Online Instructor Roles, Training, Incentives, and Supports

A few points of interest from this week's articles:

Wilson (2003; http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0329.pdf): On page 60, he states that "female faculty members are more likely to use university resource centers than male faculty members." Wilson links this finding to the fact that men don't ask for directions, but is the explanation that simple?

Two of the articles mention the Seven Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education - Shea (2003): "A Follow-up Investigation of 'Teaching Presence' in the SUNY Learning Network" (http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v7n2/v7n2_shea.asp]) and Wingard (2004): "Classroom Teaching Changes in Web-enhanced Courses: A Multi-Institutional Study" (http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0414.pd).

Shae's piece on the SUNY Learning Network indicates that students rated their classmates almost as high as the instructors on effectiveness of discourse facilitation; however, the correlation between the rating of classmates' discourse and their satisfaction and their reported learning were not as high (p. 74). The authors later reiterate this point, and suggest that students have high expectations for their instructors and tend to be more "strict" in their ratings than with their peers (p. 76). Another explanation is that their are more classmates than instructors in the classroom. I'm still thinking about this finding and its corresponding explanations...

In the article, "Motivation and Incentives for Distance Faculty" (2003; http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall63/parker63.htm), Parker states, "the study found that community college faculty tend to see distance delivery of education as a part of their job." Was this study a mix of community colleges and 4-year institutions? If there was a mix, it would have been interesting to see how the findings from Parker's lit review differed among the different types of institutions. Also, what has made community college faculty take on this view of distance delivery of education? How was that line of thought integrated into the culture? Or is it that individuals who teach at community colleges are focused on teaching, rather than research, which makes them more willing to try different course delivery methods?