Overcoming Faculty Avoidance of Online Education: From Resistance to Support to Active Participation

Abstract

The online delivery of higher education courses and programs continues to expand across academic disciplines at colleges and universities. This expansion of online education has been precipitated by, among other things, (a) the rise in personal computer ownership, (b) the ease of access to the Internet, (c) the availability and continuous improvement in technology for the delivery of online courses, and (d) the increase in demand for online courses by both traditional and nontraditional students. However, the proliferation of online education has not been enthusiastically supported by all constituents of higher education. Specifically, some faculty members remain resistant to the shift to online course delivery. This article applies the Transtheoretical Model of Change to the process of gaining faculty support for, and involvement in, online learning. After briefly reviewing current issues in online education and making a case for its adoption, we describe sources of faculty resistance and offer recommendations for interventions that may be applied to transforming faculty resistance to support and eventually to active participation.