Many Professors Are Optimistic on Distance Learning, Survey Finds

July 7, 2000. Chronicle of higher education

Many Professors Are Optimistic on Distance Learning, Survey Finds
By SARAH CARR

A survey of college faculty members who belong to the nation's largest teachers' union has found that they are enthusiastic about the experience and benefits of teaching distance-education courses, although they see a few perils on the horizon.

The survey, released last month, found that faculty members worried about the amount of time it takes to prepare and teach a distance-education course. Respondents also predicted that faculty members would have to do more work for the same amount of pay as a result of the proliferation of distance education.

"The zest for distance learning is tinged with some apprehension for the future," said Bob Chase, president of the National Education Association, which conducted the telephone survey of members in higher education. "They are worried that the preparation takes more time, their workloads will increase, but salaries will remain the same."

The study was conducted in February and March. The union, which has 85,000 members in higher education, said it tried to contact all of those for whom it had telephone numbers.

But the survey reached only a small fraction of that group, comprising responses from 402 faculty members who had taught distance-learning courses and 130 who had not.

Attitudes toward distance education were more favorable among those who had taught distance-learning courses, 72 percent of whom said they were positive about distance learning, compared with 51 percent of faculty members who had not taught distance classes.

The report, "A Survey of Traditional and Distance Learning Higher Education Members," is the third in a series the N.E.A. has undertaken in order to gauge national trends and attitudes related to distance learning. Faculty members at a range of institutions were interviewed.

Mr. Chase said the results indicated that faculty members were less divided over the issue of distance learning than some onlookers believe.

"For those who continue to divide higher education into two camps, modernizers and Luddites, the poll will probably be a surprise," said Mr. Chase, the N.E.A. president.

The faculty members were also asked how they communicate with students in distance courses and about the characteristics of the students they teach.

Janet Grensky, the president of Abacus Associates, a consulting firm that conducted the poll for the association, said she was surprised that online instructors had reported that as many of the students were under the age of 25 as over.

"I think there is a myth out there that distance learning is just for older students or for part-time students," she said.

The results also indicate that the overwhelming majority of students taking virtual courses live in the same state as their instructor and college, despite the widespread belief that many instructors reach a national -- or even an international -- audience of students.

The survey shows that faculty members are happiest teaching distance-education courses for which there are enrollment limits.

The report can be downloaded from the N.E.A.'s Web site (http://www.nea.org/nr/nr000614.html).