Institutional Perspectives on Faculty Development for Digital Education in Canada

As digital education at the post-secondary level continues to grow, robust professional development that prepares faculty to teach in online and blended settings is necessary. In this study we analyze open-ended comments from the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association’s annual survey of Can...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Charlene A. VanLeeuwen, George Veletsianos, Olga Belikov, Nicole Johnson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The Canadian Network for Innovation in Education (CNIE) 2020-12-01
Series:Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/27944
Description
Summary:As digital education at the post-secondary level continues to grow, robust professional development that prepares faculty to teach in online and blended settings is necessary. In this study we analyze open-ended comments from the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association’s annual survey of Canadian post-secondary institutions (2017-2019) to deepen our understanding of faculty training and support for digital education as articulated by higher education institutions. We find that 1) digital education orientation or on-boarding processes for faculty vary widely; 2) institutions employ an extensive array of professional development practices for digital education; 3) institutions report culture change, work security, and unclear expectations as challenges in providing digital education training and support; and 4) institutions articulate aspirations and hopes around professional development investments in order to build digital education capacity. These findings have significant implications for research and practice and we describe these in the article.
ISSN:1499-6677
1499-6685