Teaching Tip: Professors’ Slow, Steady Acceptance of Online Learning

“Embrace” is probably too strong. “Acquiescence” suggests too much passivity. Whatever word you choose, though, the data indicate that faculty members — whether grudgingly or enthusiastically — are increasingly participating in and, to a lesser extent, accepting the validity of online education. Inside Higher Ed‘s new 2019 Survey of Faculty Attitudes on Technology, shows a continuing uptick in the proportion of faculty members who have taught an online course, to 46%–compared to 30% in 2013.

While instructors surveyed who have taught online believe it made them better teachers, professors remain deeply divided about whether online learning can produce student learning outcomes equivalent to face-to-face instruction. Among the survey’s (n=2,145) other findings:

Nearly 40% of instructors say they fully support the increased use of educational technologies, up from 29% in 2017.

Neither faculty members nor administrators believe online learning is less expensive to offer than its on-ground alternative — unless colleges reduce spending on instruction or student support.

A majority of professors  oppose colleges’ use of external vendors to deliver online academic programs, except for marketing to students.

Six in 10 faculty members believe academic fraud is more common in online courses than in face-to-face courses.

The growing proportion of instructors who have taught online is a logical outgrowth of the fact that more colleges are embracing online learning to reach students they couldn’t otherwise enroll and to respond to demands from students for more flexibility in when and how academic programs are offered. While faculty participation in online learning continues to edge up over all, it is extremely uneven. Public college instructors are far likelier than their private college peers to have taught an online course; midcareer professors are more likely to teach online than are their younger or older peers; and B-school faculty members are likelier to teach online than their science and humanities counterparts.

Those who have taught online overwhelmingly believe it has made them better at their jobs, and 3/4 say the experience has helped them develop pedagogical skills and practices that have improved their teaching.