Dive Brief:
- In the 2015 Inside Higher Ed Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology, 63% of responding faculty members and 84% of responding technology administrators said ed tech purchases were money well spent.
- Inside Higher Ed reports 75% of faculty members believe the new technology has led to somewhat or significantly improved student outcomes, though just 20% believe it had the more substantial impact.
- The survey also showed faculty members as skeptical about the quality of online courses, including massive open online courses that combine face-to-face instruction in the path toward the degree.
Dive Insight:
Inside Higher Ed partnered with Gallup researchers for the 2015 survey, which reached 2,175 faculty members and 105 administrators. It split results based on type of faculty member — full-time, part-time, tenured, and nontenured. Part-time faculty were more likely to find significantly improved student outcomes with educational technology, but about the same portion of all groups (55%) found the technology at least improved outcomes somewhat. This is the first year Inside Higher Ed asked these questions. It also asked faculty about plagiarism software, the cost of textbooks, and concerns about attacks on scholars for their social media comments.