Adapting Under Pressure: A Case Study in Scaling Faculty Development for Emergency Remote Teaching

Area of Science:

• Education
• Online Learning
• Higher Education

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rapid shift to remote instruction for all faculty.
• Existing online faculty development resources needed adaptation to meet urgent, large-scale needs.
• The University of New Mexico utilized its Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching Online (EBPTO) course.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the adaptation of an asynchronous, online faculty development resource (EBPTO) for emergency remote teaching.
• To assess the effectiveness of the adapted EBPTO course in supporting instructors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• To understand faculty learning experiences and identify key takeaways from the adapted online teaching course.

Main Methods:

• A case study approach was used to analyze the adaptation of the EBPTO course.
• Data were collected from 117 participants in the largest EBPTO cohort via reflective journals and end-of-course surveys.
• Qualitative analysis of journals focused on learning experiences, practical skills, and remaining questions.

Main Results:

• Participants reported high value in course mapping and backwards design principles.
• Instructors gained deeper familiarity with learning management system (LMS) tools.
• The adapted EBPTO course successfully met learning objectives despite scaling for a large cohort.

Conclusions:

• The adapted EBPTO course effectively supported faculty transitioning to remote instruction.
• Evidence-based online teaching practices and LMS tool proficiency were key outcomes.
• Online faculty development resources can be rapidly adapted to address emergent educational needs.