Preparing Faculty to Teach Online via an Award-Winning Intensive Online Pedagogy Institute

Academic Units

Social Work

Published Here

February 10, 2020

APA CITATION: Chung, R., Marquart, M., Ryan, D., and Creswell Báez, J. Recruiting, Training, and Engaging Virtual Faculty via an Award-Winning Online Pedagogy Institute. (2020, February 18). Poster presented at the Center for Teaching and Learning Symposium, Columbia University, New York, NY.

KEYWORDS: faculty development, teaching with technology, online education, distance education, social work education, online pedagogy, digital innovation, online learning

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Columbia University’s School of Social Work, Steven Schinke, Julien Teitler, Jackie Martinez, Tiffany Rasmussen, Kristin Garay; The team who worked on the first six Institutes and made them excellent: Agata Dera, Ana Quiñones, Chelsea Walus, Elexia Lowe, Erika Wiseberg, Jennifer So, Jneé Hill, Josh Levine, Kristin Anderson, Krystal Folk, Marianna Da Costa, Samantha Franklin, Sierra Spriggs, Vitina Monacello

ABOUT:
The School of Social Work’s MSSW degree can be completed on campus, online, or via a combination of the two. Our online courses at the School of Social Work involve weekly live virtual class sessions in Adobe Connect and asynchronous homework in the Canvas learning management system, and this format requires different skills than teaching in an on-campus classroom.

The institute consists of weekly two-hour synchronous class sessions and three hours of homework each week, for a total of 25 hours of graded work. Participants must earn 90% or higher to pass, and those who pass earn a digital badge. In the past three years, 254 participants have passed.

We wanted to focus on quality standards and rigor, and include best practices in teaching and pedagogy. Concepts covered include critically reflective teaching, universal design for learning in online courses, inclusive teaching online, active learning online, and more. In this poster, we propose to share our innovations and lessons learned.

This institute is innovative in the field of online higher education, and has been recognized with awards from The International E-Learning Association (IELA), the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), and the University Professional and Continuing Education Association's Mid-Atlantic Region (UPCEA). The institute is also described in an article in the Journal of Teaching in Social Work and in blog posts by the USDLA and Teaching & Learning in Social Work.

Participants of this institute have rated it as highly effective, with comments such as:
- “The Institute set a golden standard for online education. The live sessions, along with the modules and assignments, modeled holistic learning opportunities and effective teaching strategies. It was incredibly well-rounded and of high quality!”
- “Fantastic job in laying the groundwork for being a successful online educator.”

RELEVANT LINKS:
- Article in the Journal of Teaching in Social Work: https://doi.org/10.1080/08841233.2019.1653419
- USDLA blog post about the Institute, by Valary Oleinik: https://usdla.org/blog/2019/08/21/the-best-teachers-are-also-amazing-learners/
- Blog post by a past participant in the Institute, Laurel Hitchcock: https://www.laureliversonhitchcock.org/2019/11/19/reflections-from-the-summer-2019-institute-on-pedagogy-and-technology-for-online-courses/
- Workshop slides about the Institute: https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-efet-yd36