Faculty Performance Improvement in Distance Education: Causes of the Performance Deficiencies (Part I)

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the causes of the performance deficiencies of distance faculty in Turkey and to design interventions for performance improvement accordingly. This article presents the first part of this comprehensive study: causes of the performance deficiencies. The externality–tangibility (E‐T) model of human performance guided the study, and grounded theory research design was employed. The participants were all stakeholders of distance education (DE): DE experts including the national policy makers, the faculty, administrators, students, and support staff. The data were collected through semi‐structured interviews, through observations on distance courses, and from the relevant documents. Interview schedules were developed separately for each participant group. The gathered data were analyzed using constant comparative analysis, and the findings of the first part are presented here by using Ishikawa diagrams. These findings reveal diverse but interrelated causes of the deficiencies classified according to the nine elements of the E‐T model.

Open and Distance Learning Vision of Higher Education Institutions in Turkey: Implications for Leadership

“…Nevertheless, articulating a vision is inadequate for effective leadership. What is desired is a collaboratively created, shared, and supported vision by the stakeholders of open and distance education (Beaudoin, 2003;Holt et al, 2013;Holt et al, 2014;Kara & Yildirim, 2020;2022). Besides, the vision of distance education organizations should be proactive and viable for its operationalization as well as improvement and agility (Olcott, 2020).…”

“…In a recent study by Kara and Yildirim (2020), the shared vision was illustrated as a leadership element affecting faculty performance in distance education. Unshared vision by stakeholders, on the other hand, is shown as a deficiency in improving faculty performance in distance education (Kara & Yildirim, 2022).…”

“…Thus, the administrators of open and distance education, also taking the role of leadership (Beaudoin, 2003), are required to have awareness of, and preferably expertise in the field. This sort of expertise is also required to have a strong research base, which is a necessity to improve practices and is denoted as a critical leadership element (Kara & Yildirim, 2020;2022). In this regard, the open and distance education community is required to identify the roles and competencies of open and distance education leaders as clearly identified for instructors.…”