This study's purposes were to use Berge's (1998) 10 policy areas and determine (1) what community college members who teach at least one on-line class perceive are barriers related to distance-education policies within institutions; (2) what community college faculty members who teach at least one on-line class perceive are barriers related to distance learning policies among institutions; and (3) what individual and institutional characteristics relate to community college faculty members' perceptions of barriers related to distance education.
Research methods included a 53-item survey (Berge, 1998), describing the purpose of the study and asking questions regarding the faculty members' demographics and perceptions of barriers related to on-line classes. The survey respondents ( N = 178) were full-time community college faculty members who taught at least one class fully online (with the exception of the first and/or last meeting). Following the surveys, three focus groups with 14 faculty members from three community colleges were conducted.
Results from the surveys and focus groups sessions indicated that faculty members felt certain barriers related to their on-line 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 for faculty members while Access seemed to cause faculty members the least amount of concern While certain factors, such as Age, Number of Hours of Training, Number of Years of Experience (both the faculty member and the institution), and the Course Management System used did reveal some significant relationships, there did not seem to be a pattern among the individual or institutional predictors and the 10 Berge factors.
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