The Impact Of Administrative Support For Dental Hygiene And Nursing Online Faculty

This study examined online faculty in dental hygiene and nursing baccalaureate degree completion programs and their experiences with online education in the area of administrative support. The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of administrative support systems needed for dental hygiene and nursing faculty to teach in baccalaureate degree completion programs in New York State, which offer more than 50% of their curriculum online. The objective of this study was to provide leaders in institutions of higher learning with insight and aid in reaching the goal of improving dental hygiene and nursing online programs. A total of 17 accredited baccalaureate degree completion programs in New York State (15 nursing and two dental hygiene) were included in this study. Faculty members represented in this study were female (n=7), mostly at the assistant professor rank (n=6), teaching in academia for a range of years of one to ten years of online teaching experience, and mostly over 50 years of age. The data revealed that all the faculty respondents received online course development training and reported having adequate support services in the form of technology assistance/help desk. Yet, three respondents felt they needed more training with course management tools. Additionally, faculty with 11+ years in academia and teaching online 4 years or more (n=4) felt there is a lack of support concerning policy and standardization, property rights and course ownership. There were concerns about lack of recognition of greater workload and time commitment for online teaching at their institution. Examining the impact of administrative support for dental hygiene and nursing online faculty can enable administrators to meet the needs of online faculty and increase teaching effectiveness in the online learning environment. Moreover, understanding the challenges that online faculty face with faculty incentives for online teaching, workload valued for tenure and additional compensation, policy that addresses intellectual property rights and course ownership, and increased faculty training and professional development with technology tools for online course development will enable institutions of higher education to develop strategies for continuous administrative support and ultimately improve online teaching and learning