Level of Proficiency and Professional Development Needs in Peripheral Online Teaching Roles ( Nn OnlineCourses

Abstract

Teaching in virtual environments demands mastery of several teaching competencies. Although the most accepted ones are pedagogical, in order to successfully teach online it becomes necessary to acquire and develop some other competencies, sometimes referred to as peripheral roles (Denis et al., 2004).

The aim of this study is to analyse perceptions on the level of proficiency that online teachers have regarding these peripheral roles (social, evaluator, manager, technologist, advisor/counsellor, personal, and researcher), and their professional development needs required to improve their online teaching competencies. A questionnaire was specifically created and validated by experts, and data was gathered from 166 university teachers.

The findings show that teachers highlight the importance of the peripheral roles for quality teaching, and thus, professional development programmes should be based on a balance between central and peripheral roles to better train online teachers and increase the quality of their teaching.

Full text

Level of Proficiency and Professional
Development Needs in Peripheral Online
Teaching Roles
( Nn OnlineCourses
Mercedes González-Sanmamed1, Pablo-César Muñoz-Carril2, and Albert Sangrà3
1Universidad de A Coruña, Spain, 2Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 3Universitat Oberta de
Catalunya, Spain
Abstract
Teaching in virtual environments demands mastery of several teaching competencies.
Although the most accepted ones are pedagogical, in order to successfully teach online it
becomes necessary to acquire and develop some other competencies, sometimes
referred to as peripheral roles (Denis et al., 2004).
The aim of this study is to analyse perceptions on the level of proficiency that online
teachers have regarding these peripheral roles (social, evaluator, manager, technologist,
advisor/counsellor, personal, and researcher), and their professional development
needs required to improve their online teaching competencies. A questionnaire was
specifically created and validated by experts, and data was gathered from 166 university
teachers.
The findings show that teachers highlight the importance of the peripheral roles for
quality teaching, and thus, professional development programmes should be based on a
balance between central and peripheral roles to better train online teachers and increase
the quality of their teaching.
Keywords: Online teaching; professional development; peripheral roles; online
learning environments; teaching competences

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Introduction
The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for educational purposes
has been widely adopted in the last decade (Bates & Sangrà, 2011; Bullen & Janes, 2007;
Carr-Chelleman, 2005), and Higher Education institutions could not avoid their
proliferation in universities. In such a context most of the universities have embraced
online teaching and learning as a means of better serving their students by giving more
flexibility to their programmes and providing blended or complementary courses. As a
result of this growing interest and use, online education has finally been taken into
account as a serious player in the field of Higher Education, including being used for
attracting potential students.
No matter the initial reaction from the faculty at these institutions, the organization and
the technologies of teaching in most of them have changed, and the culture of teaching
itself has undergone significant adaptation (Lokken & Womer, 2007; Sangrà &
González-Sanmamed, 2004).
The large number of available studies enables us to observe the enormous interest
raised by the analysis of teaching skills, not only as a research issue, but also as a
theoretical conceptualization. As importantly these studies have institutional, academic,
and professional relevance in outlining the appropriate teacher’s profile and
characteristics needed to face online teaching functions as a benchmark for the design of
professional development actions and plans. This article, in order to deal with the
perspectives that have been mentioned, starts with a literature review to establish a list
of competencies that undergo the judgment of teachers from a university that is starting
a process of introduction of a blended learning mode offer, in order to identify their
perceptions regarding their level of proficiency and their professional development
needs, with the purpose of guiding training programmes that would improve their
professional performance.
University teachers in particular are being challenged to obtain the necessary
competencies to work in online environments. In contrast with other studies focused on
the central pedagogical competency, this study is interested in ascertaining the level of
proficiency that teachers perceive they have regarding the peripheral online teaching
roles (Denis et al., 2004), and their willingness and need for professional development
programmes aimed at broadening and improving their current level of proficiency.
Literature Review
Although there is agreement that online teaching demands different teaching tasks and
skills (Major, 2010; Spector, 2007), two different approaches can be found when
reviewing the current literature on the competencies online teachers need to have for
performing effectively. On one hand, some authors argue that online teaching
competencies are similar to those needed for face-to-face teaching (Bautista, Borges &
Forés, 2006). Conversely, others argue that some competencies are specific to online

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teaching, even if some others might seem quite similar (Ardizzone & Rivoltella, 2004;
Laat et al., 2007). Varvel (2007) contends that online teaching includes the creation of
an effective learning environment using activities and resources that are dispersed, and
this is not an easy task. Bawane and Spector (2009) pointed out that programme
characteristics, the available resources and the role the teacher has to perform
determine the competencies the teachers should acquire.
Muñoz-Carril, González-Sanmamed and Hernández-Sellés (2013) recently carried out a
literature review of the roles required of the online teacher. In this previous work, two
tables were drawn to classify and show the associated competencies to each of the roles
of the online teacher identified by the reviewed authors. One table (Muñoz-Carril,
González-Sanmamed and Hernández-Sellés, 2013, 466-467) synthesised the work
carried out by each author, resulting in a framework summarising eight major roles
required of online teachers. A second table pointed out the associated competencies
related with the different roles (Muñoz-Carril, González-Sanmamed & Hernández-
Sellés, 2013, 469-470). This table was drawn after holding a focus group with online
teachers in order to identify, based on practice, the competencies associated with each
of these roles.
This initial literature review has been utilised as a starting point for this article, giving
the appropriate framework for the study presented here. Despite the fact that most of
the authors reviewed agree on the importance of all the roles, their publications have
always given predominance to the pedagogical role (Bawane & Spector, 2009). In the
review carried out by Muñoz-Carril, González-Sanmamed and Hernández-Sellés (2013)
they also highlight that the pedagogical role is most often mentioned in the literature.
These results are in line with the classical vision in which the main function of a teacher
is to teach, and thus, for decades teaching has been identified with expository
transmission of knowledge. Thus, teachers with extensive experience teaching face-to-
face who move to online teaching often have “the tendency of carrying traditional
educational practices into the online environment” (Kreber & Kanuka, 2006, 422).
When approaching online education, teaching should assume another important
function: to make students’ learning easier by taking advantages and affordances of the
new digital context (Anderson & Elloumi, 2008) which involves significantly more roles
than expository teaching.
In this virtual scenario, teaching becomes a complex task that requires teachers to
possess and perform a diverse set of competencies associated with each role, and to
make effective use of the resources and support that might be available (Bawane &
Spector, 2009). To do that, those functions that Denis et al. (2004) name peripheral
roles are at least as important as the central pedagogical role.
The relevance of these peripheral roles is highlighted by some authors, who point out
the aspects that could have a bigger influence on the process of enhancing learning.
Authors such as Coppola, Hiltz and Rotter (2002), Varvel (2007), Bawane and Spector

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(2009), Guasch, Alvarez and Espasa (2010) and Baran, Correia and Thompson (2011)
mention the importance of the social or affective role, regarding the relationships
between students and the teacher, the ways that emotions could be expressed online,
and how they can improve the online classroom atmosphere. They also consider the
managerial or administrative role as one that demands great attention, because it
involves establishing rules and regulations, carries out planned teaching actions, and
requires student-monitoring. Varvel (2007) indicates that the administrative role also
involves processes related to the proper functioning of the institutional process in the
online context. He considers that these administrative rules, though in many ways
unrelated to instructional competencies, are “nonetheless inclusive of knowledge that an
instructor should have”. These authors and others like Aydin (2005), Berge (1995),
Egan and Akdere (2005), Salmon (2004), and Williams (2003) also emphasize the
technological role, referring to the knowledge the teacher should have to adequately use
the necessary technology and to find and integrate educational software, in addition to
being able to solve small technical problems and provide some level of technical support
to the students.
An evaluator role appears in the classification developed by Bawane and Spector
(2009), Varvel (2007), and Egan and Akdere (2005), whose main functions are to
provide feedback, grades and to acknowledge student performance, either individually
or in groups. Aydin (2005) also adds to this providing students assurance of
authenticity.
In the advisor/counsellor role, Bawane and Spector (2009), and Aydin (2005) contend
that the teacher helps the students to achieve the greatest benefit from their
engagement with the course, providing guidance and measures to enhance their
confidence and performance which may persist even beyond the end of the course.
Varvel (2007) adds a personal role that involves all the physical and mental abilities and
their personality attributes, which are independent of the institution where they work.
Teachers’ personal beliefs and their vision and perception of teaching condition this role
and thus influence the processes in which teachers are involved.
The research role focuses on creating new relevant knowledge, not only in the
disciplines that the teacher is working in, but also on research into the improvement of
online teaching (Goodyear et al., 2001). Furthermore selection, creation and use of
online resources for gathering information on online learning, including the
development of new theories, are expected (Aydin, 2005). In addition, conducting
research on their own classroom teaching and integrating their research findings into
their teaching practice are characteristics of this research role (Bawane & Spector,
2009).
All the revised literature focused on the description of the online teaching competencies
and roles, but mostly from a theoretical perspective. Methodologies used in these
studies are mainly descriptive and using experts for defining which the competencies

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and the roles should be. Delphi techniques and experts workshop-based data gathering
are the most utilized ones. They give a powerful insight on the issue, but the voice of the
practitioner is generally missed. The present study asked directly to the teaching staff
who is currently living the transition between a traditional full classroom-based and a
blended model.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to identify and analyse the perceptions on the level of
proficiency that online teachers have regarding the peripheral roles of online teaching
(social, evaluator, manager, technologist, advisor/counsellor, personal, and researcher),
and their professional development needs required to improve their online teaching
competencies. Implications for professional development and for evaluation of online
teaching performance might also be found.
Study Context
The context of the research is situated in A Coruña University (hereinafter UDC), a
Spanish public university located in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. The
university has 25 academic centres, offering 42 bachelor, 53 master, and 46 PhD
programmes. These programmes are supported by a total of 1,458 teachers (512 female;
946 male), with 19,581 bachelor students, 1,054 master students, and 1,362 PhD
students enrolled.
The university traditionally provided face-to-face classes, but since 2000 has been
moving to a blended learning mode integrating online teaching and learning in some of
the programmes. The plans for implementing this evolution have been analysed and
published (Bates & Sangrà, 2011; González-Sanmamed, 2004). Through this transition
to blended learning, the university has had to develop and implement a series of
professional development activities.
Despite there is no single or unified understanding between all the UDC faculty on
which is the theory underlying the term of online teaching, there are some
commonalities regarding the concept. On one hand, online teaching is considered as an
extension of their current teaching, that is, a good support for traditional lecture-based
teaching. On the other hand, they envisage online teaching as a way for modernizing
and improving the way in which they teach and their students learn. It is from this
conception that they deal with the need of being provided with more professional
development to take advantage of the potential of this new situation (González-
Sanmamed, 2004; Bates & Sangrà, 2011).
Methodology
The research method is a non-experimental quantitative survey (Cohen, Manion &

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Morrison, 2007; McMillan & Schumacher, 2005). An online questionnaire was designed
and sent, via electronic means. The sample was accidental, applying a non-probabilistic
technique survey (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). The sample population was
defined by the teaching staff practicing within the online teaching system from the A
Coruña University. A census of teachers facilitated by the e-Learning Unit of the
university was used to know how many teachers usually used the learning management
system and carried out e-learning activities, and which was their disciplinary
environment. A total amount of 628 subjects were identified, 399 belonging to the
Science, Health, and Technical disciplinary environment, and 229 to the Socio-legal and
the Humanities.
To allow these teachers to participate in the research, a letter was written inviting them
to be a participant in the study by answering an attached questionnaire. This letter was
sent through e-mail from the Vicerrectorate for Quality and European Harmonization.
In addition, the same invitation letter was posted in the LMS to which all the teachers
have access. After this process, a total of 166 valid questionnaires were gathered.
Distribution of the respondents is shown in Table 1.
Table 1
Characteristics of the Sample Population Arranged by Categories: Administrative,
Scientific Environment, and Teaching Experience within Virtual Learning
Environments
Identification
variable
Administrative
category
Disciplinary
environment
Online teaching experience
Full
time
faculty
Part
time
teachers
Science.
Health,
and
Technical
Social-legal
and
Humanities
Less
than
1
year
Between
1 and 2
years
Between
3 and 4
years
Between
5 and 6
years
More
than 6
years
N
107
59
104
62
26
37
55
17
25
%
64.5
35.5
62.7
37.3
16.3
23.1
34.4
10.6
15.6
This article outlines the results from one of the blocks within the questionnaire,
analysing the teachers’ self-perceived level of proficiency on the competencies of the
online teaching peripheral roles, as well as their interest in increasing their professional
development. Specifically, it outlines the results achieved regarding the peripheral roles,
because the ones associated with the pedagogical role have already been published in
another work (Muñoz-Carril, González-Sanmamed & Hernández-Sellés, 2013). To build
this block of the questionnaire, items were developed based on the competencies
associated with each of the peripheral roles shown in Table 2 in that previous work
(Muñoz-Carril, González-Sanmamed & Hernández-Sellés, 2013). The first iteration of

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the items underwent a double process of validation through the judgement of six
experts, and also through a pilot test, after which some items were altered. Tables 2 to 8
show the items developed to test subjects’ perceptions of the aforementioned peripheral
roles.
Each item is assessed on a 5-point Likert scale. This scale looks at teachers’ perceptions,
understanding 5 as the higher rate of their perceived level of proficiency and 1 as the
lowest. Cronbach’s alpha internal reliability index was then applied. The internal
consistency coefficient obtained in the peripheral roles’ competencies section was
considerably higher. The category “level of proficiency” scored α = 0.987; and the
category “professional development need” scored α = 0.990.
Results
As can be seen in Table 2, for the competencies associated with the social role, all the
mean rank values related to the variable “professional development needs” (positive
ranks) are higher than “level of proficiency”. Particularly, it is interesting to note that
teachers show a high professional development need for competencies such as
“Encourage and stimulate positive participation in a friendly learning environment”
(sum of ranks= 5505.00).
On the other hand, for the median contrast carried out through Wilcoxon signed ranks
test and shown in Table 2, the evidence suggests that there are significant differences in
every social role for associated competencies between the two variables, “level of
proficiency” and “professional development needs”. The most significant differences
taking into consideration the sum of ranks, are found in the competencies “Encourage
and stimulate positive participation in a friendly learning environment” and
“Streamlining training and online networking”, which are very similar elements from a
conceptual point of view.

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Table 2
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Median Difference on the Level of Proficiency and
Professional Development Needs Regarding the Social Role Competencies Applied to
Online Teaching
N
Mean rank
Sum of
ranks
Test
statistics
34-Encourage
and stimulate
positive
participation in a
friendly learning
environment
Negative
ranks
25
42.00
1050.00
Z
-6.392a
Positive ranks
89
61.85
5505.00
Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
52
Total
166
35-Suggest
activities to
facilitate
knowledge
development
amongst
participants
Negative
ranks
18
40.19
723.50
Z
-6.443
a
Positive ranks
84
53.92
4529.50
Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
64
Total
166
25-Give feedback
on student
interactions and
public and
private
recommendation
s on their work
and its quality
Negative
ranks
30
41.43
1243.00
Z
-4.252a
Positive ranks
68
53.06
3608.00
Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
68
Total
166
36-Streamlining
training and
online
networking
Negative
ranks
18
42.50
765.00
Z
-6.677
a
Positive ranks
89
56.33
5013.00
Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
59
Total
166
5-Summarize the
inputs from
students in group
discussions
Negative
ranks
19
37.68
716.00
Z
-6.375
a
Positive ranks
82
54.09
4435.00
Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
65
Total
166
33-Integrate and
lead discussions
Negative
ranks
22
39.50
869.00
Z
-6.283a
Positive ranks
84
57.17
4802.00
Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
60
Total
166
a. Based on negative ranks.

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With respect to the competencies associated with the evaluator role (see Table 3), and as
happened in the case of the social role, higher mean rank scores appear for the
variable "professional development needs" (positive ranks) than for "level
of proficiency" (negative ranks) and involve significant
differences bilaterally. These results make visible the teachers’ interest in
improving those aspects related to assessment processes in virtual teaching and
learning environments.
Based on the data collected, the differences are particularly significant in
the item concerning "Conduct evaluation practices" and "Keep
the students Informed about their progress in the study".
Table 3
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Median Difference on the Level of Proficiency and
Professional Development Needs Regarding the Evaluator Role Competencies Applied
to Online Teaching
N
Mean
rank
Sum of
ranks
Test statistics
26-Keep the students
informed about their
progress in the study
Negative
ranks
25 37.70 942.50 Z -5.699a
Positive
ranks
77 55.98 4310.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
64
Total
166
4-Make global and
individual assessments
of the activities carried
out
Negative
ranks
28 47.30 1324.50 Z -4.615a
Positive
ranks
76 54.41 4135.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
62
Total
166
8-Conduct evaluation
practices
Negative
ranks
20
40.9
0
818.00 Z -6.741a
Positive
ranks
90 58.74 5287.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
56
Total
166
2-Ensure that the
students meet course
objectives
Negative
ranks
33 46.73 1542.00 Z -4.029a
Positive
ranks
72 55.88 4023.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
61
Total
166
a. Based on negative ranks.

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Regarding the analyses of the competencies associated with the managerial role (see
Table 4), the Wilcoxon test yields significant results in all the considered variables,
except in the case of “Plan and manage the schedule of course events”. The fact that it is
quite easy, at the managerial level, to introduce in the learning content management
system any key course event, as activities, news, tutoring hours, and so on can result in a
lower perception of professional development needs in this competency.
Otherwise, we should highlight the relevance for teachers of improving their training in
competencies related to those processes that can help them to improve the support they
can provide to the students, such as “Manage efficiently the procedures for supporting
students to work online”. This is a basic issue, especially in those cases in which teachers
tend to carry out collaborative learning activities, as well as in the case of “Perform a
welcome protocol for the students participating in the online course, establishing rules
and regulations”, another key issue to improve the learning process.
Table 4
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Median Difference on the Level of Proficiency and
Professional Development Needs Regarding the Managerial Role Competencies
Applied to Online Teaching
N
Mean
rank
Sum of
ranks
Test statistics
19-Plan and manage
the schedule of course
events (activities,
assessment tests,
discussions, tutoring,
etc.)
Negative
ranks
39 53.05 2069.00 Z -1.119a
Positive
ranks
58
46.2
8
2684.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.263
Ties
69
Total 166
31-Perform a welcome
protocol for the
students participating
in the online course,
establishing rules and
regulations
Negative
ranks
21
33.8
8
711.50 Z -6.991a
Positive
ranks
88
60.0
4
5283.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
57
Total
166
20-Establish online
communication
structures based on its
ease of use (usability
and information
architecture)
Negative
ranks
29 47.79 1386.00 Z -4.081a
Positive
ranks
72 52.29 3765.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
65
Total
166
27-Perform as a
reference for students
in the context of the
institution
Negative
ranks
27 37.19 1004.00 Z -5.016a
Positive
ranks
70 53.56 3749.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
69
Total
166

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N
Mean
rank
Sum of
ranks
Test statistics
15-Manage efficiently
the procedures for
supporting students to
work online
Negative
ranks
89 37.75 89 Z -7.033a
Positive
ranks
61
55.74
61 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
166
Total
166
21-Get in touch with
the rest of the
organizational and
teaching team
Negative
ranks
29 47.21 29 Z -4.022a
Positive
ranks
71 51.85 71 Asymp.
Sig. .000
Ties
66
Total
166
a. Based on negative ranks.
Related to the competencies associated with the technological role (see Table 5), the
Wilcoxon signed ranks test indicates that there are significant differences between
the "level of proficiency" and the "professional development needs". Among the several
competencies associated with the technological role, the item which shows the highest
difference, being highlighted over the other ones is: “Select and create multimedia
educational resources meeting recognized standards in e-learning”. This is likely linked
to the fact that it sometimes becomes difficult to work with multimedia software to
produce new digital resources, and also for the often-assumed association between
“create digital content” and “teaching online”.
Table 5
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Median Difference on the Level Of Proficiency and
Professional Development Needs Regarding the Technological Role Competencies
Applied to Online Teaching
N
Mean
rank
Sum of
ranks
Test statistics
12-Become aware of
the use of the virtual
learning environment,
by carrying out specific
activities
Negative
ranks
27 39.67 1071.00 Z -5.453a
Positive
ranks
77 57.00
4389.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
62
Total 166
10-Ensure that
students understand
the technical operation
of the virtual learning
environment
Negative
ranks
29 45.98 1333.50 Z -3.677a
Positive
ranks
67 49.59 3322.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
70
Total
166

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N
Mean
rank
Sum of
ranks
Test statistics
11-Provide advice and
technical support
Negative
ranks
33 46.61 1538.00 Z -3.450a
Positive
ranks
67 52.42 3512.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.001
Ties
66
Total
166
17-Select and create
multimedia
educational resources
meeting recognized
standards in e
-
learning
Negative
ranks
9 41.83 376.50 Z -8.321a
Positive
ranks
106 59.37 6293.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
51
Total
166
9-Suggest
modifications or new
resources to be
included in the virtual
learning environment
Negative
ranks
31
50.6
6
1570.50 Z -3.573a
Positive
ranks
71 51.87 3682.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
64
Total
166
16-Stay up to date and
use proper software
needed for the
teaching process
Negative
ranks
18 45.36 816.50 Z -6.437a
Positive
ranks
88 55.16 4854.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
60
Total
166
14-Use synchronous
and asynchronous
communication tools
in a proper way
Negative
ranks
20s 45.03
900.50 Z -5.089a
Positive
ranks
74t 48.17 3564.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
72u
Total
166
13-Keep in touch with
your system
administrator
Negative
ranks
15v 44.53 668.00 Z -6.480a
Positive
ranks
85w 51.55 4382.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
66x
Total
166
A. Based on negative ranks.
Regarding the competencies associated with the advisor role, significant differences
were detected after application of the Wilcoxon signed ranks test (see Table 6). Some
competencies such as “Facilitate intellectual work techniques for networked studying”
or “Provide guidance based on student needs” stood out because of its high positive rank
in front of its negative one. This means a strong need from the teachers of improving
their professional development in such issues.

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Table 6
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Median Difference on the Level Of Proficiency and
Professional Development Needs Regarding the Advisor Role Competencies Applied to
Online Teaching
N
Mean
rank
Sum of
ranks
Test statistics
29-Ensure that
students work at an
appropriate pace and
suggest measures to
enhance performance
Negative
ranks
26 41.52 1079.50 Z -5.134a
Positive
ranks
75 54.29 4071.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
65
Total 166
28-Provide guidance
based on student
needs
Negative
ranks
38 45.20
1717.50 Z -3.933a
Positive
ranks
71 60.25
4277.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
57
Total
166
22-Provide meaningful
information about the
institution
Negative
ranks
23 39.76 914.50 Z -4.628a
Positive
ranks
67 47.47 3180.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
76
Total
166
1-Reply to students’
work (offer advice,
suggestions, and
clarify doubts)
Negative
ranks
36 51.71 1861.50 Z -3.367a
Positive
ranks
72 55.90 4024.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.001
Ties
58
Total
166
30-Motivate students
Negative
ranks
29
45.9
0
1331.00 Z -4.166a
Positive
ranks
71 52.38 3719.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
66
Total
166
24-Facilitate
intellectual work
techniques for
networked studying
Negative
ranks
17 35.94 611.00 Z -7.103a
Positive
ranks
89 56.85 5060.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
60
Total
166
a. Based on negative ranks.
As for the competencies associated with the personal and the researcher roles (see
Tables 7 and 8), and following the trend of data presented in the preceding
lines, significant contrasts between the "level

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of proficiency" and "professional development need " are found again. Among the
competencies associated with the personal role, it is interesting to note that “Adapt
educational content to accessibility standards, and to ethic and legal requirements”
scores significantly low with regard to “level of proficiency” (see negative ranks), while
for the “professional development needs” it scores much higher (see positive ranks).
This leads us to question the importance for teachers of adapting to teaching situations
with high level of diversity, and with compliance with the ethical codes in their
profession.
Table 7
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Median Difference on the Level of Proficiency and
Professional Development Needs Regarding the Personal Role Competencies Applied
to Online Teaching
N
Mean
rank
Sum of
ranks
Test statistics
18-Adapt educational
content to accessibility
standards, and to ethic
and legal requirements
Negative
ranks
12 49.71 596.50 Z -7.448a
Positive
ranks
99 56.76 5619.50 Asymp.
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000
Ties
55
Total
166
32-Encourage students
to exchange ideas and
discuss with peers
online
Negative
ranks
23 37.13 854.00 Z -6.731a
Positive
ranks
88
60.9
3
5362.00
Asymp.
Sig. (2-
tailed)
.000
Ties
55
Total
166
23-Collaborate with
experts to strengthen
the potential of e
-
learning
Negative
ranks
22 33.48
736.50 Z -5.789a
Positive
ranks
73 52.38 3823.50 Asymp.
Sig. (2-
tailed) .000
Ties
71
Total
166
a. Based on negative ranks.

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Table 8
Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test. Median Difference on the Level of Proficiency and
Professional Development Needs Regarding the Researcher Role Competencies
Applied to Online Teaching
N
Mean
rank
Sum of
ranks
Test statistics
7-Experiment and
perform different
teaching
methodologies
Negative
ranks
20
48.6
8
973.50 Z -6.285a
Positive
ranks
90 57.02 5131.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
56
Total
166
3-Diagnose and
perform teaching and
learning situations
Negative
ranks
27
43.0
0
1161.00 Z -4.947a
Positive
ranks
75 54.56 4092.00 Asymp.
Sig.
.000
Ties
64
Total
166
6-Structure knowledge
by developing reflexive
processes
Negative
ranks
39 45.17 1761.50 Z -2.528a
Positive
ranks
60 53.14 3188.50 Asymp.
Sig.
.011
Ties
67
Total
166
a. Based on negative ranks.
Finally, all the competencies have been grouped considering the role they belong to. In
all cases, the Wilcoxon test informs that significant differences between “level of
proficiency” and “professional development needs” exist. Scores achieved through
“positive ranks” show that teachers confer a particular importance to the social,
technological, and advisor roles, regarding their professional development needs.
A point of particular interest is the contrast of significant differences between
professional variables, such as administrative category, disciplinary environment, and
the online teaching experience. With regard to the professional development needs of
university teachers and the different competencies associated with the online teaching
peripheral roles, the conducted nonparametric tests have shown significant results,
except for the variable "disciplinary environment”. The Socio-legal and the Humanities
fields are the ones that have shown higher professional development needs, in front of
the Science, Health and Technical fields that scored lower.

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Another relevant question was to find out how the variable “professional development
needs” influenced the “level of proficiency” in online teaching in the university setting.
Analysis for each of the roles showed out a moderate direct and positive correlation. The
highest coefficient was achieved by the “researcher” role (0.636).
Calculations for the set of all the roles also reveal that there is a positive (or direct)
correlation (0.536), which is moderate. This allows us to reject the null hypothesis
and to conclude that the variables are correlated in the population from which the
sample comes (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Scatter plot with regression line.
Thus, given the existence of linear correlation (r> 0.3 and p associated with the
contrast of the correlation <0.05), statistical analysis was completed using a simple
linear regression analysis to evaluate the relationship and estimate a regression line that
could allow for making predictions.

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In the simple linear regression model, the coefficient of determination
(R squared) indicates that 28.8% of the variability in online teaching professional
development needs is associated with the level of proficiency in the required
competencies.
An ANOVA hypothesis testing for regression, which separates the variability
explained by the regression and the unexplained or residual variability, was carried out.
The results are statistically significant (p <0.001), so there is an association between the
two variables through linear regression.
A second inferential approach provides the coefficients of the model: the constant (
) or value of the intercept, and the regression coefficient ( ) or
slope of the line. These regression coefficients resulted significant (p-value=0,000).
The resulting equation is:
In summary, the analyses show that the higher the online teaching competency
performance levels, the higher the professional development needs.
Discussion and Conclusions
The present study aims to widen the current available knowledge on online teaching.
Both the theoretical background and the practical approach brought to light by teachers’
perception of the level of proficiency and their professional development needs
regarding the peripheral – and usually forgotten – online teaching roles contribute to
this body of knowledge.
Competencies associated with online teaching roles are much more specific than those
related to general teaching. At the same time, depending on the context and the
situation, a competency could be perceived as being more important than another, and
to have a large number of competencies may be necessary (Bawane & Spector, 2009). In
fact, teachers can have sets of competencies with different levels of proficiency between
them. Proficiency refers to the levels of achievement of a particular competency. Most
competency models have four or five levels of proficiency, from basic understanding to
expert level. Some authors (Russ-Eft et al., 2008; Klein et al., 2004) have done research
into establishing standards of performance as a means of considering the expected task
to be developed by the teachers. This research has only been based on the self-perceived
level of competency the teachers said they had. It is important to make the faculty aware
of their basic and previous knowledge in order to build on the new one (Borko &

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Putnam, 1996). Self-awareness is the starting point for self-demanding an increase in
the knowledge and performance of any particular function and role (Joinson, 2001).
The findings show that when values in the variable “professional development needs”
increase, higher values are also obtained for the variable “level of proficiency of
competencies”. The more training teachers have, the more aware they are of their skills-
gap for each one, which makes the professional even more demanding.
However, significant mean differences have been found between teachers from the
Socio-legal and Humanities disciplines, and the ones from the Science, Health and
Engineering. The former demands more professional development opportunities
regarding online teaching than the latter. This matches with the existence of intellectual
clusters or styles of intellectual inquiry stated by Kolb (1981) and developed by Becher
(1994), where Humanities and Social Sciences belongs to the concrete reflexive cluster,
and the other ones to the abstract active cluster.
Even though most of the literature on online teaching roles focuses on the pedagogical
role, peripheral roles are highly considered by the teachers, thus stressing the fact that
online teaching needs an inclusive approach (Guasch, Alvarez & Espasa, 2010).
For the evaluator role, it becomes clear that assessment and the processes around it are
a fundamental pillar about which students can ascertain the level of learning they have
achieved. But building complex assessment mechanisms that could be consistent with
socio-constructivist-based teaching models requires teachers to have clear learning
design principles, to design student-centred assessment activities, and to encourage
self-reflection (Pallof & Pratt, 2008).
The administrative role takes care of the management of the course and all the issues
related to pedagogy. Teachers have clearly understood the importance of course
planning, organizing, leading, and management (Coppola, Hiltz & Rotter, 2002), as well
as establishing rules and regulations for the proper development of the course, acting as
the interface with the institution (Goodyear et al., 2001).
As for the advisor/counsellor role, teachers feel the need to be better trained on “reply to
students’ work” as a means to improve the advisor’s role. Tasks such as provide advice,
give suggestions, and clarify doubts are highly valued (mean= 3.02). This highlights the
professional development need for feedback provision strategies, a line of work well
defined by several authors (Espasa & Meneses, 2010; Espasa, Guasch & Alvarez, 2013).
Likewise, students’ motivations arise as another important task in this role (mean=
2.97). Both feedback provision strategies and students’ motivation are very relevant
issues in face-to-face teaching situations as well. But when considering online teaching
as teaching at a distance, it becomes particularly important in pure distance education
systems, which are usually criticised because of their high drop-out rates (Park & Choi,
2009; Pierrakeas et al., 2004).

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Online education is inseparably linked to technology. But this doesn’t mean that the
online teaching role of technologist will have to necessarily be assumed by technology
experts. Specific technology competencies for online teachers will vary depending on the
mode of delivery of instruction to distance students (Williams, 2003). This explains
teachers’ continuous interest in being trained in technology. The knowledge of basic
technology competencies is crucial, and to know how new technologies can influence
online teaching in the very next future is a must. However, the training of technology
competences should not be separate from those related to other online teaching roles.
As stated by Mishra and Koehler (2006), teachers need a more integrated and
multidimensional knowledge.
Personal and researcher roles are the ones less perceived by online teachers. In both
cases, they ask for more professional development in these areas, probably because they
are not very aware that these roles exist for online teaching, and they would like to
strengthen these roles. Action research is usually conducted by some online teachers,
integrating their research findings in their teaching (Bawane & Spector, 2009).
However, the current faculty professional development programmes at the universities
don’t seem to adequately consider the research and the literature regarding online
teaching roles and competencies (Baran, Correia & Thompson, 2011; Sangrà, González-
Sanmamed & Romeu, 2013).
The results of this study, and especially the way teachers call for a more focused
professional development on online teaching, could help to make people and
institutions aware that online teaching goes beyond the simple fact of transferring the
usual classroom-based teaching behaviour into another dimension by just using a
different means of delivery. Understanding the different roles and tasks in an online
teaching and learning environment is crucial for the evolution of institutions in the
future. As stated by Painter (2003), institutions could construct barriers to
acknowledging the success of teachers by not reflecting on everything involved in online
teaching and ignoring the teachers’ professional development needs.
In addition, those current programmes that are sensitive to the professional
development needs are usually led to focus on planning and designing, or on
introducing technical resources into teaching (Alvarez, Guasch & Espasa, 2009; Turner,
2005), forgetting the above mentioned peripheral roles. As suggested by Baran, Correia
and Thompson (2011), the literature suggests that the proposed roles and competencies
of online teachers are useful in the curriculum, training, professional development of
online teachers (Bawane & Spector, 2009; Williams, 2003). This means that there
should be significant efforts in carrying out inclusive professional programmes for
online teaching.
The use of social networks in online education can also strengthen the development of
the peripheral roles – especially those related to social roles (community, interactivity,
teamwork) – which could become key for the improvement of online teaching

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performance (Singleton, 2004, also quoted by Bawane & Spector, 2009). Berge (2008)
calls to analyze how new emergent technologies and its use in online teaching could
affect the need for a permanent revision of the competencies, roles and professional
development need of online teachers.
Implications for Future Development
The results of this study envisage three main fields in which strong implications can be
found.
The first one regards teacher training/professional development. The study shows
teachers ask for more professional development in the so-called peripheral roles. As
stated by Baran, Correia and Thompson (2011), specialized training related to each of
the competences is needed. Higher levels of proficiency could be achieved through
training and experience, so institutions should put in practice different programmes to
increase the capacity of teachers to become good online teachers. Considering the above,
it is logical that online training for teachers is necessary to efficiently teach in online
environments (Mcdonald & Poniatowska, 2011).
These programmes should consider both the central and the peripheral roles, and take
into account the professional development needs that teachers have made evident. The
balance between the roles is important, in order not to bias in a particular one (i.e.,
technology, which will continue to change quickly). In fact, technology should always
support pedagogy, and it should be integrated in any of the approaches teachers adopt
in their teaching.
The second one relates to the evaluation of online teaching performance. Deeper
understanding of the whole set of roles online teachers have to carry out might be very
useful for improving the way in which online teaching is going to be evaluated. Most of
the current online teaching evaluation models focus mainly on the whole course
(materials and resources, and on students’ satisfaction), resulting in a sort of guidelines
more than in actual online teaching assessment. Evolution of this issue since Chickering
and Gamson (1987) has been relatively scarce.
And the third one faces the transformation of universities. The transition of moving
from traditional classroom-based models to blended and online learning is becoming a
critical point in the transformation of universities. In this process the three main
elements that conform to the TOP triangle for an appropriate online education model
implementation, technology, pedagogy and organization, should be strongly considered
(Bates & Sangrà, 2011). They cannot be considered separately, but strongly linked and
influencing each other. Future research will have to focus on the collective
transformations occurring in the institutions in which the individuals are very
important agents (Baran, Correia & Thompson, 2011). The peripheral roles of online
teaching and its training programmes are an important part of this triangle, especially
affecting organization and pedagogy.

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This research has been an attempt to highlight the online teaching dimensions that are
not usually addressed by the current teacher training practices. To be aware about what
the online teachers say from their practitioners’ role will result of great usefulness,
especially considering the importance that teaching staff has regarding the process of
integration of online teaching in blended models.
Despite this study was conducted in a specific context, but the characteristics of a
classroom-based institution which was in the process of incorporating online courses
might be of interest because their issues and the implemented solutions may be
transferable to other institutions given the interest of higher education institutions to
incorporate technology and to design and implement online teaching ... “It is critical to
gain access to the perspectives of teachers in examining the transformation” (Baran,
Correia & Thompson, 2011, 435). This is one of the contributions of this study, getting
the data gathering closer to the teachers’ practice and reflection.

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