| Advances in technology and the information age have afforded new opportunities to organizations, universities, trainers, faculty and learners to take and offer classes via an online learning program. Many universities and businesses that have traditionally offered face-to-face learning programs are now offering programs in an online learning environment. However, faculty and trainer development programs are important to the success of these online learning programs. Understanding the appropriate design model for faculty development that incorporates technology, andragogy, pedagogy, content and address organizational expectations is critical to the success of the online program. It is hypothesized that the results of this study will act as a best practices guide that will address these important issues and will be used by organizations when developing their faculty development programs. Literature discusses the growth and change of online learning, andragogy, pedagogy and technology issues in online learning as well as faculty attitudes, perceptions, definitions of roles, and organization expectations when developing courses for the Web. The literature review will also detail current ideas, trends and issues with faculty development programs. The mixed method and needs analysis approach, using correlation research, will reveal a model that other colleges, universities and organizations may use to determine the specific training needs of their faculty and trainers. |
