College of Agriculture and Life Science (CALS) Faculty Professional Development Resource: Best Practices for Teaching at a Distance

Professional development is a necessary component of most jobs and professions. University faculty members who teach in online or hybrid environments need professional development to improve their teaching, stay current with new technologies, and to interact with students in online environments. Universities are responsible to provide professional development for their faculty. This includes materials and information to assist them in being prepared to teach in an online environment. Professional development can be focused to a departmental or college level providing examples and training for faculty members to use and adopt. Communities of practice will form and grow from the sharing of examples and ideas. Having a single location for faculty to receive professional development, look up basic pedagogical knowledge, adopt templates and share ideas while staying abreast of technological best practices is an ideal situation. A resource was developed and structured to house the knowledge and information which supports the faculty, the administration and ultimately the students. This work examined the components of adult learning theory and instructional design theory together to create a single source location which if utilized supports the faculty with the knowledge and skills to set up and maintain a distance learning course. Interviewed instructors and administrators stated the resource would do what it was intended. Recommendations include additional text and video support for accessibility and further information chunking.