To understand about the adoption of online education in higher education and presidential perception of online education, this study investigates the adoption of online education by traditional liberal arts institutions (TLACs). These institutions and presidential leaders currently face challenges as TLACs evolve to remain relevant in the twenty-first century.
The Adoption of Online Education by Traditional Liberal Arts Colleges
As American higher education continues to evolve and compete globally, institutions and their presidents face unparalleled challenges in achieving their goals and missions. Recently, the growth of online education programs has become one of the most pressing and rapidly changing issues faced by faculty members and leaders in higher education. Present-day trends indicate an insurgence in the demand of online and hybrid courses from higher education students with over 28% of enrolled students taking at least one online course (Allen & Seaman, 2016). Dealing with unprecedented demands have made leading American higher education institutions in the twenty-first century no ordinary charge. Due to popularity and demand of online education, 63.3% of chief academic officers are integrating online learning into their long-term strategic planning (Allen & Seaman, 2016; Chen, Lambert, & Guidry, 2010). The current demand for online education is being met by more than a thousand degree-granting institutions including public, private, and for-profit institutions; thus, creating intense competition in a limited marketplace. Still, not all higher education institutions are adopting online education. Institutions have different rationale for adopting online education, and leaders of each institution must determine whether or not online education is appropriate for their institution.
In order to understand more about adoption of online education in higher education and presidential perception of online education, this study investigates the adoption of online education by traditional liberal arts institutions (TLACs). TLACs are defined as four-year institutions that exclusively focus institutional goals and curricular structures on undergraduate studies in the fields of arts and sciences, such as philosophy, languages, social sciences, and physical sciences. These colleges confer bachelor’s degrees, such as Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science, and do not offer professional or graduate degrees. These institutions and presidential leaders currently face numerous challenges and threats as TLACs evolve to remain relevant in the twenty-first century while maintaining their liberal arts mission.
Purpose and Research Questions
This study determines the extent to which online education has been adopted at TLACs and explore how TLAC presidents think about the adoption of online education at their institutions. Two research questions guide this study: 1) To what extent has online education been adopted at TLACs? 2) How do presidents at TLACs think about the adoption of online education at their institutions?
Theoretical Framework
The primary concern of innovation diffusion research focuses on how innovations are adopted and why some innovations are adopted at a faster or slower rate than others. The diffusion of Innovation (DoI) model as conceptualized by Rogers in 1962, is one of the most widely used social science theories. According to Rogers (2003), “diffusion is the process in which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system” (p. 5). Leaders, sometimes referred to as change agents, often play a critical role within the social system.
The study utilizes DoI as a theoretical lens to examine the adoption of online education by TLACs and understand how president think about the adoption of online education at their institutions. Specifically, the proposed study will employ two concepts originally conceptualized by Rogers (2003): adopter categories and perceived attributes. The description of Rogers’ (2003) adopter categories influenced how criteria was determined for the online education categories created for the first phase of the study. The emergent categories from the study reflect the level of adoption of online education within the TLAC social system. Based on the findings from phase one, college presidents representing each of the emergent categories of institutions were selected for participation in interviews. The interview protocol was conceptually based on Rogers’ (2003) model of the DoI and the work of Moore and Benbasat (1991). The guided questions revolved around creating an understanding of the eight perceived characteristics of innovation by the presidents: relative advantage, compatibility, ease of use, trialability, visibility, image, voluntariness, and result of demonstrability. For this study, the eight constructs are valuable because they afford a framework for understanding the perceived characteristics that impact adoption of an innovation, which in this case is online education.
Proposed Methodology
Drawing upon the DoI theory as the framework for informing the data collection as well as interpreting and presenting the results, this study employs a two-phase, sequential mixed method design. The first phase is exploratory in nature in order to determine the level of online education activity at each TLAC. This fact-finding quest included queries to the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the 2014-2015 academic year database to determine which institutions report distance learning offerings, institutional website reviews, and a survey to TLAC registrars. The data analysis provides a general overview of what is happening in online education by TLACs and informed the selection of participants for the second phase of the study. In the second phase, qualitative interviews with TLAC presidents were conducted to understand how these administrators feel and think about the adoption of online education at their institutions. Using DoI as a framework, an interview protocol utilizing semi-structured questioning focused on better understanding the perceptions of TLAC presidents online education adoption was developed and utilized.
Significance
The importance of this research lies in the realization that many higher education institutions and leaders are integrating online education perhaps without closely examining if and how online education aligns with their existing environment, mission, culture, and curricula. Additionally, college presidents represent a complex and less understood group, especially concerning their roles in organizational change, such as adopting online education. The modern day college presidency continuously deals with organizational change as internal and external forces impact how these institutions are lead. TLAC presidents in particular must demonstrate effective leadership as these institutions continue to evolve as a few of them are financially unpredictable in today’s competitive global marketplace. Much of the existing online education research reports on the quantity of online students, faculty, courses, and programs; yet, few of the studies report on how college presidents, specifically TLAC presidents, think about the adoption of online education. Further, there is a paucity of recent scholarly literature on college presidential leadership. This study intends to provide an empirical contribution to that literature.