A Faculty Assessment Of The Academic Rigor Of On- And Off-Campus Courses In Agriculture

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare college of agriculture teachingfaculty members 'perceptions of the academic rigor of on-campus and off-campus courses. The population included 262 faculty members with teaching responsibilities or with teaching experience in the College of Agriculture at Iowa State University. All members of the population were surveyed and the response rate was 54.2%. Exploratory factor analysis was used to identify factors underlying college of agriculture teaching faculty members , perceptions of the academic rigor of on-campus and off-campus courses. Ultimately, three factors were identified including (I) active learning, (2) effort, and (3) high cognitive levels. The factors were useful in explaining academic rigor in on-campus and off-campus courses. College of agriculture teaching faculty perceived off-campus courses to be less rigorous than on-campus courses. Notably, faculty perceptions of the academic rigor of on-and off-campus courses were independent of their participation in faculty development programs related to distance education and their experience with distance teaching. Further research is needed to determine if off-campus courses do infactprovide less opportunityfor active learning, require students to expend less effort, and result in lower level cognitive outcomes.

Social Presence, Social Interaction, Collaborative Learning, and Satisfaction in Online and Face-to-Face Courses

“…Instructors were perceived to have facilitated fewer discussions and created less of a community in online courses. This finding is reinforced by other research conducted to compare the levels of quality in on-and off-campus courses in agriculture (Miller & Shih, 1999).…”

“…In both the current study and Miller & Shih (1999), students found instructors to be more available in on-campus courses.…”

“…Agriculture educators began their approach to understanding online learning by first identifying opportunities and obstacles related to online learning (Miller, 1995;Murphy & Terry, 1998;Murphrey & Dooley, 2000). Similar to other disciplines, agriculture educators also compared on-and off-campus courses (Miller & Shih, 1999;Miller & Pilcher, 2001;Moore & Wilson, 2005) and identified relevant educational technologies that would support online learners (Murphy & Terry, 1998, Murphy, 1999Dooley & Murphy, 2001). Evaluation of online courses is also prevalent in literature related to online courses in agriculture (Murphrey, 2010;Roberts, Irani, Lundy, & Teig, 2004;Mink & Moore, 2005).…”

Evaluating Academic Challenge Beyond the NSSE

“…Interpretations by college faculty of academic rigor captured by these authors included the promotion of critical thinking, high instructional standards and expectations, a focus more on the learning process than the product, cognitive development of students, high student involvement in learning, and pushing students beyond their comfort level. Miller and Shih (1999) sought to define factors underlying faculty perceptions of academic rigor and identified active participation in the learning process by students, exertion of effort by students, and achievement of higher levels of cognitive learning in Bloom's taxonomy (1956).…”

The study of the impact of the M.S. in Agronomy Distance Education Program on student careers

“…Agriculture professional adult students have the same work, family and social commitments and study characteristics as other adult distance education students (G. Miller, 1997). G. Miller and Shih (1999) reported faculty perceptions that "off-campus students were more eager to learn than on-campus students, brought considerable amounts of experience to their courses, and expected to be able to apply the information immediately" (p. 52).…”