Faculty Training and Support
There are a variety of ways that colleges provide training and support to their distance education (DE) faculty. In terms of training faculty to be prepared to teach online, some colleges outsource this staff development piece. It might be handled by paying for customized training through @One, it might be done by paying for instructors to take @One's existing training, or it might be through some other provider. Some colleges might conduct training through a consortium effort, perhaps with other colleges within their district. And finally, some colleges conduct faculty training on their own by utilizing the expertise at their local institution, which might involve the DEC.
On-going faculty support can be divided into two general areas, technical support and pedagogical support. In terms of technical support, some colleges will outsource this through a 24/7 technical support vendor, and in some cases technical support is provided by the company hosting the college's learning management system. Technical support might also be handled by college personnel, which could involve the DEC. Pedagogical support is almost always handled by college faculty or staff, and again this might involve the DEC.
Recommended approaches for supporting DE faculty can be found in the Faculty Support section of the Effective Practices module.
