Allen, I. E. et al. Conflicted: Faculty and online education. Inside Higher Ed & Babson Survey Research Group, Washington, DC, 2012. Pages: 55.

This study focuses on attitudes and practices related to all aspects of online education – including views on the quality of learning outcomes, issues of institutional support, and institutional rewards. Even as online enrolments have grown exponentially, attitudes about online learning have remained conflicted. The study reports the results of two related, but separate, surveys focusing on faculty members and academic administrators responsible for academic technology.

Some of the interesting outcomes include the following:

• Faculty report being more pessimistic about online learning whereas academic technology administrators are extremely optimistic
• Almost two thirds of professors believe that online learning outcomes are inferior to face-to-face courses
• Faculty with direct online teaching experience have the most positive views towards online education
• About one third of faculty members think that their institution is pushing too much instruction online, compared to fewer than 10% administrators

Inside Higher Ed