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This article describes the development and impact of a faculty development program on improving the readiness of Indonesian educators to teach online. While online learning is seen as a potential solution to increasing access to higher education in Indonesia, most higher education faculty in Indonesia lack the necessary skills to teach online effectively. To address this need, faculty in Indonesia were recruited to participate in the "Online Teaching and Design Fellowship"-a faculty development program aimed at supporting instructors in designing high-quality, inclusive online courses. The design of the program was guided by the Community of Inquiry (Garrison et al., 2000) and Humanizing Online Learning (Pacansky-Brock et al., 2020) frameworks and included five modules focusing on foundational online teaching, course structure and design, online assessment, online engagement, and humanizing online courses. We also share some lessons learned from creating these modules.
Keywords; Faculty Development Program, Humanizing Online Learning, Community of Inquiry
Education is essential in helping Indonesia-the largest country in Southeast Asia-achieve its "Golden Indonesia" vision by 2045 (Puspa et al., 2023). However, achieving this vision is challenging, as the number of young Indonesians who attend college is low, primarily due to the high cost of higher education (Badan Pusat Statistik Indonesia, 2023). Online learning can provide affordable education in the country, yet few institutions offer such options and support their faculty with learning how to teach online (Diki, 2013; Larasati, 2019). Moreover, many faculty members' experience in teaching online is limited to emergency remote teaching during the pandemic, which lacks the thorough preparation needed for quality online education (Hodges et al., 2020). This article outlines the rationale, development, and implementation of an online faculty development training program for instructors in Indonesia. The goal of the training program was to equip higher education faculty in Indonesia with competencies for effective online teaching.
Why Did We Design the Training Program?
Online learning has long been recognized for its potential to provide equal access to education (Appana, 2008). In Indonesia, where many young people cannot afford college, online learning offers a more affordable solution. Despite increased interest in teaching online, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the expansion of online programs at universities remains limited, and the opportunities for faculty to learn how to teach online remain...
