Challenges of professional development of faculty members of Allameh Tabataba'i University in online teaching

The professional development of the faculty members of universities and higher education institutions is the key to improving the quality of higher education. If the faculty members have the desired level of professional growth and development, then it can be expected that the other resources of the university will be used well and continuous quality improvement will occur in various activities and missions of the university. Over the past few years, online education has received increasing attention in higher education. Numerous aspects of university education, such as staff training, curriculum and professional development have been influenced by online learning processes. In this situation, most universities and higher education institutions have moved towards offering online courses. With the development of online education, the need of the faculty members to develop and teach online courses increases. It is, therefore, essential that the methods to improve the professional development of faculty members who teach online courses can be identified and used. Preparing and providing online courses for university professors can be very different from the traditional face-to-face teaching models. University professors need to change the way content is presented through the curriculum and the type of students’ assignments. To provide effective online courses, empowerment and professional development of faculty members who teach in these courses are of particular importance. Providing and implementing continuous professional development programs for faculty members help to improve the quality of online education. The aim of this study was to investigate the needs and challenges of the professional development of the faculty members of Allameh Tabataba'i University in online teaching and the relationship between demographic characteristics of professors and their needs and challenges in online teaching.

This research was conducted quantitatively, using the descriptive-analytic technique. The research population included the faculty members of Allameh Tabataba'i University, 113 of whom were selected from 10 different faculties in an accessible basis. To collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. Its validity was determined by experts and its reliability was determined by Cronbach's alpha 0.849.

The results of this study showed that there is a significant difference between the age, academic status, and years of teaching experience of the faculty members on the one hand, and their needs and challenges in online teaching, on the other hand.  Moreover, no meaningful relationship was found between the gender, years of online teaching experience of the faculty members, on the one hand, and their needs and challenges in online teaching, on the other hand. These challenges were categorized under three general components: the use of technology, attitude to online teaching, and administrative support.

Regarding the needs and challenges of professional development of faculty members in online teachingthe needs and challenges of faculty members in relation to online teaching can be determined by using literature review and concerns-based adoption model. To ensure the successful implementation of online teaching, the professional development challenges of the faculty members who are teaching online should be considered and examined. Based on the findings of this research, from the perspective of the faculty members, the use of technology, the attitudes to online teaching, and administrative support, respectively, have priority in determining the needs and challenges of the faculty members in online teaching.