Faculty Attitudes for Changing a University’s Core and Structure

Abstract

America's universities and colleges are examining additional ways to raise student enrollment following government reductions in educational funding. Faculty were surveyed regarding their opinions of an administrative proposal to change the status of their commuter university, a school without any on-campus student housing, from teaching traditional semester length courses to predominately online and compressed courses. Results indicated that although younger faculty were willing to teach lower level courses online, most faculty members were resistant to teaching upper level online and compressed courses. Moreover, associate professors agreed teaching compressed courses would make it more difficult both to recruit new faculty and pursue promotion.

Eight Weeks of Chemistry: The Advantage of Accelerated Online Learning

“…Interestingly, faculty reticence remains a barrier to both online and accelerated course offerings. A recent survey of faculty opinions at a state flagship university revealed that while younger faculty were willing to teach select courses online, senior faculty viewed teaching online and teaching in an accelerated format unfavorably [14].…”

Strategies to potentially maintain financial sustainability at a small, private, nonprofit higher education institution: an action research study

“…Online learning is often thought to be a panacea towards driving larger student enrollment and subsequent tuition revenue at lower costs from faculty and overhead costs (Gilpin et al, 2015). However, adding this modality to the educational model can lead to faculty dissatisfaction as opposed to teaching in a face-toface modality (Krug et al, 2016) and low student persistence and grades (Xu & Jaggars, 2013).…”

“…This flexibility allows these institutions to be nimble and properly adjust their lineup of degree offerings accordingly (Gilpin et al, 2015), a characteristic which escapes certain small, nonprofit colleges and universities. However, online learning, thought to be a panacea towards driving larger student enrollment and subsequent tuition revenue at lower costs from faculty and overhead costs (Gilpin et al, 2015), can lead to faculty dissatisfaction as opposed to teaching in a face-to-face modality (Krug et al, 2016) and low student persistence and grades (Xu & Jaggars, 2013). Related to increased classroom enrollments, a guiding principle for FPCs, when utilized by non-FPCs the result is poor student outcomes leading to student dissatisfaction (Cheng, 2011) and a lower quality educational experience (Wolff et al, 2014).…”

“…Online learning is often thought to be a panacea towards driving larger student enrollment and subsequent tuition revenue at lower costs from faculty and overhead costs (Gilpin et al, 2015). However, adding this modality to the educational model can lead to faculty dissatisfaction as opposed to teaching in a face-to-face modality (Krug et al, 2016) and low student persistence and grades (Xu & Jaggars, 2013). A guiding principle for FPCs, increased classroom enrollments, when utilized by non-FPCs, can result in poor student outcomes leading to student dissatisfaction (Cheng, 2011) and a lower-quality educational experience (Wolff et al, 2014).…”