Writing Professor as Adult Learner: An Autoethnography of Online Professional Development

Abstract

This paper is an autoethnography of the author’s experiences taking a six-week, asynchronous, online, faculty development class for educators at the secondary and postsecondary levels. Using narrative inquiry, the author details her learning and the ways her experiences support adult learning theory. Implications of this research suggests that adult learning theory should also be applied to faculty development experiences because teachers are more likely to benefit from online faculty development if they are given the opportunity to direct the course of their development to suit their own needs.

Moving Beyond Smile Sheets: A Case Study on the Evaluation and Iterative Improvement of an Online Faculty Development Program

“…A successful online faculty development program must include pedagogical support, technology support, and design and development support (Baran & Correia, 2014) that overcome obstacles about time, expertise, and motivation of faculty (Henning, 2012). This study addressed the implementation of an online faculty development program at a mid-size, metropolitan research university.…”

Flipping and Blending—An Action Research Project on Improving a Functional Programming Course

“…As we suggest that the present research should be continued in a wider scope (macrolevel), we should also take into account that students' schooling background may constrain students' ability for self-directed studying (see discussion in [Henning 2012]), while yet another issue to consider is the present free university education potentially introducing "looseness" to study behaviors. By incorporating the issues and research lines discussed, our future actions can go beyond single-course didactics and exemplify critical action research.…”

“…Finally, it should be noted that, while adults are typically assumed to be self-directed learners (e.g., Knowles), many scholars have questioned this assumption, pointing out, for example, that the ability for self-direction may be constrained by the learner's schooling background (see discussion by Henning [2012]). …”

A self-ethnographic investigation of continuing education program in engineering arising from economic structural change

“…To do so, an autoethnographer can alter identifying characteristics (Ellis, Adams, and Bochner 2010), obscure the details or use pseudonyms (Chang 2008, 68), etc. In some autoethnographic studies focusing on educational improvement, the subject of privacy has not been discussed (Coetzee and Schmulian 2012;Starr 2010) or has been treated by giving the participants pseudonyms (Henning 2012;Stinson 2009, 45). We argue that privacy is an important matter for our self-ethnographic study as well.…”

“…The studies labelling themselves as self-ethnography were related to experiences of female sport fans (Hoeber and Kerwin 2013) or experiences with creative practice (Eriksson 2013). With regard to autoethnography, we found studies featuring an analysis of a particular course (Coetzee and Schmulian 2012;Henning 2012;Starr 2010) or conducted by an individual teacher (Henning 2012;Stinson 2009). Hence, altogether, self-or autoethnographic study of a whole adult M.Sc.…”