Two recent surveys of faculty members found that many instructors
aren’t buying into online courses as an effective method of learning and aren’t
really sure what open educational resources (OER) are.
The first report,
Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology, found that 52% of responding faculty
members said online courses produce inferior results when compared to in-person
courses. The survey of 2,799 faculty members and 288 academic technology
administrators was conducted by Gallup in August and September.
Humanities instructors disapproved of online courses
the most (54%), but 51% of social sciences teachers and 46% of engineering,
biological, and physical sciences instructors agreed with them. In addition,
just 18% of faculty who had taught an online course thought they outperformed
in-person classes, while 71% said online courses provided lower-quality interaction
with students.
“My general reaction is that the data show that the
more exposure a faculty member has had to online or blended learning, the more
positive their view,” Ronald Legon, executive director of the Quality Matters
Program, told Inside Higher Education. “But clearly, not all faculty have seen the potential
of online learning to match and even exceed the effectiveness of face-to-face
learning because they have not had the opportunity to become familiar with best
practices and research-driven course design and delivery.”
The second study, to find out if faculty are using OER,
reported that nearly two-thirds said they were unaware of open educational resources,
even though about half reported using them. More than 2,100 faculty members
responded to the survey, conducted by Babson Survey Research Group.
“The answer appears to have two causes,” authors of the
report wrote. “The [lack of] faculty understanding of the term of ‘open educational
resources,’ and the fact that faculty often make resource choices without
consideration to the licensing of that resource.”
The report noted that the most popular types of open content were images (89%) and videos
(87%). Nearly 75% of respondents said the quality of OER materials was the same
as or better than traditional resources. That quality was one of the most
important considerations for faculty members who used OER, but 85% rated OER
superior to traditional materials when it came to cost for students.
A major problem is the availability of OER. Faculty
members cited lack of a comprehensive catalog as the largest barrier to using OER,
followed by difficulty in finding the resources and concerns about licensing.
“While awareness of OER remains low among teaching
faculty, it is not the critical barrier to wider adoption,” said Jeff Seaman,
co-director of the Babson Survey Research Group. “The time and effort required
to find, evaluate, and adopt these materials is the critical factor for
faculty.”
