FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH FACULTY USE OF WEB-BASED INSTRUCTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

As universities offer courses online, issues related to quality of instruction, faculty roles and incentives, and availability of resources and support are raised. This study examined faculty members’ perceptions of factors and issues that support or impede their development and teaching of Web-based courses at Mississippi State University. This measurement of factors concerning the faculty’s participation in developing and teaching Web-based courses may lead to improvement in status of web-based instruction (WBI). The researcher found that a majority of the faculty was not using WBI. The low level of WBI implementation was associated with (a) the nature of course content (not all classes are meant for online teaching), (b) lack of administrative support, (c) no release time for development and revisions of online courses, (d) non-reliability of technology, and (e) lack of incentives for teaching online. If the university administration were to implement policies to recognize the importance of WBI while providing adequate support services to faculty, the future could be bright for WBI.

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