Examining Higher Education Instructor Perceptions of Roles and Competencies in Online Teaching

Authors

  • Florence Martin University of North Carolina Charlotte
  • Swapna Kumar University of Florida
  • Liane She University of North Carolina Charlotte

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v25i4.2570

Keywords:

Online Teaching, Online Instructors, Instructor Roles, Instructor Competencies, Online Higher Education

Abstract

Online instructors adopt various roles and perform various competencies in the design and delivery of online courses. In this study, online instructor roles are categorized into eight types including Subject Matter Expert, Course Designer and Developer, Course Facilitator, Course Manager, Advisor/Mentor, Assessor/Evaluator, Technology Expert, and Lifelong Learner. Through survey-based research with 141 online instructors, this study examines competencies that online instructors perform based on various roles. When rating competencies, overall categorical means for all the roles were rated above 4.00, which showed that they used all these roles. The highest rated items and lowest rated items are discussed in addition to the connection between research and practice in online teaching. Online instructors who participate in training and who collaborate with instructional designers rated the frequency with which they perform the competencies to be higher. This study has implications for online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators who design and deliver online learning and offer professional development for online instructors.

Author Biography

Florence Martin, University of North Carolina Charlotte

Dr. Florence Martin is a Professor in Learning, Design and Technology. She serves as the Program Coordinator of the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership, Learning, Design and Technology concentration and Program Director of the Post-Master’s Certificate of University and College Teaching at University of North Carolina Charlotte. She received her Doctorate and Master's degrees in Educational Technology from Arizona State University.

She teaches courses on Learning, Design and Technology 100% online and has received Quality Matters Certification for six of her courses. She was the first place winner of the Crystal Award from the Division of Distance Learning in Association of Educational Communications and Technology in 2015 which is given to innovative and outstanding multimedia-based distance learning courses.

Dr. Martin engages in research focusing on the effective design of instruction and integration of digital technology to improve learning and performance. Her research has resulted in over 70 publications and 100 presentations. She has conducted several studies focusing on designing and integrating online learning environments to improve learner achievement and engagement.

Dr. Martin was a fellow with the Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL) in Summer 2016 which is a unique blended-learning leadership development program sponsored by Penn State and the Online Learning Consortium.Dr. Martin served as the President of Multimedia Production Division in 2012-2013 and as the President of the Division of Distance Learning in 2017-2018 for Association for Educational Communications and Technology. She also served as the Vice President for Marketing and Communications with ISPI Charlotte and is currently serving as Director-at-Large for International Board of Standards for Training, Performance and Instruction and on the board for North Carolina Virtual Public Schools and is an Associate Editor for the Online Learning Journal.

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Published

2021-12-01

Issue

Vol. 25 No. 4 (2021)

Section

Section II

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