Measure Faculty Success in an

¶ … measure faculty success in an online environment? In some respects, the criteria for success as an instructor in an online learning environment are similar to those corresponding to success in the traditional teaching environment. For example, the level of commitment to student achievement and learning is a fundamental requirement of all good teachers, regardless of the learning environment.

Likewise, the ability to be self-reflective is important because it substantially determines how well teachers can assess their own performance and how well they appreciate the need for improvement or other necessary changes on their part. In that regard, good teachers appreciate the value of the student course and instructor evaluation process and make the most productive possible use of comments from students.

Successful teachers must also demonstrate a high level of engagement in their courses because students typically recognize the difference between instructors who are actively involved in their courses and those who are only passively or superficially involved and it affects the corresponding commitment level of students significantly. Naturally, communication skills (in general) are critical for teachers; more particularly, good teachers must be capable of clearly communicating their expectations to their students.

Communication skills also substantially determine how well teachers can maintain a high quality of interactions with students and connect with them in ways that promote interest and learning. Ideally, good higher education teachers must balance the need for structure and flexibility: they must be sufficiently structured to establish and maintain specific goals for their courses while at the same time responding and adjusting appropriately to the learning curve and other needs of their students.

Finally, good teachers must also be able to meet all administrative standards and deadlines on a regular basis. What are the attributes of a successful online instructor? As in the case of the criteria for success in online instructors, the personal and professional attributes of good teachers are also substantially consistent as between the online and traditional teaching environments. Specifically, the most successful teachers tend to be those who are the most passionate about their profession, the achievements of their students, and of their subject matter.

Successful teachers make the necessary effort to ensure that their course work is interesting to students. This can be more challenging online, simply because teachers do not have the benefit of as much data, such as in the form of real-time student responses that they can observe. Similarly, the ability and willingness to make themselves as accessible as possible to students is crucial to success as any kind of teacher.

Successful online teachers must be able to motivate and encourage their students through different channels from those upon which teachers in the traditional learning environment can.