Supporting the digital professor: information, training and support

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into institutions of higher education (IHE) on how to support faculty in the integration of digital technologies. The research explores faculty interest in types of digital technology information and training, and the types of support faculty are likely to participate in related to digital technology integration. The association of demographic factors of primary teaching method, and experience teaching online or hybrid is provided.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 247 faculty from 53 institutions in the USA completed an online survey related to information, training and support for digital technology integration. The analysis included exploring the descriptive ratings overall and by demographic variable and conducting the one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) with reported effect sizes and Scheffe post-hoc tests.

Findings

From a list of digital technologies that included the LMS, Collaboration Tools (social media and online meeting tools), Audio-Visual Tools (video creation and podcasts), and Technology Trends (mobile learning, games and adaptive learning), faculty ranked LMS highest in interest for training and information. Faculty who have taught hybrid are most interested in collaboration tools and trend tools. For support type, faculty ranked web resources slightly higher than other types of support.

Practical implications

IHE units involved in faculty development can use the findings to plan faculty support initiatives for future institutional needs.

Originality/value

This paper gathers insight from faculty on their preferences for information, training, and support for integrating digital technologies.

Citation

Coles, S., Martin, F., Polly, D. and Wang, C. (2021), "Supporting the digital professor: information, training and support", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 633-648. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-09-2019-0236