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Exploring the Use of Course-Specific Websites among Higher Education Faculty
By Lamont A. Flowers
Assistant Professor
Department of Educational Leadership, Policy and Foundations
University of Florida
lflowers@coe.ufl.edu
Posted: August, 2004 Student Affairs Online, vol. 5 no. 3 - Summer 2004
Abstract
Utilizing data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, this study examines data from all full-time instructional faculty members who selected higher education as their principal field or discipline of teaching to obtain the percentage of higher education faculty who used course-specific websites. The study documents how these faculty members in the field of higher education utilized course-specific websites.
With the growing use of technology in postsecondary education, research on the effects of technology on student learning as well as research on the use of technology by college faculty has accumulated in recent years (Bento & Bento, 2000; Cudd, Lipscomb, & Tanner, 2003; Flowers, 2004; Flowers, Pascarella, & Pierson, 2000; Howell, Saba, Lindsay, & Williams, 2004; Warburton, Chen, & Bradburn, 2002; Witt, 2003). One line of this research has focused on the impact of using course-specific websites in the classroom. Overall, the weight of this research indicates that course-specific websites and related technologies (i.e., Internet, distance learning technologies, etc.) have increased the efficiency with which instruction is delivered within certain educational contexts (Bento & Bento, 2000; Murphy, 2002; Murphy & Cifuentes, 2001; Richards, 1999; Witt, 2003). These and other studies are important and have implications for how technology will be used in the classroom of the future. However, what is missing from the literature is a study that describes how higher education faculty use course-specific websites in the classroom. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to report the percentage of higher education faculty who use course-specific websites and how higher education faculty use course-specific websites.
Method
Data from the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:99) was used in the present study because the NSOPF:99 contain comprehensive data on a representative sample of college faculty in the United States (Abraham et al., 2002). The institutional data in NSOPF:99 consists of more than 800 institutions (Abraham et al., 2002). The NSOPF:99 faculty and staff sample represents approximately 1 million college faculty (Abraham et al., 2002). Among all college faculty, 57% were employed on a full-time basis and 43% were employed on a part-time basis (Zimbler, 2001). Of all full-time faculty, 91% were instructional faculty (i.e., had instructional duties for credit). This study was based on data from full-time instructional faculty who selected higher education as their principal field or discipline of teaching. Employing the weighted NSOPF:99 sample, this study was based on approximately 403 higher education faculty who used course-specific websites (154 higher education faculty from public institutions and 249 higher education faculty from private institutions).
Results
Based on the 1999 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, 23% of all higher education faculty used a website for at least one of their classes. According to Table 1, in the fall of 1998, 14% of all higher education faculty at public institutions used a course-specific website. In contrast, 37% of all higher education faculty at private institutions used a course-specific website. Among the higher education faculty who used course-specific websites, Table 2 showed how higher education faculty used course websites for specific teaching purposes. These data revealed that higher education faculty at private institutions were more likely than higher education faculty at public institutions to use websites to post general class information, information on homework, and practice exams or exercises. In contrast, higher education faculty at public institutions were more likely than higher education faculty at private institutions to use their course-specific websites to post links to other information. In the fall of 1998, no higher education faculty reported that they had used course-specific websites to post exams or exam results.
Discussion and Recommendations for Future Research
This brief report presented descriptive data to examine the extent to which higher education faculty used course-specific websites. Overall, these data showed that more faculty at private institutions used course-specific websites for their classes than did higher education faculty at public institutions. Additionally, data also revealed that higher education faculty at private institutions and higher education faculty at public institutions used course-specific websites for slightly different purposes. These data are informative and suggest that additional research should follow to extend these results. First, research is needed, using recent data, to examine the extent to which higher education faculty are currently using course-specific websites. Second, more research is needed to further analyze the specific ways and reasons that higher education faculy are using course-specific websites in the classroom. For example, research is needed to explore the extent to which specific content domains related to the study of higher education administration and student affairs administration may be more effectively taught using course-specific websites as well as other information technologies. Third, future research should examine how e-mail is used by higher education faculty. Relatedly, studies that examine the effects of using e-mail on student-facutly interactions would add useful information regarding the impact of technology in the classroom.
References
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