Bringing part-time ODL faculty into the institution fold: A vital component of ODL student support

 

 

Introduction

 

Many online distance learning (ODL) instructors are part-time faculty who are at a distance from the university community both geographically and, more important, figuratively speaking.  In order to deliver quality ODL, the institution must devise a strategy to embrace part-time faculty into the institution’s professional community.  The key to a successful strategy may lie in technologies that are already at the institution’s fingertips. 

 

Discussion

 

Brindley, Zawacki, and Roberts (2003) aptly assert that ODL faculty development and support are vital for “successful and productive online teaching” (p. 138).  The authors provide insight into the challenge of delivering faculty development and support services from the point of view of the Master of Distance Education program (MDE) offered collaboratively by Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (Oldenburg) and University of Maryland University College (UMUC).  The authors also give insight into faculty perception of availability and quality of these services from two part-time MDE faculty members.  One faculty member is employed by Oldenburg and the other by UMUC; both are geographically remote to the institutions.  While reflecting upon the services, both faculty members voiced the importance of inclusion in the university’s professional community.  Therefore, while the focus is on essential development and support services, the faculty perspective that unfolded in the authors’ chapter underscores that embracing part-time faculty into the institution community is equally vital for “successful and productive online teaching” (p. 138).  The institution must do more than providing the basic faculty orientation.

 

The Sentiment of Separation

The part-time faculty members in Brindley, Zawacki, and Roberts (2003) describe themselves as remote, solitary, disconnected, and isolated from the institution community.  These sentiments are rooted in part in the reality that part-time faculty members most often do not have the benefit of a teaching colleague in a nearby office who is available for conversation and reflection about teaching practices. 

A further significant influence on this sentiment is the reality that part-time faculty members are often separated from institution and program knowledge that is vital to both their teaching and support of ODL students.  The Oldenburg faculty member reported that the institution often left her ill-equipped to assist her ODL students with certain administrative issues (Brindley, Zawacki, & Roberts, 2003). This sentiment is a result of separation of part-time faculty from “[t]raditional models of academic decision-making [that] are democratic and participatory” (p. 155).  Decisions regarding the MDE program are by necessity in the hands of the program director and full-time faculty and staff.

The sentiment of separation was interestingly described by the UMUC faculty member as the “schizophrenia of being ‘included but not included’” (Brindley, Zawacki, & Roberts, 2003, p. 157).  While crediting UMUC with attempting to include her in the community with invitations to institution events, the faculty member reported that the invitations only exacerbated her isolation because geography along with financial limitations precluded her attendance. 

On the positive side, the Oldenburg faculty member reported that she felt like an “integral part of the larger MDE community” (Brindley, Zawacki, & Roberts, 2003, p. 156).  However, this faculty member’s sense of community appeared to be rooted more in the experience of working with and learning from her students.  She credited her ODL students’ experience and enthusiasm as largely contributing to her motivation.  While positive, this sentiment is not indicative of institution efforts to communicate a “sense of inclusion” (p. 163) of part-time faculty.

 

Bridging ODL Faculty Members’ Separation

Puzziferro (2004) echoed the Oldenburg and UMUC faculty members’ importance of inclusion of part-time faculty in the institution community.  The author reminded ODL institutions that they must lessen part-time faculty members’ isolation in order to maintain quality programs, asserting that “instructional quality is as much a function of institutional commitment to adjunct support, as of the adjuncts themselves” (para. 2).  The author described Florida Community College at Jacksonville’s (FCCJ) effort at bridging the part-time faculty isolation gap with its Online Certified Professor Program (OCPP).  The OCCP afforded part-time faculty members with the opportunity to network with each other and with full-time faculty to discuss ODL teaching concerns and practices.  While the author did not report OCPP participants’ feedback, a survey of part-time faculty members indicated their interest in participating in a professional community.  The survey revealed that over one-half of FCCJ’s part-time faculty members surveyed were interested in opportunities to network and collaborate with other part-time faculty.

 

Deploying Student Learning Community Technologies to Build the Faculty Community

 

The emphasis on faculty development articulated by Brindley, Zawacki, and Roberts (2003) and other authors easily supports the assumption that institutions expect part-time faculty members to be lifelong learners.  As lifelong learners, we can safely assume that part-time ODL faculty members’ need for a sense of community is quite similar to that of ODL students.  It is arguably then no stretch to apply to ODL faculty teaching communities some of the support methods and techniques recommended by Blackmun and Thibodeau (2004) to establish and nurture ODL student learning communities. 

In fact, Schnitzer and Crosby (2003) suggest that ODL institutions utilize technology resources to build and maintain “online teaching communities” (para. 20).  Using asynchronous tools within the existing learning management system (LMS), these communities can afford part-time faculty members the opportunity to share teaching information, resources, and practices with other part-time faculty members and full-time faculty.  When discussing isolation among telecommuting faculty, Ng (2006) also suggests that ODL institutions should consider enhancing communication and collaboration among geographically separated faculty with the same technologies used to enhance student learning.

          Technologies suggested by Blackmun and Thibodeau (2004) to enhance ODL student learning include a dedicated, shared Website with access to online discussion areas and a variety of online resources.  They further recommend using study groups in the online classroom to facilitate small group collaboration and chat rooms to provide opportunities for collaboration or socializing.   

          Similarly, the faculty community for an academic program can be established and supported by these technologies.  For example, the institution can deploy a central Website or faculty classroom hosted on the institution’s LMS and facilitated by the academic program director.  The faculty classroom can provide part-time ODL faculty with access to asynchronous and synchronous forums.  Links can be provided to other online resources such as faculty orientation materials, institution policies, and information about the academic program and student support services.  Part-time ODL faculty should also have access to names and e-mail addresses of full-time and other part-time faculty members.  If the LMS permits formation of study groups, the institution can use this tool to provide separate spaces for faculty work groups on particular topics.  Networking and collaboration can be further facilitated by the LMS’ live chat capabilities.  Together these technologies can enable part-time ODL faculty to connect with fellow faculty members to perhaps establish and nourish a sense of community that all agree is vital to ODL.

 

Conclusion

 

          Technologies that are already in place to enhance student learning communities can hold the key to tackling the challenge of embracing part-time ODL faculty in the institution community.  A sense of community is vital to the well-being of part-time faculty. Since ODL greatly depends upon part-time faculty members, fostering and maintaining a sense of community among them can directly impact the quality of ODL delivery.  This sense of community must be communicated with more than invitations to institution events and must be established and maintained by more than the basic faculty orientation.  Instead, part-time ODL faculty must be afforded opportunities for meaningful networking and collaboration with their colleagues in order to be fully embraced within the institution community.

 

 

References

 

Blackmun, E.V., & Pouyat Thibodeau. P. (2004). Learning communities. In J. E. Brindley, C. Walti, & O. Zawacki-Richter (Eds.), Learner support in open, distance and online learning environments (pp. 145-156). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Universität Odenburg.

 

Brindley, J., Zawacki, O., & Roberts, J. (2003). Support services for online faculty: The provider and the user perspective. In U. Bernath & E. Rubin (Eds.), Reflections on teaching and learning in an online master program (pp. 137-166). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Universität Oldenburg.

 

Ng, C.F. (2006).  Academics telecommuting in open and distance education universities: Issues, challenges, and opportunities.  The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 7(2), 46 paragraphs.  Retrieved October 13, 2007 from http://www.irrodl.org

 

Puzziferro, M. (2004). Online adjunct faculty: Issues and opportunities. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 8(3), 31 paragraphs.  Retrieved October 13, 2007 from Expanded Academic ASAP.  University of MD University College.

 

Schnitzer, M., & Crosby, L. (2003). Recruitment and development of online adjunct instructors. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, VI(II), 24 paragraphs. Retrieved October 13, 2007 from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla.html