Preparing Faculty to Teach Their First Online Class

In a report, entitled "Class Differences", published by the Sloan Consortium (2010, Allen & Seaman), the authors reported that 5.6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2009 term. This was an increase of nearly one million students over the number reported the previous year. Furthermore, over three-quarters of academic leaders at public institutions reported that online education is as good as or better than face-to-face instruction. The Information and Technology Systems Department at the Graduate School of UMUC has experienced similar enrollment growth in several of its programs, such as the Project Management Program. This has motivated the department to introduce quality enhancement measures in its program curriculum to ensure that quality of teaching and learning is improved along with enrollment growth. Specifically, these measures include model classes that the faculty can use and customize to teach their semester classes. This paper discusses the need for model classes, their contents, and their role in the program, as well as programmatic issues involved in introducing such classes. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of The Association of Science, Education and Technology