Assessing the Relationship Between Mandatory Faculty Development for Online Career College Instructors and Transformative Learning

Online teaching and learning has become a primary focal point for higher education administrators. Institutions have focused their strategic plans to maximize opportunities to grow their campuses, through distance education. A consistent issue that has surfaced with distance education initiatives is teacher preparation for online education. The issue is further compounded in proprietary institutions that may have limited resources and guidance for structuring effective faculty development programs. It is beneficial for faculty program developers to implement adult learning concepts into their courses to improve the overall training transfer for instructors. Transformative learning is an adult learning theory that focuses on the transformation that learners experience when they acquire new information that enables them to critically reflect on their thinking and change their perspective. This qualitative research study focuses on the relationship between mandatory faculty development for proprietary online instructors and transformative learning. Through extensive data collection, including surveys and interviews, this study indicates that mandatory faculty development can produce transformative learning experiences for proprietary school instructors