Building Educator e-Pedagogy Skill Efficacy and Capacity to Successfully Engage Students in the Online Learning Environment

Author

Karen M. Roeck, Western UniversityFollow

Date of Submission

7-15-2022

Document Type

DiP

Degree

Doctor of Education

Department

Education

Keywords

online learning, e-pedagogy, humanism, servant leadership, relational leadership, distributed leadership

Abstract

Students around the world are increasingly seeking options for completing their learning in an online format due to its convenience, flexibility, and opportunity for innovative experiences. Higher education institutions need to adapt their course offerings to include robust online programs and train their faculty with the necessary skills to successfully engage their virtual learners to remain competitive in today’s market. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) identifies gaps of inadequacy of infrastructure to support online learning, limited knowledge of e-pedagogy, lack of clarity about teacher identity, and lack of focus on equity and humanity in the online classroom at a Christian liberal arts university in British Columbia (BC). Theoretical frameworks of social constructivism and humanism frame the approaches to leadership and the proposed change process by centering on serving the needs of others, building authentic relationships, and engaging social capital and collective efficacy to drive change. Through partnerships between faculty and e-pedagogy experts, a professional learning community (PLC) emerges to support faculty in building e-pedagogy skills while increasing capacity to engage students in the online learning environment. Change agents draw on an organizational vision of understanding who we are (e.g., identity), what we believe (e.g., knowledge), and what we are called to do in the world (e.g., action) to create alignment between organizational values and the proposed change process. The outcome creates opportunities for stakeholders to engage with a modernized approach to education while expanding their identity as an educator and serving the diverse needs of learners across the globe.

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Recommended Citation

Roeck, K. M. (2022). Building Educator e-Pedagogy Skill Efficacy and Capacity to Successfully Engage Students in the Online Learning Environment. The Dissertation in Practice at Western University, 286. Retrieved from https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/oip/286