As more researched-based universities venture into online education courses, faculty members will require some form of training or certification course for online teaching. Currently, these online certification courses are modeled on a “one size fits all” idea in which the course instructor does not fully model an effective online course design. According to the self study by Lee Graham and Lisa Thomas titled Certification in Distance Learning for Online Instructors:Exploration of an Organic Model for a Researched-Based Institution, Graham and Thomas believe that a more organic model of online certification is needed since many faculty members desire more freedom in course design or are already successful online course instructors.

In this study published in the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, the researchers conducted an informal needs assessment of the various schools within a research-based university. What they found was many faculty members relied heavily on lecture-based learning in larger classes; however, the School of Nursing provided an interesting foil to the rest of the university. The nursing faculty had already designed and implemented a successful, innovative online learning program. Graham and Thomas designed their organic online certification course to both accommodate those who had successful online classes and those who did not. The self study addressed questions about retention in the online certification programs, academic rigor of online courses, and the positive results from those who completed the course.

You can read the entire study and its conclusions at the Certification in Distance Learning for Online Instructors:Exploration of an Organic Model for a Researched-Based Institution,