Connected

Do you assume that your faculty group, especially your rookies and sophomore faculty feel connected to your program group?

I subscribe to various e-newsletters on online teaching and learning and the latest Faculty Focus caught my eye. Best Practices for Keeping Online Faculty Engaged http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/distance-learning/best-practices-for-keeping-online-adjuncts-engaged/?c=FF&t=F100224-FF

The article discussed practices to more fully connect adjunct faculty to their institution. How often do we, as faculty groups, see each other face to face and make a connection? I know with my faculty group, not often enough. Yes, I do keep weekly contact with my group on various topics and issues, but we don’t see each other very often. I even have a couple instructors whom I have not met in person yet. But I worry about my new faculty feeling "out there" by themselves. I know when I first started here as an instructor, I didn't even know who the chair was and never heard from her. So how can we foster the sense of connection and commitment within our online faculty?

The article suggested these practices:

1. Mandatory orientation to the program, institution and technology. This is one area where CCCOnline does an excellent job through our initial faculty training. As chairs, how do we pick after this session and bring our new faculty into our own program? Are we available to explain policies and procedures and offer guidance to our newbies for the entire semester or do you leave that to a mentor faculty?
2. Provide program expectations. CCCOnline has overall faculty expectations but do you have further expectations for your faculty? Do you send out reminders, especially to new faculty, of what to do when (such as sending out a welcoming email prior to class and where to find the faculty gateway)? Helpful reminders go a long way in providing support to nervous rookie faculty. Don’t wait for them to ask because they may not know what to ask.
3. Another way to connect with your faculty is to recognize their efforts, time, energy and ideas. Do you send out a “welcome to our group” email to your all your faculty to welcome new instructors? Have you made sure that your newbies know who to turn to with questions and problems? Do you value the seasoned veteran for their continued hard work and recognize them publically to the rest of your faculty?
4. Encourage continued professional development in your content area and in online teaching and learning. Our training program offers a wide range of topics to enhance online teaching, but look outside of our group and identify other sources of professional development. There are local and national conferences, online webinars (and a lot for free), online classes some for small fees and a variety of other sources. Even though we may not be able to pay for faculty to attend these types of events, it should be part of the chair’s communication to alert our faculty to these possibilities.
5. Get faculty involved with other faculty by encouraging them to attend system 2:2 conferences to meet and network with other faculty. At most 2:2 conferences, adjunct faculty are welcomed and encouraged to attend.

So don’t assume that your faculty (new and veterans) feel a part of your program and CCCOnline in general. It takes work on the part of the chair to get faculty engaged and keep them committed to doing a good job.