(PO-071) Administrative Support for Dental Hygiene and Nursing Online Faculty

Author: Margarita Rivera, Ed.D RDH – Assistant Professor, Farmingdale State College
Submitter: Margarita Rivera, RDH – Farmingdale State College

Objective: To provide higher education institutional leaders with insight to improve dental hygiene and nursing online teaching support. This study investigated 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.

Methods: Faculty from 17 accredited baccalaureate degree completion programs in New York State (15 nursing and two dental hygiene) were surveyed.

Results: Faculty total members represented in this study (n=7), were female (n=7), mostly of the assistant professor rank (n=6), teaching online from 0-10 years (n=7), and mostly over 50 years of age (n=4). The data revealed that all faculty respondents received online course development training and reported having adequate support services in the form of technology assistance/help desk. Yet, most respondents felt they needed more training with course management tools. 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. Additionally, challenges expressed in the study included increased workload and time commitment for online teaching, lack of incentives for online teaching, workload not valued for tenure and additional compensation, lack of policy addressing intellectual property rights and course ownership, and a need for increased faculty training and professional development with technology tools for online course development.

Conclusion: Examining the impact of administrative support for dental hygiene and nursing online faculty can enable administrators to meet the needs of online faculty, increase teaching effectiveness, develop strategies for continuous administrative support and ultimately improve online teaching and learning in dental hygiene and nursing programs.