As the student population becomes more diverse, university administrators are challenged with meeting those needs in a variety of settings. Specifically, most universities are offering courses through three delivery methods: face-to-face, hybrid, and online. Although all three methods have existed for quite some time, pedagogical concerns…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether a set of instructional practices commonly prescribed to online faculty in the higher education setting were consistent with the expectations of a group of experienced online student participants. Online faculty performance conventions were collected from 20 institutions of higher learning located in…

Several recent issues and trends in online education have resulted in consolidation of efforts for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), increased Open Educational Resources (OER) in the form of asynchronous course repositories, with noticeable increases in governance and policy amplification. These emerging enrollment trends in alternative online…

When higher education leaders give little thought or offer little mentoring to their faculty members, there is risk of driving faculty members from teaching online and of them having a poor experience in online teaching. Without mentoring support, faculty members may feel disconnected and unsupported. The purpose of the study was to examine the…

This article presents the results of a national study of 39 higher education institutions that collected information about their practices for faculty development for online teaching and particularly the content and training activities used during 2011-2012. An instrument of 26 items was developed based on a review of literature on faculty…

This study describes interaction patterns observed during a pilot project that explored the use of web-conferencing (WC) software in two undergraduate distance education courses offered to advanced high-school students. The pilot program replaced video-conferencing technology with WC software during recitations, so as to increase participation in…

This articles describes an occurrence that has been happening during the past two to three decades--a steadily increasing number of educational institutions that provide students with the opportunity to earn degrees without having to conform to the elaborate set of policies, procedures, and regulations long associated with so called traditional…

89% of colleges and universities in the United States offer online courses and of those institutions 58% offer degree programs that are completely online (Parker, Lenhart & Moore, 2011).Providing online student services is an important component of these distance programs and is often required by accrediting bodies. Health and wellness…

A change in the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework with an addition of an instructor social presence is suggested. The sample included 137 students in the School of Business of an online university. The independent variables were teaching and social presences from the COI framework and instructor social presence from an instrument developed for…

Four years ago, two online graduate programs at a mid-size university in the western United States implemented ePortfolios to foster communication and connectedness among students and faculty, develop community that extends beyond course boundaries, and promote professional goal formation and achievement among students. This article describes…

The need for online and blended programs within higher education continues to grow as the student population in the United States becomes increasingly non-traditional. As administrators strategically offer and expand online and blended programs, faculty recruitment and retention will be key. This case study highlights how a public comprehensive…

Administrators in higher-education institutions are faced with an often-conflicting landscape of laws, court cases, adopted practices, rules of thumb, and folk wisdom related to copyright concerns on their campuses. Ask any ten faculty member and receive ten different responses about what constitutes fair use, who owns content created for courses,…

There is increasing interest, if not demand, from universities and students for faculty to teach using online technologies. However, many faculty members are reluctant to teach online. In this paper, we examine data collected from a broad range of faculty (part-time, tenure track, new and more experienced, in education, business, and liberal arts)…

A national survey of health care recruiters was used to compare their attitudes toward four different RN-to-BSN degree options based on the method of instruction (classroom, online) and the type of college (traditional, forprofit). The analysis was based on the data received from 116 respondents who completed the questionnaire. The study findings…

Faculty members play a central role in the development, implementation, and long-term sustainability of online and blended education programs. Therefore, faculty recruitment and retention strategies for these programs must align with the needs of the faculty. This article highlights the results of an institutional study conducted at a public…