Make Sure Personnel Policies Reflect the Reality of Online Faculty

Madison, Wis.—June 19, 2008 — The workload, tenure, and promotional policies that work for traditional faculty don’t always work well for online faculty. How can an academic unit tell if it’s time for a change?

To help answer this question, Dr. Philip DiSalvio, director of SetonWorldWide at Seton Hall University, led an online seminar on June 19. During the seminar, he recommended that the academic unit ask itself the following questions:
• Is teaching in a web-based environment part of the institution’s vision?
• Is web-based teaching seen as important and recognized by the faculty?
• How are faculty distributed across the institution?
• How will a policy discussion (or its absence) be interpreted?
• What other challenges exist for the institution currently, and is it an appropriate time to initiate change?

The answers to these questions will help the academic unit understand its choices and decide which option -- doing nothing, revising policies, or studying the issue -- is best.

“Know that there is no one right answer to a policy choice,” DiSalvio said, “only choices that might be better or more appropriate for one institution at a point in time.”

Whatever approach the unit chooses, most policy changes generate all types of responses from faculty and others who may have something to lose or gain under the policy, DiSalvio noted.

“We have to heed the needs of the department and institution in terms of its strategic vision, goals, and challenges,” he said. “And we have to know how faculty reward systems really affect those respective agendas.”

If you missed the live event, you can order the program in CD or print transcript format, both of which include the presenter's handouts.

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