We recently published a new paper examining Canadian institutions’ approaches to faculty development for online and blended learning. We analyzed open-ended comments from the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association’s annual survey of Canadian post-secondary institutions (2017-2019). We find that

  • digital education orientation or on-boarding processes for faculty vary widely
  • institutions employ an extensive array of professional development practices for digital education
  • institutions report culture change, work security, and unclear expectations as challenges in providing digital education training and support
  • institutions articulate aspirations and hopes around professional development investments in order to build digital education capacity.

We argue that

  • While diverse approaches for faculty orientation, on-boarding, and ongoing professional development for digital education demonstrate a wide
  • range of innovative opportunities, at some institutions PD for digital education is inconsistent, which can leave faculty less prepared for teaching in digital spaces.
  • Various cultural changes are needed to ensure digital education meets everyone’s expectations
    There exist various emergent needs for faculty PD

Tony Bates posted a response; as did Stephen Downes. The paper is open access: VanLeeuwen, C.A., Veletsianos, G., Belikov, O. Johnson, N. (2020).  Institutional perspectives on faculty development for digital education in Canada. The Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 46(2), 1-20. https://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/27944