Supporting online faculty: Developing a supporting website resource

Abstract

Current trends in post-secondary education enrollment indicate that colleges and universities are likely to experience an increase in the number of online students. This will likely increase the competition between colleges and universities to recruit and retain highly skilled online faculty. Providing online faculty with support websites can be a differentiation strategy to recruit and retain quality online faculty. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the type of resources and support features online faculty need, desire, and expect in a support website. Findings from the survey indicated participants agree there is a need to implement a support website. Participants indicated the support website should provide support resources, communication forums, and resources to increase connectivity to the institution.