Preparing Doctoral Students to Teach in an Increasingly Virtual World: A Response to COVID-19 and Beyond
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v25i1.2446Keywords:
online teaching preparedness, online teaching, online learning, doctoral student education, COVID-19Abstract
The recent global pandemic revealed just how unprepared faculty and doctoral students at many U.S. colleges and universities were to teach online. In this study, we investigate the extent to which current and recently graduated doctoral students are prepared to teach online, how they are rewarded for those online teaching skills, and how they could be more effectively prepared. To answer these questions, we surveyed the beliefs of doctoral students and recently graduated faculty members from a Midwestern private university and a Southeastern state university regarding online teaching preparedness compared with those of faculty, department chairs, and deans. We also used data from a summer teaching pilot program to explore best practices for improving doctoral students’ preparation to teach online. Findings suggest that educating doctoral students to teach in a virtual world can increase students’ confidence and ability to teach in this mode and can be cost effective if offered across disciplines. However, while doctoral students believe that online competency is important in hiring and tenure decisions, deans and department chairs do not necessarily agree, and few schools provide meaningful preparation for online teaching to their doctoral students.
References
Adams, J. & Corbett, A. (2010). Experiences of traditional and non-traditional college students. Perspectives. 1(2), 1-29.
Allen, I. & Seaman, J. (2008). Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008. Sloan Consortium. http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/
Allen, I. & Seaman, J. (2015). Grade Level: Tracking Online Learning in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC. Nov. 30.
Allgood, S., Hoyt, G., & McGoldrick, K.M. (2018). Teacher training for Ph.D. students and new faculty in economics. The Journal of Economic Education, 49(2), 209-219.
Austin, A. 2002. Preparing the next generation of faculty: Graduate school as socialization to the academic career. Journal of Higher Education. 73(1), 94-122.
Berry, S. (2019). Teaching to connect: Community-building strategies for the virtual classroom. Online Learning Journal. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24059/olj.v23i1.1425
Betts, K. & Heaston, A. (2014). Build it but will they teach? Strategies for increasing faculty participation & retention in online & blended education. Online Learning Journal. 17(2).
Bonner, R., Stone, C., Mittal, S., Phelps, W., & Utecht, R. (2020). Preparing academics to teach: Example of a structured method in preparing doctoral students to teach. Journal of Management Education.
Borup, J. & Evmenova, A. (2019). The effectiveness of professional development in overcoming obstacles to effective online instruction in a college of education. Online Learning Journal.
Bourelle, T. (2016). Preparing graduate students to teach online: Theoretical and pedagogical practices. WPA: Writing Program Administration, 40(1), 90-113.
Bussmann, S., Johnson, S., Oliver, R., Forsythe, K., Grandjean, M., Lebsock, M., & Luster, T. (2017). On the recognition of quality online course design in promotion and tenure: A survey of higher ed institutions in the Western United States. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 20(1).
Cassuto, L. (2020). How can graduate programs and students prepare for an uncertain Fall? Chronicle of Higher Education, May 22. https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-can-graduate-programs-and-students-prepare-for-an-uncertain-fall
Chan, K. C., Farrell, B. R., Healy, P., & Wong, A. (2019). 2019. Ranking of accounting doctoral programs based on student ratings in RateMyProfessors.com and the effect of formal teaching training on the rankings. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 14(1), 307-324.
Chapman, D. (2011). Contingent and tenured/tenure-track faculty: Motivations and incentives to teach distance. Online Journal of Distance Education Administration. 14(3).
Connolly, M. R., Lee, Y. G., & Savoy, J. N. 2018. The effects of doctoral teaching development on early-career STEM scholars’ college teaching self-efficacy. CBE—Life Sciences Education (The American Society for Cell Biology). https://www.lifescied.org/doi/full/10.1187/cbe.17-02-0039
Crozier, M., Chapin, M., Thomas, J., & Bell, C. (2012). Training doctoral students to teach online. Vistas Online?. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/training-doctoral-students-to-teach-online.pdf?sfvrsn=faae7008_10
Darby, F. (2020). Be a better online teacher. The Chronicle of Higher Education. http://www.chronicle.com/interactives/advice-online-teaching.
Dimeo, J. (2017). Teaching teachers to teach online. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2017/10/11/how-colleges-train-instructors-teach-online-courses
Ellis, H. (2019). Pursuing the conundrum of nontraditional students’ attrition and persistence: A follow-up study. College Student Journal. 53(4), 439-449.
Flayerty, C. (2019). Online conversation shines a spotlight on graduate programs that teach students how to teach – and those programs that don’t. Inside Higher Ed. Dec. 13. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/13/online-conversation-shines-spotlight-graduate-programs-teach-students-how-teach
Freeman, L. (2015). Instructor time requirements to develop and teach online courses. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 18(1). http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring181/freeman181.html
Fulton, C. (2018). The doctoral transition to teacher: Enabling effective instructors in universities. Literacy Information and Computer Education Journal, 9(2).
Gallo, P., Corritore, C., Wichman, C., & York, A. 2015. Trusting the simplicity of the ultimate question: A customer satisfaction approach to student evaluations. Journal of Innovative Education Strategies, 4(1), 51-66.
Gerlich, R. (2005). Faculty perceptions of distance learning. Distance Education Report, 9 (17), 8.
Hall, O. (2013). Assessing faculty attitudes toward technological change in graduate management education. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(1), 39-51.
Jaggars, S., Rivera, M., Hance, E., & Heckler, A. (2020). COVID-19 Teaching and Learning Survey. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University.
Keengwe, J., Kidd, T., & Kyei-Blankson. (2009). Faculty and technology: Implications for faculty training and technology leadership. Journal of Science Education and Technology. 18(1), 23-28.
Kipp, K. (2019). Exploring the future of the learning management system. International Journal of Innovations in Online Education. DOI: 10.1615/IntJInnovOnlineEdu.2018028353
Kolowich, S. (2012).Conflicted: Faculty and online education 2012. Inside Higher Ed, June 21.
Lackey, K. (2011). Faculty development: An analysis of current and effective training strategies for preparing faculty to teach online. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration. 14(4).
Lederman, D. (2020). Evaluating teaching during the pandemic. Inside Higher Ed. April 8.
Madhavaram, S. & Laverie, D. (2010). Developing pedagogical competence: Issues and implications for marketing education. Journal of Marketing Education, 32(2), 197-213.
Martin, F., Budhrani, K., & Wang, C. (2019). Examining faculty perception of their readiness to teach online. Online Learning Journal.
Marx, R., Garcia, J, & Butterfield, A. (2015). Isn’t it time we did something about the lack of teaching preparation in business doctoral programs? Journal of Management Education.
Pallis, A. & Quiros, P. (2014). Adult learning principles and presentation pearls. Middle East African Journal of Ophthalmology. 21(2), 114-122.
Protopsaltis, S. & Baum, S. (2019). Does online education live up to its promise? A look at evidence and implications for federal policy. Center for Educational Policy Evaluation. George Mason University.
Reicheld, F. (2006). The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth. Harvard Business School Press.
Roddy, C., Amiet, D., Chung, J, Holt, C., Shaw, L., McKenzie, S., Garivaldis, F., Lodge, J., & Mundy, M. (2017). Applying best practice online learning, teaching, and support to intensive online environments: An integrative review. Frontiers in Education, November 21. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2017.00059
Rhode, J. & Krishnamurthi, M. 2016. Preparing Faculty to Teach Online: Recommendations for Developing Self-Paced Training. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 6(5). http://www.ijiet.org/vol6/717-T0017.pdf
Rhode, J., Richter, S. Gowen, P., Miller, T. & Wills, C. (2017). Understanding faculty use of the learning management system. Online Learning. 21(3), 68-86.
Schell, G. (2004). Universities marginalize online courses. Communications of the ACM, 47 (7), 53-56.
Schmidt, S., Tschida, C. & Hodge, E. (2016). How faculty learn to teach online: What administrators need to know. Online Journal of Distance Learning.
Shortlidge, E. (2018). The trade-off between graduate student research and teaching: A myth? PLoS One, 13(6).
Winter, K., Kent, J. & Bradshaw, R. (2018). Preparing Future Faculty (PFF): A Framework for Program Design and Evaluation at the University Level. National Council of Graduate Schools. Washington, D.C.
Wolcott, L. (2009). Tenure, promotion, and distance education: Examining the culture of faculty rewards. 3-18. American Journal of Distance Education.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
As a condition of publication, the author agrees to apply the Creative Commons – Attribution International 4.0 (CC-BY) License to OLJ articles. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
This licence allows anyone to reproduce OLJ articles at no cost and without further permission as long as they attribute the author and the journal. This permission includes printing, sharing and other forms of distribution.
Author(s) hold copyright in their work, and retain publishing rights without restrictions
