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Concerns of Instructors Delivering Distance Learning via the WWW
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Wilson, Carol Shiner |
| Copyright Year | 1998 |
| Abstract | The top-down pressures that are mandating the delivery of web-based distance education courses are creating a problem because the responsibility for developing and delivering these courses is bottom-up and has fallen on the shoulders of unprepared University faculty members. In response to the political and market-place pressures, institutions must find a way to train and encourage more faculty to develop web-based courses. The experiences and concerns of faculty members who have already developed and taught a web-centered distance learning course have great value to administrators and other instructors following in their footsteps. To collect this data a survey was mailed to the 71 instructors who had a WWW course listed on the Southern Regional Electronic Campus (SREC) site for Spring 1998. Data about their perceptions, practices, concerns, and the institutional norms under which they work were collected. The data collected from the survey yielded a prioritized list of faculty concerns and needs. Institutions must develop the infrastructure to provide: technical training, technical support, administrative support, time for faculty to develop and teach these courses, a revised faculty reward system, and reliable computer hardware. Faculty concerns about web-based distance education were universal and not significantly different based on the discipline (humanity, social science, science/tech, or business) or type of postsecondary institution (large university, regional university, community college or technical school, or correspondence studies). The delivery of distance education on the WWW has great potential that can not be realized until the needs and concerns of the faculty that will develop the courses are meet. Background There are many factors mandating the delivery of distance learning on the WWW (World Wide Web): school restructuring, the Federal government's commitment to the development of the NII (National Information Infrastructure) as well as the connection of every classroom to the Internet, and the creation of virtual universities by state governments. However, these top-down pressures are creating a problem because the responsibility for developing and delivering web based distance learning courses is bottom-up and has fallen on the shoulders of unprepared University faculty members. In response to the political and market-place pressures, institutions must find a way to train and encourage more faculty to develop web-based courses. In order to develop effective training and support programs for these faculty members, researchers should first assess the experiences and concerns of the pioneering faculty members who have already developed and taught a web-centered distance learning course. The experiences of the early-adopters have great value to administrators and other instructors following in their footsteps. Forces outside of the university and university administrators "express hope and expectation that digital technology will improve higher education and make it more cost effective" (DeSieno, 1995, p. 1). However, faculty members are not currently incorporating technology into their existing courses. In a recent study by the University of Southern California, "less than 5 percent of college and university faculty use computing to aid classroom instruction or enrich student learning" (DeSieno, p. 1). Why? The learning curve is steep, there is limited technical support, and there is no direct reward or motivation for the faculty member to make the effort to incorporate computer technology into a course. This type of activity rarely counts toward promotion and tenure. A national survey of higher education institutions (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1997) reported that a third of higher education institutions offered distance education courses in fall 1995 and another quarter planned to offer such courses in the next 3 years. An estimated 25,730 distance education courses were offered in fall 1995 to 753,640 formally enrolled students. Two-thirds of these courses were developed by the institution's subject area departments or schools. (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1997, p. 4). These facts point to a very serious situation. The plans to offer distance education courses are increasing dramatically. These plans are top-down mandates from government and university administrators. The actual development of DE web courses is being left to classroom faculty. Course development is bottom-up. If distance education is to be successful institutions must provide instructors with administrative and technical support as well as incentives to develop the courses. Elrod and Kelly (1998) discussed the issues facing faculty members. These included: the impact of DE on workload, the changing role of the teacher, the quality of instruction, evaluation of faculty performance, and intellectual property rights. The added workload, even with added resources, is probably among the toughest issues in DL, because the load is ultimately on the person on the firing line, the faculty member. Usually there is no recognition for the extra effort needed to teach in this format, meaning it doesn't contribute to promotion and tenure decisions. Further, spending time in developing DL courses can even be so demanding on junior faculty members as to detract from their ability to be competitive. If the faculty are to embrace distance education, the administration must consistently address traditional faculty issues with fresh ideas and innovative approaches. (Sherron, 1998, p. 47) Gabany (1996) conducted an on-line survey of 35 faculty members who were offering a full Internet course to study their experiences and determine if there were any development and implementation patterns. Thirty-two of the respondents reported doing all of the development work themselves. The least amount of development work reported was 85 percent. "Sufficient time to develop and maintain the course material was the most common concern, noted by 12 of the respondents" (Gabany, 1996, p. 5). The second leading concern was support, both technical and administrative. Sherry (1998) emphasizes the critical importance of teacher training to the success of distance education. The ultimate success or failure of the distance education enterprise is inextricably tied to the enthusiasm and continuing support of the faculty. This support must begin with faculty training, as it is critical to the success of any distance education program. In fact, designing, creating, and implementing effective in-service training of the faculty is the most efficient pathway to the long-term success of distance education." (Sherron, 1998, p. 44) Because instructional delivery on the Internet is such a new application, there is no existing body of research available. For the most part, journal articles address broad policy issues or are anecdotal, describing the implementation of a particular course. The few surveys that have been done are mainly concerned with quantifying the number of courses and the number of students. There is a need for basic research in the delivery of distance education on the Internet. A logical place to start is to survey the pioneering instructors who have developed and delivered a course on the WWW to learn from their experiences and identify their needs and concerns. Research Questions 1. What are the needs and concerns of the instructors who have already developed web-based DE courses? A survey of the instructors can provide a snapshot of the needs and concerns of instructors who have developed and are currently teaching a distance education course delivered via the WWW. 2. Will instructors in different disciplines have different concerns? 3. Will instructors from different types of institutions have different concerns? |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Volume Number | 1 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall13/wilson13.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
