Onboarding for Eastern Kentucky University Part-Time Faculty
Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) wanted a self-paced online course to orient faculty to the university and replace their face-to-face training. However, EKU had no set curriculum path for part-time faculty to have an orientation/onboarding process.
The challenge of this project was the abundance of online information on EKU’s website, yet inaccurate information existed because they didn’t remove web pages that were no longer relevant. Another issue was the mass amount of hidden information for some key areas, yet the overabundance of content overload in other areas.
This project required a lot of planning out content and then checking with the SME to see if the content was even relevant before proceeding.
Give part-time faculty all the resources they need to integrate into the university and begin teaching their courses.
I began with a needs assessment and analysis. I contacted all part-time faculty who were hired within the last year, asked them questions to determine how they felt their onboarding to the university went, and gathered feedback on what they felt was missing or needed.
I then built the course with this feedback in mind.
This course was comprised of six modules and a final evaluation for faculty, and it was hosted on Blackboard as it allowed all faculty easy access to the course.
This course was comprised of six modules and a final evaluation for faculty, and it was hosted on Blackboard as it allowed all faculty easy access to the course.
Module 1: Who We Are
This module contained all information related to the university. The objectives were as follows:
Identify EKU’s Mission
Describe EKU’s Values
Explain EKU’s Priorities
State EKU’s Divisions
Module 2: Getting Started at EKU
This module contained everything faculty needed to “do” once they were officially hired for their new role. The objectives were as follows:
Apply “Before First Day” Checklist
Apply “On First Day” Checklist
Apply “First Two Weeks Checklist”
Apply “First Month Checklist”
Module 3: Course Setup & Management
This module contained everything faculty needed to know to set up and manage their course in Blackboard. The objectives were as follows:
Operate Blackboard
Create Your Course
Design Accessible Materials
Identify How to Get Help
Module 4: Faculty Development, Resources & Success
EKU is rich with hidden areas for faculty to develop and grow. I created this area specifically to bring this to the forefront of the faculty onboarding process. The objectives were as follows:
Investigate Ways to Grow
Select Resources to Succeed
Identify Avenues to Thrive
Formulate Ways to Expand
Module 5: Faculty Organizations & Ways to Get Involved
This module showcased all the ways part-time faculty could be involved in the university. The objectives were as follows:
List your Senator
Describe Pedagogicon
Explain FLI
Investigate FLI
Module 6: Student Support
This module showcased all the resources EKU dedicated to student services, which also helped faculty know where to direct students for extra assistance. The objectives were as follows:
Describe Noel Studio
Explain Student Success
List Tutoring Centers
Discuss Teams that Help
Evaluation
The course’s final section was a simple five-question evaluation to help the course improve for future faculty.
The questions were as follows:
- Which content in this orientation did you find most helpful?
- Which content in this orientation did you find least helpful?
- What questions would you like answered that weren’t?
- What can we do to improve the overall quality of this orientation?
- We want to improve the course. Please make any additional comments or provide additional information you feel would make your orientation a better experience.
Zoom was used to conduct the live sessions.
Microsoft products were used to create wordage and send communications.
Graphics were created in Adobe Photoshop.
The syllabus and rubrics were created in Adobe InDesign.
All PDFs were exported through Adobe InDesign and exported by Adobe Acrobat and made 508 compliant.
Miro was used for course layout and brainstorming.
Out of the faculty that responded to my initial survey, I asked the most vocal to review the final onboarding program and evaluate if it met their needs.
I also built an internal evaluation within the course for staff to monitor participants and address anything participants might have felt was lacking.
My key recommendation for this program was to monitor the course and place someone in charge of the course to facilitate the onboarding process for part-time faculty.
* The images are cut off unless one views them from a desktop.*
The first four sets of images are a small visual example of how I used imagery to draw the faculty into the topic.
The last set of images showcases how text was coupled with the images in Blackboard.