Teaching is learning : exploring faculty perceptions of first-time online course development

Launching a new online program for the first time presents challenges and opportunities for all stakeholders - institutions, administrators, faculty members, and students. This paper explores the initial perceptions and experiences of faculty members preparing new courses for online delivery for the first time in a graduate level MBA program. In addition to the transition to developing course materials for the online context, another layer of complexity included the development of the online course as an entirely new course within the faculty members' discipline. Grounded in experiential learning theory, the qualitative study uncovers themes related to learning not only how to prepare a course for online delivery, but also the learning that the faculty member experiences him or herself throughout the process. The findings focus on new ways of thinking about teaching and learning, creativity and story-telling, instructional design methodology, and the significance of proper support before and during online course development.