Re-Designing Professional Development to Assist Instructors' Rapid Transition to Remote Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic

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21

College Faculty; Faculty Development; Web Based Instruction; Distance Education; COVID-19; Pandemics; Online Courses; Communities of Practice

As universities moved to remote teaching environments in response to COVID-19 pandemic, many teacher educators were forced to make the switch without any professional development. This paper presents an example of how faculty at one large public university in Virginia were supported through this process. In Phase 1 of our response we rapidly redesigned an existing Online Teaching Initiative (OTI) course and leveraged the expertise of previous course completers. The OTI was originally developed in the instructor-led, collaborative format. In response to the pandemic, it was moved to the on-demand, self-paced and unfacilitated format. For Phase 2, we have further redesigned the course so that one portion (3 modules) would be self-paced but facilitated, and the other portion would be instructor-led, collaborative with weekly deadlines. The topics covered in each portion were selected based on our personal experiences and faculty survey responses. Recommendations for other programs are discussed.

As Provided

2021

EJ1296550