Dive Brief:
- 62% of faculty respondents support the increased use of "educational technologies," according to a new study from Insider Higher Ed. The study also shows teaching online classes is more widespread; in 2013, 30% of respondents reported they had taught an online course, but this year, that number was up to 42%.
- Additionally, 33% of faculty respondents agreed that "for-credit online courses" could achieve learning outcomes comparable to in-person instruction, a 14% jump from the prior year. Authors of the report speculate faculty's growing familiarity with online learning courses could have contributed to the increase, or some professors could just be accepting "the inevitable" ubiquity of online learning.
- Faculty views on how administrators handle technology was mixed, with a majority of respondents believing schools are doing a good job of providing technical support for designing and teaching online classes. But at the same time, educators believe schools do not incentivize educators, with respondents claiming schools do not reward tech skills with promotions or boosted compensation.
Dive Insight:
With a recent survey showing that preparing for online courses may be more time-intensive than designing a course for in-person instruction, it is critical that administrations appropriately compensate professors for taking on online instruction responsibilities, as well as offer support for faculty or department chairs who are finding innovative ways to create online courses. Lynn Pasquerella, the president of the Association of American Colleges & Universities, noted in a recent Education Dive interview that schools are finding it difficult to accurately compensate online educators in spite of the increase in the number of online courses and programs at colleges and universities. She says faculty are often judged for their published work in peer-reviewed journals, but schools have to find a way to reward "the kind of innovative and creative assignment structuring that has to take place."
Colleges and universities should also consider that moving towards more online learning courses does not necessarily mean in-person instruction and counsel should be discontinued or not emphasized. A report conducted by The Hechinger Report earlier this year found that many students enrolled in online courses were actually located near where they enrolled, with many wanting to have the opportunity to interact with their professors and with students. Schools may feel caught between the inevitability of online courses and the loss of in-person instruction, but the most successful schools may be the ones that leverage technology to offer new and substantive interpersonal experiences for students and educators.