ION Faculty Trainers - Presentations
January 18, 2002

What Are Sources of Faculty Resistance;
· No time
· Don't want to be forced
· Concerns about quality
· Concerns about losing control
· Competence (fear of technology)
· Not appropriate for MY discipline
· Not good online; skepticism
· Negative perceptions of correspondence courses
· Lack of recognition that this expands audience
· Resentment that resources are being diverted from traditional education
· Learning how to teach online takes time (if it's not broken, don't fix)
· Just a fad-this too shall pass
· Concerns about losing enrollment (don't want to learn new DL delivery system)
· Lack of recognition of audience (adult learners and their needs)
· Overhearing the frustrations of online faculty
· Enthusiasts sound like members of a cult
· Faculty are focused on content and don't want to devote time to the technology (which takes away from content)
· Reluctant to take advice from trainers who are non-faculty
· No appreciation that it's an incremental process (it doesn't all come together at once)
· Some faculty don't have the basic computer skills
· Faculty fear threatened by younger faculty and don't want to be told by them or trainers how to teach. Credibility of support staff.
· Concerns about class size (large classes take too much time to teach online)
· Marketing responsibilities (faculty are asked to advertise their online courses)
· Advisors recommend against taking online courses (because they require too much self-motivation)
· Some advisors tell students that online courses are easier
· Resistant to the idea of developing the course as part of a team
· Concerns about intellectual property

Themes:
· Defensiveness (fear of criticism for not keeping up with new technology and approaches)
· Myth that the technology will replace instructors
· Requires that you question everything you've been doing in traditional classroom.
· Perception that people who teach online don't work hard

Solutions:
· Faculty need to understand that members of the development team (instructional designers, web developers) are there to help them, not tell them what to do or how to teach.
· Remind faculty that 9/11/2001 changed a lot about our world
· Talk to faculty in department meetings and promote training/development services
· Not redesigning their course, but focusing on how to make it work online.
· Reassure faculty that it doesn't need to be perfect the first time
· Allowing faculty to see examples of what DOES work, developed by their peers, not techies.
· Get them to take small steps (maybe introducing e-mail into a f2f course)
· Force them to use technology as part of their faculty responsibilities (use e-mail to receive announcements)