Examining and Exploring Online Instructors' Professional Development Experiences, Attitudes, and Perceptions in a Post-Secondary Education System

Effective professional development for online instructors is critical to student and organizational success. The online instructors’ knowledge transfer on workplace performance outcomes positively or negatively impacts student and organizational success. This study explored online instructors’ professional development experiences, attitudes, and perceptions. The research questions guiding this study were: What are the online instructors’ experiences and attitudes about professional development? How do online instructors perceive the quality and impact of professional development experiences? How do the online instructors’ experiences, attitudes, and perceptions impact knowledge transfer and workplace performance outcomes? Participants in this study were from one post-secondary system in Mississippi. The andragogy learning principles and human resource development theories were the guiding frameworks. This study followed an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. During the quantitative phase, (n = 64) completed the survey. Factors explored were years of experience, instructor type, discipline, professional development experiences, and attitudes. The Andragogy in Practice Inventory (API) survey assessed the online instructors' professional development experiences. The Teacher Attitude about Professional Development (TAP) survey measured attitudes. There was a negative relationship between professional development experiences and professional development attitudes, as evaluated by the Pearson г test. During the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted (n = 5). During the thematic analysis of interview transcripts, six themes emerged. The professional development experiences category contained quality and impact, barriers and challenges, and teaching online. The themes of the professional development application category were knowledge transfer, performance outcomes, and adult learner needs. Interview results indicated that years of experience, instructor type, and discipline impact professional development experiences. This research resulted in six findings. The main findings were that online instructors have diverse professional development needs based on their personal and professional backgrounds. They want professional development that improves the online learning experience for students and themselves. Quality professional development includes specific strategies to help online instructors overcome challenges and remove barriers with immediate real-world applications. Timing, applicability, and relevancy of professional development are essential to increase competencies and change how they teach online.