Using Design-Based Research to Design a miniMOOC For Faculty Development On Quality Graduate Supervision
Creators: name: Alharbi, Hawazen
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: MOOC
subject: Design-Based Research
subject: Graduate supervision
subject: Faculty development
subject: Education--Technology

description: Graduate supervision is a complex relationship and learning process developed between students and supervisors. Professors invest many years in developing expertise and experience in their research disciplines and in their teaching. However, for many academic faculty, graduate supervision is a practice they develop just in time and on the job when they accept graduate students to supervise. Research points to the importance of the graduate supervisor in students’ timely completion of their degrees. However, there is a gap in educational research on how to best support graduate supervisors in developing effective supervision practices even though the same research emphasizes the importance of offering such learning supports to faculty members. As higher education institutions are called upon to provide quality faculty development opportunities focused on developing effective graduate supervision practices, there is a need for applied research on designs and methods for graduate supervision development that are effective. This design-based research focused on the design, implementation and evaluation of a flexible and innovative faculty development approach to quality graduate supervision using a miniMOOC. Drawing on theoretical insights from connectivism theory, learning communities, and constructivism, this study was informed by relevant educational theory and research and resulted in a six module miniMOOC that was implemented at a large research university during a Winter semester. Twenty-three faculty members from across disciplines participated in the Quality Graduate Supervision miniMOOC and fifteen completed all six modules. Collection of data on the design and development of the QGS miniMOOC, the implementation of the learning environment, and the local impact, inform the study findings. Outcome of the research include theoretical insights, evidence of local impact, and the development of design principles and a design framework for faculty development MOOCs. Overall, evidence was gathered that graduate supervisors can benefit from intentional faculty development as they develop their supervision practices and competencies. Findings from this design based research study suggest that faculty members are willing to participate in faculty development when the learning opportunities are flexible, accessible and tailored to their learning goals and needs. Findings also suggest that in the MOOC learning environment, there are four design elements needed to develop successful faculty development opportunities: 1) relevant topics and resources, 2) high quality videos, 3) discussion forums’ design and facilitation, and 4) effective user interface design. The flexibility of the miniMOOC format and the accessibility of the D2L learning environment in this study were found to be contributing factors to the success of the miniMOOC learning environment for faculty members’ development of graduate supervision practices. Furthermore, the formation of a learning community in online faculty development is significant to the success of the learning experience. The findings, design principles and implications contributed to the body of knowledge available on faculty development design and development, in graduate supervision practices and in the use of MOOC for faculty development.