NEW APPROACHES TO RECRUITING AND HIRING ONLINE INSTRUCTOR: CHALLENGES AND CHANGES IN BEST TEACHING PRATICES AND STRATEGIES

This presentation will focus on transitioning new and current instructors teaching in a live classroom setting to prepare them to teach online. The online learning environment differs from the physical, live classroom setting in terms of student population, use of technology, and vast ranges of time zones shared by a variety of students in an online course. As a result, it is important for adequate and appropriate online training/instruction be afforded to this specific population of educators.
While online instructors may start out teaching students from local areas, this particular opportunity has been changing over the past decade. In fact, many online instructors have noted an increase in a more diversified student population in their classes. Further, they realize that they need to update their teaching skills, practices and strategies in order to accommodate the changing needs of the learners in the classroom, as well as updating their own portfolio.
Teaching business and management has changed over the past decades in terms of the types of delivery, especially with the use of technology. The use of online learning has helped to increase student enrollments, diversify the variety of student input and perspectives, as well as increase the exposure of instructors to bigger learning demands of the learners. As a result, virtual instructors today need to develop and enhance their teaching strategies and methodologies in order to meet the growing needs of today’s online learning. No longer are instructors focusing on teaching just local learners, but they must also concentrate on teaching students from a variety of international locations.
Thus, this presentation will focus on how one University System has focused on developing its best teaching practices and strategies to help prepare their teaching workforce to meet the challenges of a changing student population in the fields of business administration and management. Further, this presentation will help current instructors and practitioners to identify potential learner needs and brainstorm ideas on how to improve upon their teaching practices and strategies. The key focus of this workshop will focus on identifying needs and creating potential solutions towards meeting the challenges of teaching business and management courses in today’s virtual learning environment.