A 2016 study conducted by McTaggart et al (2016) identified that lecturers faced many challenges when moving into the online teaching space. These challenges included personal anxiety, low levels of support available to academic staff and limited opportunities to seek peer advice to improve online teaching practices. The outcome of this self-study research was presented in a set of recommendations which addressed these challenges. This paper seeks to report on the developments of the last challenge by discussing the early steps which have been taken at Institute of Technology, Sligo to overcome the limited opportunities available to staff to seek peer advice.
During the 2016/17 academic year the authors began running online teaching meet-up sessions for academic staff. These sessions were informal in nature and gave academic staff the opportunity to network with others already teaching online or considering it. Five sessions were organised during the academic year, each with a theme and complimentary refreshments. Feedback to date has been positive with many staff now considering adopting online teaching practices as a result of the enhanced supports available.
The researchers have adopted an action research methodology, commonly used by educators to gather information about and subsequently improve how they teach (Mills, 2000). Creswell (2002) identifies that action research allows the educator to turn the lens on their own educational practices through a dynamic process which spirals between self-reflection, data collection and action. This is an on-going study, however the researchers have documented their personal and professional reflections based on observations of the meet-up sessions to date, where the direct result is to support enhanced pedagogies for improved online teaching and learning (Samaras, 2011). Creswell (2002) states that an important step in action research is to share one's findings to enhance the promotion of change.
References
Creswell, J. (2002). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
McTaggart, B., Doherty, A., O’Murchu, C. and Colleary, S. (2016) Becoming Engaged: A Big Day Out or Repent at Leisure? Researching, Advancing & Inspiring Student Engagement Conference. University of Loughborough, UK. 2016, UK.
Mills, G.E. (2000) Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher. Merrill, Upper Saddle River, NJ, USA.
Samaras, A. (2011). Flying solo. Journal of Staff Development, 32, 42-45.
