Abstract
This ethnographic study explored how online communities can be used for faculty support activities in higher-education. Structured interviews with 25 faculty from a wide range of programs at Lesley University showed that faculty support practices vary greatly relative to a variety of factors that include the size of a program’s faculty (number of core and adjunct faculty), geography (local campus based, regional or national) and format (face-to-face or online and in a semester, intensive weekend or intensive residential). A key result of this research is a framework for describing how both face-to-face and electronic communication strategies can be used to carry out faculty support activities. The framework was particularly useful for analyzing the adjunct faculty support model that evolved within Lesley University’s large regional and national programs. Faculty in those programs prefer to use a hybrid approach to faculty support in which face-to-face communication strategies are used to build relationships, and then electronic tools are used to sustain them. Online learning communities may be most valuable for sustaining the unique participatory and developmental model of adjunct faculty support that has become the hallmark of the largest programs at Lesley University. Inherent value and motivation for participation are the most important factors in the success of online communities, while training, support, membership policies and participation structures also impact success. These factors are all at least as important, if not more important, than the technical capabilities afforded by the system. Academic programs should use the framework presented in this report to help them examine the communication strategies they are already using to carry out their faculty support activities and go beyond that to consider how online communities can enhance their practice.
on the web
Final Research Report, Rough Draft
Hopper_06-eMentoring-Draft.doc [MS Word format]