An Analysis of Faculty Attitudes toward Online Courses at selected Historically Black Colleges and U

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An Analysis of Faculty Attitudes toward Online
Courses at selected Historically Black Colleges
and Universities (HBCUs).

• Dissertation Defense
• Presented by
• Edelia J. Carthan
• Presented to Doctoral Committee
• In Partial Fulfillment of
• Doctor of Education
• Elementary Early Childhood Education
• Jackson State University
• March 2, 2007

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Introduction

• Online courses are gaining greater acceptance.
• Students are open to the prospect of online
  education. 77 would consider enrolling
  (Gallagher et al, 2005).
• Nationally, online enrollment increased from 1.98
  million in 2003 to 2.35 million in 2004 according
  to the Sloan Foundation (2005).
• To remain competitive, many are now offering
  entire degree programs in an online format.

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Statements of the Problem

• HBCUs offer fewer online courses than
  predominantly white and larger institutions.
• Arnone (2002) points out that providing distance
  education, especially online, is imperative if
  black institutions are to remain competitive, as
  more institutions of all types put degrees and
  courses online.
• Supporting data on faculty the attitudes toward
  distance education and online learning of college
  faculty at HBCUs is lacking.

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Purpose of the Study

• The purpose of this study was to examine the
  overall attitudes of higher education faculty
  toward online courses at selected HBCUs.
• This study also revealed factors that motivate
  and deter faculty participation in online
  courses.

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Research Questions

• To accomplish the purpose of this study, the
  following questions will be addressed
• What are faculty's attitudes toward online
  courses?
• Are faculty's attitudes toward online courses
  related to faculty's age, years of experience,
  and technical skills?
• What is the difference in faculty attitudes at
  selected HBCUs toward online courses based on
  gender, race, and job classification?
• What factors would be important to faculty
  thinking about teaching online?
• What factors are important to faculty who teach
  online?
• What factors would discourage faculty from
  teaching online?

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Significance of the Study

• This study is significant because
• The researcher investigated why faculty members
  are hesitant about teaching online courses from
  both viewpoints - faculty with experience
  teaching online as well as faculty without online
  teaching experience.
• Few empirical studies have focused specially on
  HBCUs.
• The results and recommendations can provide a
  source of support and direction for institutions
  and administrators charged with implementing
  online education programs.

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Review of Literature

• Faculty are concerned about the quality of online
  courses, and concerns about incentives and
  obstacles to teaching online (Betts, 1998)
• National Education Association (2000) survey
  found that 50 percent of the faculty conveyed
  negative or uncertain feelings towards distance
  learning.
• Grimes (2005) found some of the barriers to
  faculty participation in online education include
  insufficient training, lack of release time,
  insufficient instructional and administrative
  support, minimal monetary compensation, and
  expanded teaching load.

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Procedures for Collecting Data

• A survey instrument (eLAS) was used to gather
  quantitative data.
• 640 participants was contacted by email and asked
  to participate in an online survey.
• 275 responses were returned for a completion rate
  of approximately 43.

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Description of Participants

• 47 female and 53 were male
• 67 were Black while 22 were White
• Over 94 were teaching faculty while
  administrators accounted for 6
• Most participants ages ranged between 45 and 54
  (36)
• Majority of respondents (33) were in the field
  of education

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Data Analysis

• Pearson product-moment correlations were used to
  identify associations among age, years of
  experience, and technical skills. (.01)
• One-way ANOVA was used to determine whether there
  was a significant difference among gender, race,
  and job classification. (.05)
• Frequency and percentage were used to identify
  factors that motivate and deter faculty from each
  online.

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Findings

• This study found that faculty are neither
  positive nor negative about online courses (M
  3.27).
• Faculty agreed that high school students should
  experience taking at least one online course,
  faculty also agree that employers should not
  hire students that have earned online degrees.
• Those statements received means (M 3.50) to (M
  4.09)
• 98 of faculty have intentions on teaching online
  courses in the next three years

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Findings

• Factors rated important to faculty thinking about
  teaching online were
• flexibility for students and instructor (75)
• increase knowledge and skills (67)
• personal satisfaction (67)
• Factors rated important to faculty who currently
  teach online courses were
• personal satisfaction (58)
• flexibility for students and instructor (55)
• increase knowledge and skills (53)
• Faculty rated would likely deter faculty from
  teaching online.
• limited technical training or support (70)
• no support from department/administration (63)
• limited time (54)

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Hypotheses

• This research study sought to explain the
  following null hypotheses
• H1 There is no significant relationship in
  faculty attitudes toward online courses with
  regards to faculty's ages, years of experience,
  and technical skills
• H2 There is no significant difference in faculty
  attitudes toward online courses with regard to
  faculty's gender, race, and job classification

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Conclusions

• This study revealed that support from department
  or administration is important to faculty.
• Since implementing online courses has been met
  with some obstacles, educational institutions
  need to be aware of those issues in order to
  avoid them during the process of implementation.

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Conclusions

• This study found that while faculty have
  intentions on teaching online courses in the next
  three years, faculty still are unsure about how
  they feel about online courses.
• Faculty strongly believe that online education
  will be around for a long time.

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Recommendations

• The following recommendations for further
  studies are made
• A study that compares faculty attitudes toward
  online courses at HBCUs to faculty attitudes at
  predominantly White institutions.
• Assess to what extent administrators and leaders
  of institutions of higher learning will support
  faculty implementing online courses at HBCUs.
• A study that focuses on the impact of funding to
  the success of online courses at HBCUs.

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Questions Discussion