A comparison of faculty time requirements in online and traditional course formats: Health science and non-health science courses.

摘要

This study assessed the difference in time spent in the preparation, delivery and evaluation of online and traditional graduate courses. Seventy-nine faculty members from thirty-eight colleges and universities all located within one accreditation association for schools and colleges, who also taught the same graduate course both online and traditionally completed an online questionnaire on course preparation, delivery and evaluation. Results showed that online courses required more faculty time in Course Preparation, t(71) = 2.365, p = .021, d = .4, Course Delivery t(71) = 4.72, p .0001, d = .50, and Course Evaluation t(70) = .323, p = .977, d = .04 than did the similar traditional courses. Factors such as gender, course discipline, academic rank, and employment status were evaluated with regards to faculty time requirements in each course type, online and traditional. Gender was statistically significant with regards to course delivery in both an online and a traditional course, F (1,70) = 4.32, p = .041, females taking more time in each type of course.; When Health and Social Science courses were compared with other courses, the course discipline type did not affect the faculty time requirements significantly F (1,70) = 1.273, p = .278, d = .39. The time requirements for faculty to deliver Health and Social Science courses and other courses are not statistically different. Academic rank, F (4.72) = 1.018, p = .405, d = .80 and employment status F (1,70) = .061, p = .806, d = .04, also did not make a statistically significant difference in terms of faculty time spent in course delivery. Faculty time requirements to deliver an online course took significantly more time when compared to a traditional course regardless of employment status, academic rank, course discipline and faculty gender. Based on the findings of the study, current faculty workload with respect to online and traditional course management needs to be adjusted.