Faculty Perceptions of Instructional Satisfaction and Support When Teaching Distance Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine faculty perceptions of instructional satisfaction and support when teaching distance education at a university located in the southeastern United States. Two research questions were included to determine what factors of instructional support faculty perceive as promoting/impeding their satisfaction when they participate in distance education, and to determine if there are any meaningful and significant relationships or differences between faculty perceptions of instructional satisfaction and demographic information. Data were collected via email using Google Docs, then compared to determine any significant difference in any of the categories. Descriptive statistics, independent t-tests, ANOVA, and the follow-up Tukey HSD test were used to determine if there were significant differences among faculty members in different demographic categories. Male participants are more satisfied with technology support, appropriate workload, and fair tenure process than females. Females are more satisfied than males with the potential growth opportunities. Overall Caucasians are more satisfied than African-Americans and participants aged 40-49 are more satisfied than any other age participants when teaching distance education. Generally, faculty with higher academic rank (Professor and Associate Professor) are more satisfied than lower academic rank faculty (Assistant Professor and Instructor). Tenured faculty are more satisfied than non-tenured faculty, and full-time faculty are more satisfied than part-time faculty. Participants who earned the highest salaries are more satisfied than participants earning lower salaries. Finally, generally the participants with more years of teaching experience were more satisfied than participants in the early years of their career. Tenure is a positive factor and factor workload is a negative factor impacting faculty satisfaction when teaching distance education.