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