Recruitment & retention of online teachers

This workshop at the International Conference really did show up some differences between New Zealand and the US distance education schools and organisations. It was interesting because of the differences. For exmaple, the teaching unions in the US
( and this may differ from state to state ) are lobbying for seperate contracts for online teaching and for developing online courses and resources, all of these contracts at different rates of pay and salary. You can imagine how there is a difference between teachers and budget holders on this issue. The workshop got a little heated at various times as well ... fun fun fun !

The presenters were all managers at different distance education organisations, from high schools, to polytechs and to universities. These are the issues in the US about getting online teachers, and keeping them.
- High attrition rates ... from 30% to 50% of teachers starting to teach these courses, then leaving.
- Anxiety about technology changing regularly.
- Underestimating the time and effort that goes into designing an online course.
- Lack of opportunities to give students feedback.
- Training for online teachers is highly variable in quality.
- Requirement of prior knowledge of online learning to become an effective online teacher.

Ten states got together and started the "eLearning for Educators Initiative ". This was set up to:
- Establish experiences of online learning for those staff who wanted to become online teachers.
- Offer these experiences across time, region and beyond usual timetables and schedules, so teachers get used to working in different ways.
- The consistent goal of all teacher PD is the achievement of their students.
- Recruit external partners to help develop the courses - eg,. public televsion, universities and teacher PD providers.

To date, the initiative has delivered 1202 different courses to 21,857 teachers, with a 76% completion rate.

Individual states in the initiative, however, run their own online teacher recruitment strategies. But each state has very similar elements to their strategies. They include:
- Follow up PD for all participants who finish the training.
- Opportunities to become an online trainer.
- Marketing in print, broadcast, and website media to become an online teacher.
- Opportunities to use the course to contribute to credits for university study.
- Salary increases.
- Evidence for continued teacher registration.

So who are the teachers who do these online training courses ? 49% have a teaching degree, 39% have a masters degree, 90% are registered teachers, 58% have taught more than five years, 39% have taught less than five years, 85% were female, 76% white and 20% black, with the most frequent age ranges being 26 - 35 years, 36-45 years, and 46-55 years. A mixed profile.

What were their perceptions of their online training ? 91% said the online training improved their classroom management skills, 97% said it fitted in with their school's goals, 97% said it improved their teaching, 98% said it improved their curriculum knowledge, 91% said the training was very good or better, and 81% said they would study online teaching again soon.

Their perception on how they improved their students achievement : 94% said that they were now meeting the diverse range of needs and of their students, 85% felt they were adressing the cultural needs of their students, 95% said they were now integrating technology into their lessons, 97% said they were trying new ways of teaching existing lesson plans, and 95% knew they were meeting the state or national standards for the subject in delivering the outcomes.

Of their students, they reported : 90% said they were more interested in their classes now, 90% said they now worked more collaboratively with other students, 89% felt their learning needs were being better met, 82% knew they were getting better test results, 77% wanted more challenging work, and 80% felt they work was now of a higher standard.

The conclusion ? You've already guessed it. That teacher online teacher PD for online teaching can be highly effective. It also needs to be supported by proactive strategies to reduce teachers leaving online teaching and there also needs to be retention strategies to keep teachers in online roles.

Now thats not too hard to imagine, is it ?