Perceptions of Barriers Concerning Effective Online Teaching and Policies: Florida Community College Faculty

Abstract

This study's purpose was to examine the perceptions of Florida's full-time community college faculty members who teach by distance learning concerning the ten policy areas set forth by Berge and Muilenburg (2000). Focus group sessions indicated that faculty members felt certain barriers related to their online experiences. Faculty time and compensation, which deals with how much time faculty members spend and how much they are compensated, seemed to be the greatest barrier while access seemed to cause faculty members the least amount of concern. But factors such as training, size of the institutions, and complexity of the programs seemed to play a role in their perceptions.The promise of e-learning and the related trend, online education, is touted so often that it has become one of the mantras for higher education in the 21st century. And there are good reasons. Instructional capabilities and the quality of educational experiences improve steadily with technological advances in both hardware and software. In fact, some observers contend that e-learning will reshape education and make the stand-up lecture obsolete by enhancing the opportunities for class participation and permitting more individualization of content. Further, e-learning promises cost reductions and

Faculty Perceptions about Teaching Online: Exploring the Literature Using the Technology Acceptance Model as an Organizing Framework

“…In fact, Bolliger and Wasilik (2009) found that some of the most significant institutional issues affecting faculty satisfaction were a higher workload and increased time commitment for online instructors. Many other studies have acknowledged issues of substantial time commitments and workload for online faculty (Bacow et al, 2012;Christianson et al, 2002;Conceição, 2006;DeGagne & Walters, 2010;Green et al, 2009;Haber & Mills, 2008;Mason et al, 2010). Most research has shown that time commitment and workload were barriers or demotivators to faculty, though some studies claimed that the extra time commitment did not affect faculty satisfaction or preference for teaching online (Christianson et al, 2002;Orr et al, 2009;Shea et al, 2005).…”

“…Faculty were more negative about the legitimacy Faculty were more satisfied teaching online (2008) when they believed students were achieving Haber & Mills (2008) learning outcomes Jaschik & Lederman (2014) Johnson (2008) McQuiggan ( Extra time to teach online was a barrier for some faculty.…”

“…Various researchers found that faculty who complained about feeling disengaged from their students did not find many forms of online communication (discussion boards, web conferencing, etc.) satisfactory for the level of interaction they desired (Arend, 2009;Haber & Mills, 2008;Mazzolini & Maddison, 2007;Ward et al, 2010). Some studies showed that simply accessing communication tools could be problematic, as faculty and/or students experienced issues with Internet connectivity, log-in problems, or manipulating the LMS (Lackey, 2011;Ward et al, 2010).…”

“…Another serious concern about technology among faculty teaching online has been the potential for students to cheat (Bacow et al, 2012;Chapman, Davis, Toy, & Wright, 2004;Haber & Mills, 2008;Trenholm, 2007). Some researchers suggested that these fears were unfounded, either because they found no significant difference between cheating in online and face-to-face classes (Grijalva, Nowell, & Kerkvliet, 2006) or they actually found that students cheated more in face-to-face classes (Stuber-McEwen, Wiseley, & Hoggatt, 2009;Watson & Sottile, 2010).…”

Implementación de la Educación a Distancia a partir de un Programa Presencial de Ingeniería en Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos: Revisión de Literatura

“…enseñar a los estudiantes a resolver problemas de procedimiento). En este caso, dar apoyo técnico suficiente al profesorado y a los estudiantes es sumamente importante (Haber y Mills, 2008).…”