Program Evaluation of a Continuing Education Course to Support Academic Staff Transitioning to Online Teaching
Colla J. MacDonald, Sabina Licen, Debra Clendinneng, Prosen, Mirko, Lucia Filomeno, Naomi Mifsud, James Cilia, Insa Backhaus, MariaCassar, Igor Karnjus & Giuseppe La Torre
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic fast-tracked digital education implementation plans for many higher educational institutions and academic staff around the world. In Europe, academics (n=43) from 5 countries, participated in a training programme designed to teach them how to effectively design, deliver and evaluate online study-units. This paper presents a mixed methods evaluation of this programme. Upon analysis of the formative and summative surveys’ Cronbach’s alpha were respectively 0.942 and 0.987 u with statistical significance set at p<0.05. Qualitative data from surveys and semi-structured interviews corroborated these positive results. The necessity of accelerating the online instructional paradigm points to the requirements for administrative backing and durable educational technology. This infrastructure supports intentional development of education and training for academic staff that in turn ensures the quality of students’ online educational experiences. In presenting an evaluation of a course for online teaching, this paper is relevant to educators seeking to develop or enhance indicated support and training for academic staff.