Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2019
Journal
Online Learning Journal
Volume Number
23
Issue Number
4
Page Numbers
336-353
ISSN
2472-5730
Embargo Period
12-8-2019
ANZSRC / FoR Code
130103 Higher Education| 130306 Educational Technology and Computing| 130313 Teacher Education and Professional Development of Educators
Avondale Research Centre
Centre for Advancement of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Reportable Items (HERDC/ERA)
C1
Abstract
The professional development of online teachers is now commonplace in higher education. Alongside the relatively straightforward decision to provide professional learning support for novice and experienced online educators within universities, decisions about the nature and content of such support are not always as clear cut. The study aimed to gather evidence about the online teaching and learning experiences and views of current students and staff which, in turn, informed a set of pedagogical guidelines that could be used as the basis of professional learning programs for novice online teachers. Using a mixed methods research design, data were gathered using questionnaires, reflective journals, and focus groups to determine the threshold concepts about online teaching and perceptions of ideal online learning environments. As well as identifying threshold concepts about online teaching and perceptions of teachers’ and students’ ideal views of online learning contexts (reported elsewhere), the study produced curricular guidelines to inform the design of professional development outputs for online teachers in higher education. This article reports on an example of how these professional development guidelines, based on identified threshold concepts of online pedagogy, were implemented at one higher education institution to provide wide-scale implementation of a professional development program for academic staff engaged in online teaching.
Link to publisher version (DOI)
http://dx.doi.org/10.24059/olj.v23i4.1573
Peer Review
Before publication
Grant Number
SD15-5203
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Northcote, M., Gosselin, K. P., Kilgour, P., Reynaud, D., & McLoughlin, C. (2019). A professional learning program for novice online teachers using threshold concepts. Online Learning Journal, 23(4), 336-353. doi:10.24059/olj.v23i4.1573
Associated Research Project
https://research.avondale.edu.au/research_documentation/13/
Comments
Used by permission: the author(s).