The growth of distance education and the corresponding demand for online instructors is a trend that has continued over the past ten to fifteen years. Quality online instruction should be preceded by high quality preparation for online teaching including exposure to best practices for online teaching. Despite the strong relationship between good teaching and good preparation, there is a perception that the type of preparation and the amount of preparation provided for instructors prior to teaching online courses is highly variable from one institution to another institution. Given this context, instructor preparation is the main focus of this paper and best practices for online instruction is a secondary focus. To explore these topics an existing survey instrument was selected and minor revisions were made in order to collect data regarding the type of preparation, the amount of preparation and the source of that preparation. Another aspect of the survey is the exploration of exposure to best practices that instructors may have gained through their preparation and training. The natural progression also leads to questions regarding actual practices in online courses and whether best practices are being employed by online instructors. The survey instrument was administered via email and online to a sample of faculty from a wide range of technology-oriented programs from universities across the United States. The quantitative data collected will be analyzed using measures of frequency and variability through SPSS in order to compare the universities from different state systems. Findings are intended to promote change in order to support student success in the online learning atmosphere.
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