ERIC Number: EJ1232104
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Nov
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0007-1013
EISSN: N/A
Faculty Members' Perceptions of Online Program Community and Their Efforts to Sustain It
Bolliger, Doris U.; Shepherd, Craig E.; Bryant, H. Victoria
British Journal of Educational Technology, v50 n6 p3283-3299 Nov 2019
This study investigated faculty members' perceptions of program community and what they do to support it in online graduate programs. Researchers developed and administered an online survey to ascertain perceptions of program community among education and engineering faculty members at United States, land-grant, research-extensive universities. Three hundred forty-four faculty members responded. Most participants thought that fostering community beyond courses was important. Faculty members used a variety of strategies to accomplish this task, including social media, synchronous communication and advising, face-to-face socials and orientations, and cohort models. Yet, many also relied on classroom strategies. Several participants indicated that they and their students lacked the time, resources or interest to pursue program community and that geographical distance and university reward policies complicated its establishment. Differences via discipline, gender and years of online teaching experience were also reported.
Descriptors: Teacher Attitudes, Engineering Education, Online Courses, Communities of Practice, Graduate Study, Educational Strategies, Computer Mediated Communication, Synchronous Communication, Social Media, Academic Advising, Graduate School Faculty, Graduate Students, Barriers, Gender Differences, Web Based Instruction, Teaching Experience
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A