The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of college faculty towards distance education and if they perceived that, they were prepared to use this method. There were 167 department faculty members invited to participate in an on-line survey. These members were from the Workforce Education & Development/Human Resources (WED/HR) and Computer Science (CS) departments of four Illinois universities. After three emails, the final participation count was 49 (29%) complete surveys and 36 (22%) opt outs for a total of 85 (50.9%) responses.
The study consisted of four parts. Part I of the survey collected demographic information, both professional and personal. Part II of the survey used a five-point Likert-type response scale to look at competency, value, technical services support, and administrative support factors. Cronbach's Alpha for the 37 items in the questionnaire was .965. In Part III of the survey, the respondents provided an open-ended response regarding their perceptions of distance education For Part IV, ten to thirty minute interviews were conducted with seven survey respondents, for the purpose of allowing respondents the opportunity to elaborate on their responses to the survey and provide other factors that might have contributed to their perceptions towards distance education. The purpose of this data was only to provide anecdotal information.
Descriptive statistics were used to compare the two groups WED/HR and CS. There were no statistical differences found between the demographic groups' perceptions when looked at by age, gender, or years of teaching experience. However, the calculated T -test score showed a significant difference in the competency and value scores for subjects who had taught a distance course compared to those subjects who had not taught a distance course. A comparison was made between the two subject groups for each of the four factors (competency, value, technical services support, and administrative support). T-test scores were calculated and determined there was no significant difference for the competency, value, and technical services factors. A significant finding was found for the administrative support factor. These findings were supported in the qualitative data taken from Part III of the survey and post survey interviews.
My Research