Book Description

Community colleges are composed of full-time faculty and adjunct faculty who serve a diverse student population. As faculty they are expected to remain up-to-date in the best practices of instruction; to be experts in their areas of specialty; and are traditionally non-trained academics. At the same time, regional accrediting agencies have also established accreditation guidelines where faculty are to be qualified; have access to professional development opportunities; and online faculty have access to appropriate training. This study sought to understand full-time and adjunct faculty members0́9 attitudes, skills, and institutional resources towards professional development opportunities available to individuals who teach and develop online courses. This quantitative research employed an Internet-based survey of full-time and adjunct faculty who work on the 58 different North Carolina Community College Systems campuses. The questionnaire consisted of three topics (a) attitudes, (b) skill, and (c) institutional resources. Respondents were asked to rate the importance of each topic along a 5-point Likert scale. The study posed both research questions and hypotheses. Research questions concerning the perceptions of online teaching and course development were answered by computing descriptive statistics for each category. Null hypotheses regarding the perceptions among full-time faculty and adjunct faculty were tested with independent samples t-tests on comparing the importance to online instruction and their self-assessment. Next, paired samples t-tests were used to compare the similarities and differences between the full-time faculty0́9s and adjunct faculty0́9s responses. Results indicated consensus in the perceptions of both full-time faculty and adjunct faculty along the topics of skills and institutional resources with attitudes reflecting one question with non-agreement. A statistically significant difference existed among all three professional development categories in the comparison between importance to online instruction and the self-assessment except for one area: the self-assessment on institutional resources. Results indicated faculty have a growth mindset and are receptive to ongoing professional development opportunities that are related to their interests while efficiently using campus resources.