There has been a rapid rise in the percentage of students taking online classes in the past decade. In 2002 1 in 10 college students was taking at least on online course, in 2010 1 in 3 college students was taking at least one online course (Allen, Seaman, Lederman, & Jaschik, 2012). Colleges and universities for many reasons have begun developing and implementing online programs to help meet this demand (Dykman, & Davis, 2008). Lost in this development, however, have been the implications and perceptions of faculty. Recent survey results indicated divergent opinions from faculty about the prospects of online education.
Allen et al. (2012) conducted a survey concerning the perceptions of faculty and college administrators concerning the increasing use and effects of online education. The survey received 4,564 responses from faculty teaching at both 2-year and 4-year institutions, from private, public, and for-profit institutions, and across academic disciplines. Although the results from this study are beyond the scope of this blog post, I thought I would highlight some of the intriguing findings.
When asked of about the growth of online education, 58 percent of faculty surveyed indicated negative perceptions about this development. Faculty who had previously taught online courses and were involved in exclusively online programs, however, had a 48 percent positive perception of online education. Faculty who taught exclusively ground-based courses indicated a 35 percent positive response. The breakdown by academic discipline also provided some interesting findings. Faculty who taught professional and applied science courses indicated a 55 percent positive rating (the highest among disciplines), while faculty involved in the humanities and arts disciplines indicated a 41 percent positive rating. This seems to indicate there is a marked different between faculty about online education based on their respective disciplines. Faculty in general had a negative outlook regarding possible learning outcomes regarding online education with 66 percent indicating face-to-face instruction was more effective than online instruction. However, 49 percent of faculty who taught online courses believed learning outcomes from online instruction were equal or superior to face-to-face instruction. Given the negative indications many non-online held toward online instruction, one of the curious results of the survey was that circa 50 percent indicated they would recommend online courses to students; 85 percent of faculty who taught online would recommend online education.
The findings of this study indicted there is little agreement among college faculty about the virtues of online education. There is also significant disagreement between faculty who have taught online courses, and those who have not. Moreover, there is divergence between disciplines concerning the effectiveness of online education. Given the disruptive nature of online education, the divergences in this study are not surprising.
One of the crucial points about this blog post is that I have only highlighted some of the result; particularly those I found interesting. I encourage everyone to access the study (the link is provided below) and give your thoughts and opinions about the findings, the between measures, the methodology, and the conclusions.
Thanks,
Eric
Reference:
Allen, I. E., Seaman, J. Lederman, D., & Jaschilk, S. (2012). Conflicted: Faculty and online education. A Joint Project of The Babson Survey Research Group and Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved form http://www.insidehighered.com/news/survey/conflicted-faculty-and-online-education-2012
Dykman, C. A., & Davis, C. K. (2008). The shift toward online education. Journal of Information Systems Education, 19, 11-16. Retrieved from http://jise.org/index.html
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12 Comments
Eric, thanks for this thought provoking blog. I will certainly take you up on the challenge to read the article by Allen, Seaman, Lederman, and Jaschilk. In the meantime, I am curious about your thoughts concerning applied science faculty giving a positive rating of online education at 55% and the humanities only at 41%. This intrigues me because I would have personally thought the reverse would be the case. Why do you think the percentages came out the way they did?
Scott
Hello Scott:
Thank you for the excellent question. As with most studies, I believe the results are predicated on the population that participated in the survey. The respective categories of disciplines defined in the study, listed in order of favorability toward online education, are: professional and applied sciences, mathematics and computer sciences, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities and arts. I have scanned the study and have found no definitions as to the how the researchers categorized the various academic disciplines. It is possible that participants self-selected their category, which brings into question consistency. Presuming that categorization is consistent, however, my guess is professors teaching in the professional and applied sciences disciplines may have more experience teaching online than humanities and arts professors. Teaching MBA courses online is most likely easier (and fiscally conducive to the academic institution) than teaching interpretive dance. Moreover, professional and applied science professors might have taken online courses themselves, which was a salient factor concerning favorability to online education; this is assuming that professional and applied sciences include business and management disciplines, both of which have been popular areas in the online realm. As with most studies, the findings are open to question, second-guessing, and should have follow-up studies using the same method and criteria to ensure reliability. Nonetheless, I think the population sample determines the conclusions of the study, and the specifics of the population, while better than many studies, are not specific enough.
Thanks,
Eric
Eric, thanks for your quick response. It would be interesting to see a further breakdown of these disciplines. I say this because I must admit bias when I neglected the arts in "humanities and arts". Interpretive dance certainly would be difficult to teach as an online course. As for the other end of the pendulum, I was biased towards the applied sciences and neglected the "professional" side. I was thinking in terms of having to do lab work (which may fall into natural sciences in their list) online which also seemed problematic. In short, looks like I better get to work reading the article so that I can speak with some degree of intelligence. ^_^
Scott
Eric,
This is an interesting blog about what sounds like a pretty interesting study. I had a question about this point near the end of your blog, "Given the negative indications many non-online held toward online instruction, one of the curious results of the survey was that circa 50 percent indicated they would recommend online courses to students; 85 percent of faculty who taught online would recommend online education." Was the 50 percent comprised of those who had not taught online or was the 50 percent out of the total sample? I ask because it seems that if it is the total sample and half of the total sample teach online then the number of those who recommend classes who don't teach online would not be that high. At the same time, it looks reasonably clear, given how you worded this in the blog, that the 50 percent really is of just non-online instructors. Just checking and doing it the easy way, instead of reading the article. Sorry for the laziness, and thanks for the blog.
Mike
Eric and all,
Thank you for sharing on the perspectives of online learning. People having the experience generally embrace the concept while those unaware remain resistant. There do exist attributes of traditional education that we all appreciate. Education on the matter makes online education a much more welcomed facet in our 21st century culture although some individuals prefer traditional learning.
GCU is at the cutting edge in giving online students a collegiate experience. GCU already brings many doctoral learners to Phoenix for residencies. What steps do you take to give your students a truly collegiate experience?
Thomas Joseph
Hello Mike:
One of the great challenges about blogging is writing with brevity. Although I can usually achieve this, at times my strident resolve for conciseness leads me to omit a crucial piece of information - mea culpa. To answer your question: close to 50 percent of instructors that had not previously taught online indicated they would recommend online courses. The aggregate of instructors who would recommend online courses was 60 percent. For further clarification about the results, 75 percent of the instructors surveyed had not previously taught online courses, while 25 percent had. The study did not indicate what qualified for "taught online", whether exclusively, mostly, or ever. I hope this helps to clarify.
Thanks,
Eric
Hello Thomas:
Thank you for your thoughts about the virtues and shortcomings of online education. Given the relative newness of the online educational modality, there are bound to be laggards who resist embracing online education. For those of us immersed fully in online education, I believe we should strive to improve our techniques, incorporate emerging technologies, and apply the best aspects of face-to-face education to gain parity with traditional education delivery systems. What do you believe online education is lacking and how could this be improved?
Thanks,
Eric
Eric,
Great blog post! I wonder what the breakdown was based on age? Were younger instructors more inclined to be in favor of online instruction?
Eric and All,
Thank you for your comment. We as a traditional and online university have a wonderful opportunity to expand the collegiate experience to our online student body. In addition to including campus events online, I suggest offering Bachelors and Masters level students optional residencies in return for credit and local outreaches to students throughout nation. Perhaps we can include current students at regional alumni gatherings.
I welcome other ideas for engaging online learners into GCU student life!
Thomas Joseph
Hello Daniel:
Good question about how age might affect perception toward online education. Although the study does not provide age demographics, it does include the number of years teaching. This might not be the best indicator of age, but might provide a rough estimate. For instructors with 0-9 years' experience, positive perceptions were 44.5 percent, for 10-20 years' experience the result was 43.3 percent, and faculty with 20+ years' experience indicated a 39.2 percent positive rating. There does not appear to be a significant difference about perceptions toward online education based on the number of years teaching. Whether this correlates to age, however, is somewhat nebulous.
Thanks,
Eric
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