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Faculty and online education as a mechanism of power
Distance Education
Abstract
This study uses a critical perspective to examine how online education is used in brick-and-mortar institutions as a mechanism through which power is exercised by and against professors who teach online. Based on a larger study of 25 professors and administrators at four institutions, this work focuses on the experiences of 12 professors. Foucault’s conceptualization of power framed our interpretation of interviews conducted with these professors. Our findings suggest online education enhanced faculty autonomy and visibility, but that it was also used to control faculty members, and for some professors, it was used to alter their professional identities.
... 4.2.2 Faculty and online education as a mechanism of power (Peach & Bieber, 2015) Peach and Bieber (2015), based on Foucault's relationship-oriented approach to power, explore online education as a new mechanism of power. Through online education, power is distributed, redistributed, and exercised within structures and relationships of traditional universities where multiple individuals or groups interact with and compete against each other. ...
... (Peach & Bieber, 2015, p. 27-28) Faculty members, as major actors in universities, largely contribute to the reconfiguration of the power relationships in their institutions by actively performing different actions-not only conforming but also resisting new techniques and strategies attempting to control their actions. Thus, to unpack the complex, but subtle, power relationships emerging through online education at traditional universities, the authors interviewed 12 professors at 4 institutions who were recruited using criterion sampling methods (Patton, 2002 as cited in Peach & Bieber, 2015). The findings are presented in four themes: i) online education as a mechanism of resistance, ii) outflanking online education as a mechanism of resistance, iii) online education ...
... Whereas most online education researchers in TEL have a relatively narrow scope of their study, looking at attitudes and behaviours of one or two specific pedagogical actors in online courses and programmes (i.e., learners and tutors), the authors listed in this paper tend to examine the institutional/social relationships among different parties in online education and complex power mechanisms underpinning those relationships. Peach and Bieber (2015) demonstrate how online education creates complex and multi-dimensional mechanisms of power that both liberate faculty members from previously-existing institutional restrictions and control their newly emerged online teaching practice. Clapp (2017) more specifically analyses power relationships between different groups of specialists in online education, and Ovetz (2017) provides in-depth descriptions of the development of adjunctification and unfair characteristics of academic labour in online HE contexts. ...
... Meanwhile, teachers require increased flexibility over teaching implementation, such as having greater control of their classes and making decisions regarding communication synchrony and student assessment (Iglesias-Pradas et al., 2021). Therefore, autonomy support, which represents teachers' subjective sense of control over their teaching activities (Inigo & Raufaste, 2019), is a vital form of support that is provided by the administrators (Peach & Bieber, 2015). Based on the literature, we selected teaching resources, peer support and autonomy support as indicators of teaching support in ICTenhanced teaching. ...
... Teachers with high self-perceived competence in ICT-enhanced teaching may feel optimistic about their ability to deal with unanticipated events and believe that good things will eventually happen to them, such teachers may be more persistent in and dedicated to their work and feel less depleted (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017;Ventura et al., 2015). Research has also emphasised the pivotal role of autonomy support in online teaching, revealing that teachers who are empowered with increased autonomy in online teaching environments are more confident in and dedicated to online teaching practice (Peach & Bieber, 2015). ...
In the context of information and communication technology (ICT)-enhanced teaching, teacher well-being plays a crucial role in promoting teaching effectiveness and students’ learning achievement. Drawing on the interactionist model of teacher well-being, this study investigated university teachers’ well-being (e.g., emotional exhaustion and teacher engagement) in ICT-enhanced teaching and its associations with their self-efficacy (e.g., classroom management, instructional strategy and course design) and teaching support (e.g., autonomy support, teaching resources and peer support). The results of an online questionnaire survey conducted among 836 university teachers in China indicated that the enhanced integration of ICT into teaching practices neither impaired teacher engagement nor caused them significant emotional exhaustion. Instead, adequate teaching resources and autonomy support contributed positively to both teacher self-efficacy and engagement. Increased efficacy in course design and classroom management alleviated their emotional exhaustion. Moreover, teacher self-efficacy significantly mediated the effects of autonomy support on emotional exhaustion and teacher engagement. These results have practical implications for understanding and promoting university teachers’ well-being as well as teaching effectiveness in ICT-enhanced teaching environments. Implications for practice or policy Administrators may consider providing adequate resources geared towards enhancing university teachers’ confidence and engagement in ICT-enhanced teaching. Administrators may avoid introducing excessive and burdensome initiatives to university teachers to prevent teacher emotional exhaustion. University teachers may be granted significant autonomy in selecting their preferred teaching platforms, methods and materials to meet their specific needs and preferences in ICT-enhanced teaching.
... However, engaging in online teaching is a proof of professionalism. Therefore, teachers need to be capable of carrying out online teaching to improve their pedagogy skill (Peach and Bieber, 2015). Improvement of problem-solving skill is needed for teachers. ...
Purpose
The research aimed to explore the issues in the implementation of online education practice in elementary school, to study teachers' coping strategy to the online education issues and to evaluate teachers' problem-solving skill in online learning practice during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
An exploratory research focused on identifying the obstacles in teaching practice faced by elementary school teachers as well as their coping strategy with eight convenience sampled schools.
Findings
Online education practice faced unpreparedness and competency issues. Unpreparedness was found in terms of social, technical and cultural factors, while competency issue was related to online education competency and digital competency. Teachers’ struggle to cope with the issue in online education practice was focused on the performing conventional education in the online manner, suggesting teachers' lack of competency in encouraging learning success. Teachers neglected the development of students' readiness and competencies to engage in online learning. Moreover, teachers’ struggle had the least impact on the development of their online teaching competency and digital competency that are required for carrying out online teaching. In general, teachers' problem-solving skill was below the expected level. These findings suggested that improvement of teachers' competencies is important in order to cope with the issues such as in online education practice during Covid-19 pandemic and to face future challenges in education.
Originality/value
This study evaluated the gap between actual action and expected action of elementary school teachers in coping with the issues regarding online education practice.
... This includes a shift in thinking toward developing a remote workforce and using emerging technology to enhance education delivery. For example, expanding geographic boundaries for remote faculty and guest lecturers can diversify a school's or program's pool of instructors who may bring with them specific expertise, a fresh perspective, and innovative approaches to education (Peach & Beiber, 2015;Sage, 2013). ...
The phenomenon of geographically dispersed instructors in the online environment creates unique challenges and opportunities for social work education. Recently influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, this paradigm shift will lead to a change in the way that curriculum is administered, with an increasing number of courses being taught by remote faculty. In this developing educational model, administrators are challenged to supervise in a manner that assures equity and job satisfaction for all faculty, regardless of rank and locale, and support the development of an evolving pedagogy of online education. The benefits and challenges of remote faculty inclusion for faculty, schools, and administrators are considered, best practices and policies are identified, and future research recommendations are identified.
... Some scientists (Peach & Bieberb, 2015) draw attention to the functioning of education as a power mechanism. Nevertheless, in the practice of education, the power mechanisms function probably in one of the subtlest ways, therefore, they are recognized with difficulty and that is why they usually avoid critical transformation. ...
The article deals with the problems of the power relations of the participants of the educational process. In the educational process, power is usually demonstrated not directly, but it is expressed employing rituals, rules, subtle control mechanisms, etc. Traditional teaching forms and methods, focused on the transferring of knowledge, help to maintain hierarchical relations in the educational process. The scientists (Duoblienė, 2009) notice that it is not possible to avoid power relations, but they can be reflected on. In the context of education, it foresees the perspective of the change in critical thought and power relations. The shift from the teaching paradigm to the learning paradigm is related to the possibility to recognize the expression of power relations and replace the traditional educational practice with a new one, that reflects the activity and equality of all the participants of the educational process. The aim of the research is to reveal the expression of power relations of the participants of the educational process and reflect on the situation of their transformation that occurs in the perspective of the learning paradigm. Problem questions: How do power relations manifest themselves in the educational process? How do they change while moving from the teaching paradigm to the learning paradigm? The methods of the analysis of scientific literature and written reflection by pedagogues have been applied in the research. The analysis of scientific literature presupposed the possibility to reveal the expression of power relations of the participants of the educational process, the implicit character of power relations and the situation of their change in the perspective of the learning paradigm. Written reflection by pedagogues reveals their efforts of critical thinking recognizing power relations in the context of their professional activity, analysing the causes of these relations and the potential of their change.
... Alternatively, online learning environments may have the capacity to facilitate students' viewpoints, including students' ability to challenge the status quo. Peach and Bieber (2015) found that "online education affords participants opportunities to circumvent traditional mechanisms of control" (p. 38). ...
Identifying how students can manage the psychological complexity of receiving assessment feedback is important to gain maximum learning and for teachers to facilitate empowering online learning environments. This study discursively explores how a group of students, learning online, psychologically process assessment feedback. Data comprised 29 posts from a student-initiated asynchronous discussion in a first-year undergraduate online distance psychology course. Posts centre around different ways of managing loss over lower-than-expected assessment feedback involving three repertoires: distress, discord and review; facing the difficulties; and ways forward comprising three resources: acknowledgement and solutions, lessons learnt, and accommodating challenges. The psychological loss arising from the removal of a psychological attachment to a grade aspiration is theorised. Findings show how students’ discourse functioned to (legitimately) challenge the teacher’s power while also creating constructive solutions, including exercising agency over one’s online learning. Teaching strategies for managing the psychology of receiving assessment feedback online are shared.
... Here we define virtual education as comprising synchronous live classroom discussions where students and faculty interact at the same time and virtually face-to-face through Adobe Connect technology (as opposed to online programs comprised of only asynchronous course work). Recent and emerging literature informs us that virtual faculty are largely satisfied with their instruction, particularly appreciating the flexibility, work-life balance, and student diversity in the virtual classroom (Huang & Hsiao, 2012;Peach & Bieber, 2015;Schwartz, Wiley, & Kaplan, 2016). Challenges identified by virtual faculty include technology comfort level, availability of support and training, and feelings of alienation from peers and the larger organization (Curry, 2016;Dolan, 2011;Levin, Whitsett, & Wood, 2013;Lloyd, Byrne, & McCoy, 2012;Milton, Sinclair, & Vakalahi, 2016;Smith, 2015). ...
A previous qualitative study (Schwartz, Wiley, & Kaplan, 2016) described the faculty experiences and reflections of delivering Master of Social Work (MSW) education via a virtual platform at the University of Southern California, Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work during its initial years of operation. Thematic analysis revealed a need for community building amongst geographically diverse faculty. Given social work’s emphasis on the person-in-environment perspective, it is imperative to consider the experiences of those individuals responsible for executing virtual technology-supported programs and delivering education via virtual platforms. The current paper describes innovative institutional and programmatic interventions implemented to promote community and collaboration among faculty who teach virtually. Creating strategic opportunities for virtual and ground-based faculty to connect informally and formally has the potential to foster a culture of inclusivity, connection, and a productive community of practice.
... Alternatively, online learning environments may have the capacity to facilitate students' viewpoints, including students' ability to challenge the status quo. Peach and Bieber (2015) found that "online education affords participants opportunities to circumvent traditional mechanisms of control" (p. 38). ...
... Type of MOOCs notwithstanding, educators saw in this development benefits for attracting large numbers of students, especially to graduate seminars with dwindling intakes (Baggaley, 2014). At the operational level, educators saw benefits for them in the anytime, any pace and anywhere flexibility afforded by the approach in terms of scheduling their teaching, research and other commitments (Naidu, 2013a;Peach & Bieber, 2015). Moreover, the use of online learning technologies which were now robust enough could be adopted to support participatory pedagogies which promoted a view of learning and teaching that suggested that knowledge and understanding is best developed through connection, collaboration, cooperation and cocreation among relevant participants (Andersen, & Ponti, 2014;Downes, 2008). ...
... Type of MOOCs notwithstanding, educators saw in this development benefits for attracting large numbers of students, especially to graduate seminars with dwindling intakes (Baggaley, 2014). At the operational level, educators saw benefits for them in the anytime, any pace and anywhere flexibility afforded by the approach in terms of scheduling their teaching, research and other commitments (Naidu, 2013a;Peach & Bieber, 2015). Moreover, the use of online learning technologies which were now robust enough could be adopted to support participatory pedagogies which promoted a view of learning and teaching that suggested that knowledge and understanding is best developed through connection, collaboration, cooperation and cocreation among relevant participants (Andersen, & Ponti, 2014;Downes, 2008). ...
Amidst the different claims and counter-claims of disruption,
innovation and revolutions facing higher education, the notion of
Openness is, on the one hand deeply embedded in the evolution of
distance education, and on the other hand, one of the key characteristics
of more recent phenomena such as Open Educational Resources (OER)
and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). Key to these three
phenomena is the claim that they aim to widen access, and while the
statistics do support this claim with regard to number of registrations or
users, widening access is much larger than just providing access and it
raises a number of ethical issues and concerns.
Openness has become one of the “corporate buzzwords” (Birnbaum
2001: 3) and is “presented as universally applicable quick-fix solutions –
along with the obligatory and explicit caution that their
recommendations are not quick fixes and will require substantial
management understanding and commitment” (Birnbaum 2001:4).
Openness is much more buzzword or fad and is deeply political, embedded in our epistemologies and ontologies, and reflecting and often
perpetuating inequalities and injustices.
While there are many possibly ways to engage with exploring the
ethical issues and implications of widening access and opening up
opportunity, one possible heuristic lens is to explore these is through the
claim that with opening up or widening access comes certain
responsibilities. But having said that, determining the scope of these
responsibilities is more complex and more nuanced than perceived at a
first glance.
Considering the scope, definition and ethical implications of
Openness and responsibility in these three phenomena, it is important to
consider a number of questions such as: Is widening access enough?
What are the fiduciary duties of the one who widens access or does
widening access cancel or change the inherent fiduciary duty?
In this chapter we briefly explore ethics, responsibility and care
while mapping the notion of Openness in three different, but
overlapping phenomena namely Open Distance and Distributed
education, OER and MOOCs. We then propose the need to move
towards an ethics of care which acknowledges the need for leadership in
Higher Education to take a teleological approach to Openness in order to
truly leverage its potential.
In early 2020, the spread of COVID-19 resulted in the wide use of online classes in China. Drawing on Foucault’s disciplinary power and De Certeau’s strategy-tactic dialectic, this paper explores the online learning practice of students in a rural junior middle school at Yu Town in Central China during the pandemic, through interviewing the students, teachers, and parents. The findings show that the teachers and the students engaged in a power game in online education and employed a series of strategies and tactics to realize the control and resistance through the creative use of media technologies. The study reveals the paradox that the rural students’ agency and resistance, enabled by the media technologies, may result in negative consequences for their learning and further broaden the gap between rural and urban students, thus reproducing the system that they are dissatisfied with.
Objectives
The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction of a 3D tooth identification test for a dental anatomy course that can be given remotely.
Methods
First‐year dental students (n=41) enrolled in a dental anatomy course took both traditional in‐person practical and virtual 3D tooth identification tests consisting of 25 test items. The test scores, average test durations, faculty time commitment and user perception were collected and analyzed. Pearson product‐moment correlation coefficients (p<0.05) were determined for the criterion measures including real tooth identification test scores, comprehensive written examination and overall grade for the course.
Results
The average number of correct answers for the real and 3D virtual tooth identification examination was 21.3 ± 2.65 and 20.7 ± 2.56, respectively. The average test duration for the real and 3D virtual tooth identification test was 25:00 and 21:16 minutes, respectively. There was a positive correlation (p<0.05) of the 3D virtual tooth identification test with the real tooth identification test (0.368), comprehensive written examination (0.334) and the overall course grade (0.646). The total faculty time commitment for the real and 3D virtual tooth identification test was 96 and 65 minutes, respectively. The students cited difficulty in manipulating the 3D models.
Conclusion
This study presents evidence that the 3D virtual tooth identification test can be used to assess dental students understanding of dental anatomy effectively and efficiently.
The problem of bifurcation of an Internet congestion control system with distributed delay is fully considered. Some criteria of stability and bifurcation conditions for the positive equilibrium of the proposed system are precisely established with the help of the Routh–Hurwitz criterion. Our results extremely extend previous ones, which enhance the stability performance of Internet congestion control system averts network collapse. Finally, numerical simulations are provided to verify the theoretical analysis.
This chapter introduces the contents of the book Creativity and Critique in Online Learning and describes what each case study contributes to knowledge in the field. It explains what we mean by the terms creativity and critique and in so doing highlights the challenging context in which online teaching and learning is taking place. Can online study really replicate the challenges and occasional joy of learning in a face to face environment? Can it foster relationships in the same way? Not only learner to learner but also between teacher and learner. Can it achieve the type of transformational learning that traditionally took place at residential schools and face to face tutorials? The type of learning that transforms the lives of individuals, radically altering their worldview, critical acuity, and social mobility? Some would argue that these are the wrong questions—that we should instead be asking: what can online learning do that face to face learning can’t; how can it help teach the ‘hard to reach’ and how can it provide learning for those who have failed in (or rejected) learning in a face to face context. This book uses case studies to engage with these questions and issues. We examine the benefits of various methods of teaching and learning online, whilst also analysing how effective these methods have proven to be in practice. In so doing the book aims to both inform and challenge those who are already teaching online or thinking of doing so in the near future. It looks to help those who are designing programmes of learning, in offering a comprehensive view of some of the tools that can be used to enhance the student experience, whilst also exposing areas of weakness that may well have the capacity to alienate learners and teachers if not incorporated carefully into the planned curriculum. Finally it explores the ways in which online teaching and learning can be creative for both teacher and learner, whilst acknowledging that no teaching method is perfect.
This book explores emerging practices in distance education that have been facilitated by the development of educational technology. The volume examines core themes in distance education including online education at scale, embodiment in online environments, connectivity in online education and the personalisation of learning experiences within online education. The first section of the book examines online teaching tools, and explores how they are being used to enhance and promote student learning. The second looks at some of the broader challenges encountered by online teachers and those responsible for designing online learning material. While this volume will be of significant interest to distance learning universities and colleges, it will also be a valuable resource to traditional Higher Education Institutions, who are increasingly searching for innovative ways to reach and teach their students. This edited collection will be of value to scholars of online education as well as practitioners and policy makers looking to enrich their notions of online pedagogy.
Integrating online teaching strategies within universities is now well established, but there is little on how HE teachers experience this shift. One strand of literature suggests that university senior management teams often assume academic staff lack motivation to participate and resist change. This case study, from a Head of Department’s perspective, challenges that view. Focusing on academics who chose to move to the Open University, an online and distance learning provider, it argues that teaching online requires different skills and presents a fundamental challenge to teacher identity. It concludes that there is a need to both understand the academics’ perspective and acknowledge that there is motivation within the academic community; and support, at all institutional levels, is critical for academics making this transition.
Research suggests that higher education changes affect the work and identity of academics. The consequent challenges often mentioned include too little time, work overload and limited autonomy among academic staff. Space is rarely mentioned, especially in relation to the context of open distance learning. This article reports on the findings from a study that was conducted in an open distance learning institution to understand how the institutional space is experienced by academics as they construct their identity. Institutional policy was examined, semi-structured interviews were conducted with academics and observations were made. The findings suggest that imagined institutional space is sometimes different from the lived space due to academics’ differing preferences of space. It is recommended that the institution should find the common ground between academics’ spatial needs and the institution’s imagined space as provided for through institutional policy.
This literature review summarises the growing body of literature discussing teacher identities of university teachers. The aim was to understand what strengthens or constrains the development of a teacher identity. A qualitative synthesis of 59 studies was carried out. The review showed that several factors contribute to the development of teacher identity. While contact with students and staff development programmes were experienced as strengthening teacher identity, the wider context of higher education was experienced as having a constraining effect. Furthermore, the impact of the direct work environment was experienced as either strengthening or constraining, depending on whether or not teaching is valued in the department. Five psychological processes were found to be involved in the development of a teacher identity: a sense of appreciation, a sense of connectedness, a sense of competence, a sense of commitment, and imagining a future career trajectory. The findings suggest that developing a teacher identity in the higher education context is not a smooth process. In order to empower university teachers, it is important to reward teaching excellence and build community. Staff development activities can play a role in helping teachers to develop strategies for gaining confidence and taking active control of their work situation, both individually and collectively. The authors argue that more attention should be paid to the implicit messages that departments convey to their teaching faculty.
This article reports on a large‐scale (n = 2,504), exploratory factor analysis that determined the underlying constructs that comprise barriers to distance education. The ten factors found were (1) administrative structure, (2) organizational change, (3) technical expertise, (4) social interaction and quality, (5) faculty compensation and time, (6) threat of technology, (7) legal issues, (8) evaluation/effectiveness, (9) access, and (10) student‐support services.
We focus on everyday role transitions involving home, work, and other places. Transitions are boundary-crossing activities, where one exits and enters roles by surmounting role boundaries. Roles can be arrayed on a continuum, spanning high segmentation to high integration. Segmentation decreases role blurring but increases the magnitude of change, rendering boundary crossing more difficult; crossing often is facilitated by rites of passage. Integration decreases the magnitude of change but increases blurring, rendering boundary creation and maintenance more difficult; this challenge often is surmounted by boundary work.
This study uses a metatriangulation approach to explore the relationships between power and information technology impacts, development or deployment, and management or use in a sample of 82 articles from 12 management and MIS journals published between 1980 and 1999. We explore the multiple paradigms underlying this research by applying two sets of lenses to examine the major findings from our sample. The technological imperative, organizational imperative, and emergent perspectives (Markus and Robey 1988) are used as one set of lenses to better understand researchers' views regarding the causal structure between IT and organizational power. A second set of lenses, which includes the rational, pluralist, interpretive, and radical perspectives (Bradshaw-Camball and Murray 1991), is used to focus on researchers' views of the role of power and different IT outcomes. We apply each lens separately to describe patterns emerging from the previous power and IT studies. In addition, we discuss the similarities and differences that occur when the two sets of lenses are simultaneously applied. We draw from this discussion to develop metaconjectures, (i.e., propositions that can be interpreted from multiple perspectives), and to suggest guidelines for studying power in future research.
Dramatic changes are currently taking place in information technology within clerical work. Yet non-manual workers’ experience of technical change has received little attention in recent literature.1 Such analysis as there is, is usually brief2 or confined to questions which, one must presume, are considered the only ones directly relevant to the experience of work:3skill and job content, promotion, pay and security of employment.4 No attempt is made to consider other, additional sources of meaning such as informal work practices.5 This is partly a consequence of the tendency to rely on information supplied by questionnaires to the exclusion of results derived from the use of qualitative methods of research.6 The neglect is unexpected when considered in the light of the commonly-held view that, prior to current changes and partly because of the nature of the work, the majority of clerical and secretarial jobs were standardised, routine7 and held by women,8 and for these reasons were likely to foster informal ‘adaptive’ working arrangements (Baldamus, 1961; Burawoy, 1979). Littek (1986) is alone in recognising the importance of studying social action in the workplace in order to more fully explain employee reactions and labour relations during periods of change. Informal practices are included in this requirement. Yet in partially responding to the need for research, Littek overlooks these practices, concentrating instead on the concern with remuneration, promotion and skill. The neglect of other dimensions may be connected with the privileged position of the German clerical workers studied, relative to that of routine clerical labour in Britain. Study of this category of labour in the United Kingdom — in the form of an examination of two insurance offices considered as ‘cases’ — suggests that clerical workers either have, or develop in the workplace, concerns extending beyond the simple attainment of extrinsic economic or career rewards.
An ethnographic field study in Big Six public accounting firms, where management by objectives and mentoring are used as techniques of control, examines how organizations transform professionals into disciplined and self-disciplining organizational members whose work goals, language, and lifestyle come to reflect the imperatives of the organization. The study shows that the scope and effect of these techniques shaped the identities of organizational participants but that the discourse of professional autonomy fueled resistance to these pressures toward conformity. Implications of these results are discussed as they relate to conflict between professionals and organizations and to the critical study of organizations.
This article reports on the nature of control in 78 retail department store companies. It argues that control and structure have not been clearly distinguished in the literature on organizations. Control is not the same thing as structure. Control can be conceptualized as an evaluation process which is based on the monitoring and evaluation of behavior or of outputs. Another study (Ouchi and Maguire, 1975) has established that approximately 25 percent of the variance in these control mechanisms can be explained by task characteristics and other variables at the individual level of analysis. Using the organization as the unit of analysis it seeks to uncover the relationship between structure and control. The results show that approximately 33 percent of the variance in control can be accounted for by structural characteristics, as well as by a characteristic of the environment-namely, the nature of the clientele served.
An in-depth case study examined faculty and administrator perceptions of how online education affected the organizational culture of a large, suburban community college. Findings suggest that in addition to structural and procedural changes, online education had an impact on faculty and administrator roles, teaching and learning (in both online and face-to-face settings), and the community of students and faculty members who comprise the college. The result was a new perception of the organization itself.
This paper reports the findings of a study that examined the relationship between distance teaching and the faculty reward system. Using a qualitative approach, the study sought to understand how distance teaching is valued, rewarded, and accommodated within the institutional reward structure. Based on interviews with faculty members, distance education program administrators, and the chief academic officers at four research universities, the study describes a reward culture that is not accommodating to and rewarding of faculty work in distance education. The study finds that: 1) distance education occupies a marginal status, 2) distance teaching is neither highly valued nor well‐rewarded as scholarly activity, 3) distance teaching is not highly related to promotion and tenure decisions, and 4) rewards for distance teaching are dependent on the academic unit's commitment to distance education.
Through a qualitative study of a software development group, I examine how managers control the hours employees work, and therefore the temporal boundary between employees' work and life outside of work. Analysis of field data shows that managers use three types of techniques to exert boundary control over "knowledge workers": (1) imposing demands, by setting meetings, reviews, and internal deadlines, controlling vacations, and requesting extra work; (2) monitoring employees, by standing over them, checking up on them, and observing them; and (3) modeling the behavior they want employees to exhibit. Employees either accept or resist managers' boundary control; those who resist are penalized by the reward system, even when they devise creative ways to schedule and complete their work. Many employees are married, and the demands of their work have consequences for their spouses. Spouses' reactions to the demands that ultimately affect them further influence how employees respond to boundary control. These findings contribute to a theory of boundary control and carry practical implications for resolving work-family conflicts in our society.
The study investigates faculty participation in Pennsylvania State University's electronic distance education, degree-granting campus. The objective of the study was to ascertain the difficulties faculty members and their administrators have when faculty choose to teach in an electronic campus set up within a large, traditional, research institution. The study draws on the views of participants to identify the key barriers, major concerns, and top incentives for faculty members who choose to teach in the new electronic campus environment.
Describes how colleges are starting to consider online work in evaluations of professors; the key may be a growing movement for peer review of Web sites and online teaching materials. (EV)
This project was designed to increase student access by addressing Western states' regulations on higher education programs delivered electronically across state lines, and to develop and get region-wide agreement on basic quality standards for distance education programs. The project achieved agreement on a set of "Principles of Good Practice for Electronically Offered Higher Education Degree and Certificate Programs," now the first generally accepted basis for evaluating distance learning programs throughout the nation. This report contains the following sections: (1) Paragraph summary of the report; (2) Executive Summary -- overview, purpose, background and origin, project description, evaluation, and summary and conclusion; (3) Body of the Report -- overview, purpose, how the purpose changed during the course of the project, background and origin, project description, evaluation, and summary and conclusion; and (4) Appendices -- information for FIPSE, and copies of publications: "Balancing Quality and Access. Some Principles of Good Practice for the Virtual University" (Sally M. Johnstone and Barbara Krauth); and "Principles of Good Practice for Learning Programs" (Barbara Krauth). (DLS)
This case presents and compares the top five motivating and inhibiting factors for faculty participation in Asynchronous Learning Networks (ANL) or distance education (DE) as reported by faculty participators and non-participators, and administrators. While faculty and administrators agreed strongly on what inhibits faculty from participating in ALN/DE programs, there were significantly different perceptions on what motivates faculty to participate across the three groups. For ALN/DE programs to succeed, faculty participation is imperative; therefore, program administrators need to understand why faculty participate.
It is a commonly held opinion by faculty that teaching online takes considerably more time than traditional face-to-face instruction. But there is a dearth of quantitative data to either support or disprove this belief. This paper presents the results of a study that involved the logging of instructor time for seven comparable pairs of online and traditional course sections to support a comparison of effort expenditure between the two modes of delivery. The results of the study are evaluated with respect to the total effort expended by faculty and the pattern of effort expenditure over time. The data indicate that the total time expended by instructors in this study was actually less for the online sections as compared with the traditional sections, but when the data are normalized for class size, the amount of instructor effort expended per student was approximately equivalent for both modes of delivery.
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