Online Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Are Faculty Making the Grade?

Purpose: On-line adult higher education continues to flourish in the U.S. Evidence has revealed that online adult education appeals to learners who tend to be 25 and older, are employed, and have multiple family responsibilities. In an effort to address the unique needs of mature adult learners, an interdisciplinary team was developed with the goal to provide support and guidance to on-line faculty and to facilitate best teaching practices and strategies. An under-graduate and graduate on-line School of Nursing and Health Sciences program aspired to identify factors to enhance the quality and integrity of faculty and it’s alignment with learner engagement, success, and programmatic outcomes. The objective of the study was to determine if a faculty-focused quality improvement initiative impacted the quality of feedback such as: formative, growth-mindset, criterion-based, and personalized faculty feedback, influenced end-of-course-evaluations, learner persistence, and successful course completion.

Methods: Using Knowles Model of Andragogy as the framework, an adult under-graduate and graduate on-line School of Nursing and Health Sciences engaged in series of a 12 week faculty on-boarding pilot. Pilot success was measured by 1). Learner end-of-course-evaluations; 2). Number of coaching/mentoring sessions; and 3). An impartial Qualitative Course room Report.

Results: Best teaching practices and strategies were identified as directly influencing learner End-of-course-evaluations such as: creating clear and realistic goals, interdisciplinary collaboration and planning, faculty readiness to learn; effective leadership management and support, monitoring and coaching, and technology that supports best teaching practices. Faculty who participated in the quality improvement faculty study exhibited an average of 10% higher learner End-of-course-evaluations, higher Qualitative Course room Report score.

Conclusion: An on-line graduate and under-graduate School of Nursing and Health Sciences program identified a need to enhance the quality and integrity of faculty teaching-practices. A collaborative and inter-disciplinary team pilot was instituted in an effort to align best-teaching practices and faculty feedback with current standards and university expectations. Faculty who participated in the 12-week pilot study exhibited substantial improvements in the quality of feedback as shown by learner End-of-course-evaluation scores, fewer coaching sessions, and higher Qualitative Course room Reports.