Boarding the Less Travelled Road: Designing an Entry-Level Qualification Program for online adjunct faculty

Authors: [1] Gurdip Kaur [2] Saminder Singh

Pages: 18-26

Abstract:

Developments in digital technologies have produced profound changes in the structure, design and delivery of distance and online higher education around the world. New social practices have emerged due to the proliferation and amplified use of emerging technologies hence requiring academic staff to obtain the necessary skill sets through professional training or qualification opportunities in order to cope with the new technologies and effectively participate in the online knowledge economy. Over the years, research has proven that unlike full-time faculty, adjunct faculty, one of the largest faculties in online offerings, rarely receives the same level of capacity building and may struggle to provide sufficient support to online learners. Inadequate qualification and training in terms of familiarity with and use of online communication tools and virtual learning environments can lead to catastrophic results. A common challenge that online higher education institutions face today is to ensure their faculty effectively integrates technology, pedagogy and content knowledge (TPACK) to manage and facilitate their online course offerings. This paper therefore reports on the current lack in skills and knowledge faced by online adjunct faculty and further investigates their preferences in terms of approach and content to design an entry-level qualification program known as Course for Online Adjunct faculty (COAF) that enables online adjunct faculty to effectively and efficiently teach online with consistent high quality.