Faculty Participation in Online Higher Education: What Factors Motivate or Inhibit Their Participation?

The Importance of Online Learning to Higher Education

Higher education institutions often seek to implement online education initiatives as a means to increase student enrollments (Schiffman, Vignare, & Geith, 2007). Higher education online enrollments continue to surge in the United States, as evidenced by the finding from the most recent Sloan Consortium report (Allen & Seaman, 2011) indicating that the number of students taking at least one online course grew by an annualized rate of 18.3 percent between fall 2002 and fall 2010. This is compared to an approximate two percent annualized growth rate for enrollments in all of higher education during the same time period (Allen & Seaman, 2011). This promise of increased enrollments has elevated online education to a position of great strategic importance for higher education institutions. Indeed, 65.5% of chief academic officers at higher education institutions reported that online education is “critical to the long-term strategy of my institution” (Allen & Seaman, 2011, p. 7). Research (Chau, 2010; Hoskins, 2011; McCord, 2007; Moloney & Oakley, 2010) supports the argument that online education has become a critical component of the higher education system.

Online education has been recognized as an important strategic concern at St. Bonaventure University. The reasons for this importance are threefold. First, St. Bonaventure is hoping the flexibility of asynchronous online education allows for the recruitment of more non-traditional students who, due to a variety of commitments, would otherwise be unable to attend college courses. Second, the geographic flexibility afforded to students is particularly attractive given St. Bonaventure’s rural location. Finally, online education will allow St. Bonaventure to enroll additional students without having to make many improvements or additions to its existing physical plant.