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NACC Instructor Presents at AECT Fall
Conference
Northeast Alabama Community College
Computer Science Instructor Dr. Robert Davis presented his
study, “Faculty Training for Online Teachers in Alabama’s Rural
Community College: A Case Study” at the 2009 Association for
Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) convention in
Louisville, Kentucky recently. He presented the study under the
Training and Performance Division of AECT.
 As
a seasoned online instructor at NACC, a student taking online
classes, and a former 16-year employee of the Federal Government
(12 years as a GS-12 Army Auditor with US Army Audit Agency and
4 years as a GS-13 program Analyst with the JLENS Project
Office), Davis utilized the Internet to prepare and submit
numerous high visibility reports to Congressional Leaders as
well as having completed multiple training classes through the
use of online courses. He faced countless challenges to his
personal and professional development. Because Davis has been an
employee of the Federal Government who used the Internet to
complete job duties and professional development training, an
instructor in Academia who utilizes the Internet to conduct
online courses, and a student who participated in online courses
to further his education, he understands and empathizes with
novice instructors and students regarding the frustrations and
concerns they have in their first online classrooms
“Learning to navigate content, standards, and classroom
management, while simultaneously developing an instructor
persona is challenging for beginning instructors,” said Davis.
He continues to seek improvements in his instruction and in
student achievement. “I have come to realize, first hand, that
diversity issues play an important part as instructors
experiment with multicultural issues in the online environment
in addition to examining the different learning perspectives of
students.”
“As an instructor, I could easily take a
stance toward current and anticipated demands on the educational
system however, at the same time, I understand why online
courses have met so much resistance and training has been
underachieved,” he continued.
Online education is providing community colleges opportunities
to reach students through the use of technological advances.
These technological advances have allowed faculty to develop new
teaching skills and transfer these skills into pedagogical
practices in an online environment.
The results of Davis’ study show community colleges the need for
professional development training, spurring of innovations in
faculty training for online teaching, and encourages further
research in the area of training for online teaching and
learning.
“Dr. Davis has focused on a very useful and relevant topic,”
stated Dr. David Campbell, NACC President. “Training and
professional development for Instructors and all educational
personnel is extremely important to get the most from online
education. We are fortunate at Northeast in that we have just
obtained a $1.2 million Title III federal grant to provide this
very type of professional development in educational technology
to Northeast personnel.”
Davis is a graduate of the Sustaining Base Leadership and
Management Program, Army Management Staff College. He has a BS
Degree from Athens State University, an MS Degree from Florida
Institute of Technology, and a PhD in Instructional Technology
from The University of Alabama. Recently, he has been invited by
Dr. Freida H. Hill, Chancellor of the Alabama Department of
Postsecondary Education, to serve on a statewide committee to
recommend policies and guidelines regarding distance education.
For further information about the study and presentation,
contact Davis at phone ext. 319 or by e-mail at
davisr@nacc.edu. |
