[Learning Effectiveness] [Cost Effectiveness] [Access] [Faculty Satisfaction] [Student Satisfaction]

Quality Framework: Faculty Satisfaction

FACULTY SATISFACTION means that instructors find the online teaching experience personally rewarding and professionally beneficial. Personal factors contributing to faculty satisfaction with the online experience include opportunities to extend interactive learning communities to new populations of students and to conduct and publish research related to online teaching and learning. Institutional factors related to faculty satisfaction include three categories: support, rewards, and institutional study/research. Faculty satisfaction is enhanced when the institution supports faculty members with a robust and well-maintained technical infrastructure, training in online instructional skills, and ongoing technical and administrative assistance. Faculty members also expect to be included in the governance and quality assurance of online programs, especially as these relate to curricular decisions and development of policies of particular importance to the online environment (such as intellectual property, copyright, royalties, collaborative design and delivery). Faculty satisfaction is closely related to an institutional reward system that recognizes the rigor and value of online teaching. Satisfaction increases when workload assignments/assessments reflect the greater time commitment in developing and teaching online courses and when online teaching is valued on par with face-to-face teaching in promotion and tenure decisions. A final institutional factor-crucial to recruiting, retaining, and expanding a dedicated online faculty-is commitment to ongoing study of and enhancement of the online faculty experience.

Key practice areas for faculty satisfaction include:

Access to new populations of students
Administrative support
Governance and quality control
Institutional research on faculty experience
Institutional rewards
Opportunities for research and publication
Participation in interactive learning communities
Technical infrastructure for instruction
Technical support (ongoing)
Technical training in online instruction skills

These principles of effective online education address FACULTY SATISFACTION:

The institution provides faculty support services specifically related to teaching online.
The institution ensures appropriate training for faculty who teach using technology.
Qualified faculty provides appropriate supervision of the program or course that is offered electronically.
The course or program provides for appropriate interaction between faculty and students and among students.
The program or course provides faculty support services specifically related to teaching via an electronic system.
The institution ensures appropriate training for faculty who teach using technology.
The program or course provides faculty with adequate equipment, software and communications for interaction with students, institutions and other faculty.
Policies for faculty evaluation include appropriate recognition of teaching and scholarly activities related to programs or courses offered electronically.

Quality Framework Table: Faculty Satisfaction

Goal	Process/Practice	Metric	Progress Indices
Sustain and increase faculty participation in online teaching Expand and deepen faculty awareness of and satisfaction with online teaching Integrate faculty online and face-to-face with consistent and equitable purposes and practices	Process to ensure faculty participation in matters particular to online education (e.g. governance, intellectual property, royalty sharing, etc.) Process to ensure adequate support for faculty in course preparation and course delivery Mechanisms are in place at institution to communicate information to participating faculty Faculty give input into the integration of support services for online students to ensure comparability with services for face to face students Participation in faculty orientation in person, online or via CD Continuous faculty feedback mechanism	Repeat teaching of online courses by individual faculty Addition of new faculty Post-course survey of all faculty about their experience teaching in online programs, preparation/readiness of students, quality and level of support services, etc.	Data from post-course surveys show continuous improvement: At least #% of faculty believe the overall teaching/learning experience is positive Willingness/desire to teach additional courses in the program: #% positive Faculty report integration of services for students are appropriately integrated: #% positive Faculty report understanding of online preparation, support, and delivery: #% positive. #% participation in training, orientation program and in continuing information dissemination.

[Learning Effectiveness] [Cost Effectiveness] [Access] [Faculty Satisfaction] [Student Satisfaction]