Communications of the ACM
College Faculty Have Reservations About Online Learning, Survey Shows
Credit: The Oldspeak Journal
College and university faculty members are more pessimistic than optimistic about online education and remain far more skeptical about learning outcomes in online programs than are academic technology administrators on their campuses. But faculty members with a greater exposure to online education take a more optimistic view than their peers.
Those are among the key findings of a new study by the Babson Survey Research Group and Inside Higher Ed on faculty views on online learning. The study is based on two national surveys, one of more than 4,500 teaching faculty and a second of academic technology administrators. Inside Higher Ed's article on the study is available online. Among the findings of the report, "Conflicted: Faculty and Online Learning, 2012":
- 58 percent of the professors surveyed describe themselves as having "more fear than excitement" about the growth of online learning; more than 80 percent of academic technology administrators, on the other hand, say they feel more excitement than fear.
- Nearly two-thirds of faculty members say they believe that the learning outcomes for an online course are inferior or somewhat inferior to those for a comparable face-to-face course. Even among those with a strong vested interest in online education — faculty members who are currently teaching online courses — considerable concern remains about the quality of the learning outcomes.
- A third of instructors think that their institutions are pushing too much instruction online, compared to fewer than 10 percent of administrators.
- For all the faculty skepticism, the study provides evidence that professors gain more confidence in online learning as they become more involved with it. And on the most basic question asked of faculty at institutions with online offerings — have you recommended an online course to a student or advisee? — 60 percent of faculty reported that they had. The figure grows to 87 percent for those who teach online.
"We conducted this survey in the hope of bringing all voices to the debate over online education, and in particular the views of faculty members, who frequently argue that they are ignored on these matters," says Scott Jaschik, editor of Inside Higher Ed. "What's striking is that many of the questions suggest both faculty skepticism and faculty engagement with online education. We hope these results may be conversation starters at many campuses as they consider ways to enhance online programs."
Financial support for this project was provided by CourseSmart, Deltak, Pearson, and Sonic Foundry.
Comments
Anonymous
There's a saying "A man with his head in an oven and feet in a freezer is on average at an ambient body temperature". Overall survey results such as these tell us little that is of specific value or use. Ultimately "it all depends". Some teaching functions serving some learning objectives covering some types of subject matter can be done very effectively on-line. Others require F2F ("face-to-face or even "in your face) contact.
Ron Melchers,
University of Ottawa
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