The growth of contingent faculty and the growth of online education over the first two decades of the 21st century have generated an emergent but overlooked subgroup of faculty – online contingent faculty. Exposure to part-time instructors and participation in online education can both negatively impact student success, and these twin dynamics place the professional development of online contingent faculty in a strategically important position for Canadian postsecondary institutions to enhance online instructional effectiveness and mature online educational quality. This presentation details the analysis of email interviews with 12 directors of Canadian teaching and learning centres to illuminate the enduring barriers of providing educational development to online contingent faculty, including unequal participation in online education, a lack of programs targeted at part-time instructors, especially in smaller institutions, and that part-time faculty are usually uncompensated when participating in professional development. Despite these significant barriers, the interviews also show that the COVID-19 pandemic spurred innovations to meet the needs of part-time online educators in Canada. Teaching and learning centres are striving to meet the unique needs of part-time faculty with emerging programs that build a comprehensive teaching identity through faculty secondments and mentoring programs. These expanding possibilities for professional development must account for the unique needs of online contingent faculty, the frequent conflict between technology and pedagogy, and the highly political nature of quality assurance in online education. The presentation concludes by sketching a potentially darker future where professional development is minimized by unbundling, outsourcing, and the rise of microprograms.
Openo, J. (2021, October). The expanding possibilities of professional development for online contingent faculty in Canada. [Conference session]. Athabasca University 2021 Graduate Student Research Conference, Edmonton, AB.