Building It So They Will Come: Assessing Universities’ Distance Education Faculty Training and Development Programs

The case for the necessity of distance education faculty training and development is well established, but research that addresses what such programs should look like—as well as what are the key opportunities and constraints—is limited. Given the above, a survey of training and development specialists representing 14 land grant institutions was conducted in order to explore how universities with active agricultural distance education programs are conducting distance education training and development programs for their faculty. Results indicated that training programs in most institutions were voluntary, consisting of a combination of formal, informal, and self-paced programs and short classes or programs offered at various times over many weeks. Respondents also indicated that although their universities have a distance education coordinator and/or training center, the coordinator and center do not coordinate training across the campus. Individual units and colleges conduct their own training programs. Respondents in this study called on their universities to develop a “strategic plan for distance education” by increasing production staff, improving training facilities, and providing faculty with more assistance and incentives. They also believed that training should be better coordinated to provide faculty with more exposure to distance education teaching methods. La question de la necessite d’un departement de l’Enseignement a distance formation et developpement est bien etablie, mais la recherche qui aborde la question de ce a quoi devrait ressembler un tel programme – ainsi que sur les opportunites cles et les contraintes – est limitee. Ceci dit, une enquete aupres de specialistes en formation et developpement representant 14 institutions land-grant a ete menee afin d’explorer comment les universites ayant des programmes a distance actifs en agriculture operent les programmes de formation et de developpement pour leur departement. Les resultats ont indique que dans la plupart des institutions, les programmes de formation etaient volontaires, consistant en une combinaison de programmes formels, informels ou au rythme de l’apprenant et de petites classes, ou des programmes offerts a des temps variables sur plusieurs semaines. Les repondants ont aussi signale que meme si leurs universites ont un coordonnateur pour l’education a distance et/ou un centre de formation, le coordonateur et le centre ne coordonnent pas la formation pour tout le campus. Les unites individuelles et les colleges dirigent leurs propres programmes de formation. Les repondants de cette etude ont reclame aupres de leurs universites la necessite de developper « un plan strategique pour l’education a distance » qui augmenterait le personnel de production, ameliorerait les installations/equipements de formation, et donnerait plus de soutien et de motivations au departement. Ils croient egalement que la formation devrait etre mieux coordonnee pour que le departement soit davantage expose aux methodes d’enseignement de formation a distance.