We interviewed eight award-winning online faculty members from across the United States. Based on interviews, it was found that online instructors were assuming five different roles: Facilitator, Course Designer, Course Delivery, Subject Matter Expert, and Mentor.  Participants’ common tasks when designing and teaching an online course fell in two areas, either Course Design or Teaching. This research has clear implications not only for the literature research base, but for our institutions as well as we continue to offer increasing numbers of effective online courses and programs to our students.

Author Biography

Florence Martin, University of North Carolina Charlotte

I am an Associate Professor in the Instructional Systems Technology program at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. I received my Doctorate and Master's in Educational Technology from Arizona State University. I have a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Bharathiyar University, India. Previous to my current position, I taught at University of North Carolina Wilmington for seven years. I also worked on instructional design projects for Shooolini University, Viridis Learning, Maricopa Community College, University of Phoenix, Intel, Cisco Learning Institute, and Arizona State University. I worked as a co-principal investigator on the Digital Visual Literacy NSF grant working with Maricopa Community College District in Arizona and with Usability Security with Computing and Information Systems at UNCC. My research focuses on designing and integrating online learning environments (OLE) to improve learner motivation and engagement to achieve effectiveness in learning. I served as the President of the Multimedia Production Division at AECT from 2012-2013 and I am the 2016-2017 president-elect for Division of Distance Education at AECT.

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Published

2019-03-01

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (2019)

Section

Faculty, Professional Development, and Online Teaching

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