Perceived barriers to faculty participation in distance education at a 4-year university.

The purpose of this study was to identify perceived barriers to faculty participation in distance education courses in a 4-year university. The literature review was divided into four general areas, each of which may act as a barrier to faculty participation; training, administrators, rewards/compensation, and faculty characteristics/demographics. The research population consisted of 570 faculty and 59 administrators from the eight UNT schools/colleges. Dr. Kristin Betts developed the survey instrument in 1998 for similar research conducted at the George Washington University. Analysis of the collected data revealed that there was no statistically significant relationship found between faculty characteristics and faculty participation in distance education. Faculty participants and administrators disagreed on which factors, from a list of 34 items, had motivated faculty to participate in distance education. Nonparticipants and administrators disagreed on which of the factors, if not available, would be barriers to faculty participation in distance education. Participants and nonparticipants disagreed regarding the level to which selected rewards and compensations had motivated faculty to participate, and the lack of which would inhibit faculty participation in distance education. Finally, 71% of the participants had participated or planned to participate in distance education training compared to only 33% of the nonparticipants. It is obvious that administrators and faculty do not place the same level of importance on motivational or inhibiting factors that may affect faculty participation in distance education. These results indicate that additional research should be accomplished to determine the basis for the disagreement among the three groups.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of North Texas

Year dc:date

2003

Author dc:creator

• Hebert, Janet Gwen

Contributors dc:contributor

• Allen, Jeff M.
• Watson, Warren E.
• Roberts, Kyle
• Young, Jon I.

• Distance education.
• Universities and colleges -- Faculty.
• faculty characteristics
• administrators
• faculty participation
• barriers
• distance education

Statement dc:rights

• Use restricted to UNT Community
• Copyright
• Hebert, Janet Gwen
• Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

oclc: 53620254
https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc4263/
ark: ark:/67531/metadc4263

OAI identifier oai:identifier

info:ark/67531/metadc4263