Learning to Teach Well in Any Format: Examining the Effects of Online Teachers’ Training on University Faculty Teaching

Abstract

In the 2018/2019 academic year, Michigan Technological University’s Faculty Senate voted to require all online instructors to be trained in current best practices of online teaching to be able to teach fully online courses. With the onset of the Spring 2020 pandemic, Michigan Tech informed all faculty that the senate policy requiring online teacher certification would be enforced for Fall 2020. The faculty body responded by completing the required training. This study surveyed the faculty who completed online teaching training from 2019 through 2021 to determine how that training changed their approach to the design of a course, a lesson, and their teaching in general. This work found that the training provided essential pedagogical and instructional design education absent in most Ph.D. programs, resulting in self-reported improvements in both online and in-person instruction. Additionally, the experience of learning online increased faculty empathy for students.