What ’ s Driving Faculty Participation in Distance Education ?

The presentation reviews more than a decade of investigations undertaken to determine what motivates and what discourages faculty participation in distance education. The presenters describe the evidence that faculty extrinsic and intrinsic conditions both influence willingness to participate. The researchers will also compare the findings of this study with three other studies conducted on faculty motivation. The analysis reveals that more recent studies indicate extrinsic motivators are playing an increasingly important role in DE. The presentation will summarize the policy implications for this body of research. If distance education coursework continues to expand, as predicted (Hannafin, Hannafin, Hooper, Rieber & Kini, 1996; Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2000; Twigg, & Oblinger, 1996; Van Patten, 2000), faculty would be crucial elements in the creation and maintenance of distance education courses. Higher education administration must support their most important asset, faculty, so that faculty maintain both their academic positions and their positions within their communities (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2001a; Chronicle of Higher Education, 2001b; Kezar, 2002). Policies that create motivating conditions for faculty participation and that mitigate or remove inhibitors could sustain and stimulate faculty participation in DE. The purpose of this analysis is to identify what conditions have the greatest influence and which can be manipulated by faculty. A comparison of the top five motivator items in three other university studies using a similar survey, a private eastern university, a public eastern university, and a southeastern university, indicated there were similarities to some of the findings of the southwestern public university study, all reflecting faculty perceptions that the strongest forces influencing their participation were intrinsic, although not always in the same order of priorities. Other findings of this study reveal a growing trend towards extrinsic motivation having a stronger influence on participation in DE. Background Studies prior to 2001 reported that intrinsic motivation, a person’s willingness to perform acts based on the internal rewards of emotional satisfaction, was a strong influence on participation or nonparticipation in innovation (Betts, 1998; Dillon & Walsh, 1992; Ellis, 1984; Herzberg, 1964; Lepper, Keavney & Drake, 1996; Iyengar & Lepper, 1999; Lewis, 2001; Stephenson, 1997; Vroom, 1964; Wolcott, 1997;Wolcott, 2002a; Wolcott, 2002b; Wolcott & Betts, 1999; Wolcott & Haderlie, 1995). Faculty have reported participating in DE for intrinsic rewards over extrinsic rewards, such as promotion and tenure, grant money, increased salary, additional training, or course releases (Bebko, 1998; Betts, 1998; Brown & Floyd, 1998; Dillon and Walsh, 1992; Johnston, Alexander, Olcott & Wright, 1995; Schifter, 2000; Wolcott, 1999; Wolcott, 1997). However, more recent studies (Arnone, 2002; Bower, 2002; Culp, Riffee, Starrett, Sarin, & Abrahamsen, 2001; GannonCook, 2003; Twigg, 2000; Weber, 1999) revealed extrinsic rewards were also motivating DE participation. Faculty teaching DE courses (as of the end of 2002) in the field of education in the United States earn a average salary of $42,000.00 for a nine-month contract for non-tenure track faculty, and $45,000.00 for new tenure-track faculty (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2003; Johnston, Alexander, Conrad, & Fieser, 2000; Sloan Center for Asynchrononous Learning Environments [SCALE], 1998). Average starting salaries for persons with undergraduate degrees in business are about the same salary range, $40,000.00-$42,000.00 (Wall Street Journal, 2002). Teachers with undergraduate degrees and teaching certificates also earn salaries in the same range, $40,000-42,000 (Chronicle of Higher Education, 2002; Houston Independent School District, 2002). Starting Ph.D. graduates in Computer Science, however, average around $70,000.00 and in Business, around $60,000.00 (American Association for Higher Education, 2001; National Center for Education Statistics, 2001; United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1999). This disparity in higher education, with salaries for doctorates in education averaging about $20,000 per year less than Computer Science and Business, is reflected in many universities throughout the United States (American Association for