THE IMPACT OF ONLINE TEACHING ON HIGHER EDUCATION FACULTY’S PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY: THE COMING OF AGE OF THE VIRTUAL TEACHER: By EDWIGE SIMON M.A., Université Lille III, 2000 M.A., Indiana University, 2003 M.S., Indiana University, 2005 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ATLAS Institute 2012 UMI Number: 3508146 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent on the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3508146 Copyright 2012 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106 - 1346 This thesis entitled: The Impact of Online Teaching on Higher Education Faculty’s Professional Identity and the Role of Technology: The Coming of Age of the Virtual Teacher: written by Edwige Simon has been approved for the ATLAS Institute _______________________________ John K. Bennett _______________________________ Sarah Hug _______________________________ Diane E. Sieber _______________________________ Doug C. Sicker _______________________________ Charlotte N. Gunawardena Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. IRB protocol # : 0310.6 iii Edwige Simon (ATLAS Institute) The Impact of Online Teaching on Higher Education Faculty’s Professional Identity and the Role of Technology: The Coming of Age of the Virtual Teacher Thesis directed by John Bennett, Archuleta Professor of Computer Science This dissertation employs a mixed method approach to investigate the impact of online teaching on higher education faculty’s professional identity, and the role played by technology in this process. Previous work on faculty preparation to teach online does not recognize that before changing practices, it is necessary to examine the values and belief systems that underlie those practices. I examine the results of two qualitative studies that compare different groups of teachers. The first group was comprised of teachers who teach both online and face-to-face, but who expressed a clear preference for the face-to-face classroom, and who reportedly experienced difficulty enacting their professional identity in the online classroom. The second group was comprised of online teachers with a record of online teaching excellence, and who reportedly enjoyed both modalities equally. I then examine the results of a survey of 223 higher education faculty that considers the degree to which findings from the first two studies can be generalized. This research helps identify how online learning is changing both teachers and the teaching profession within higher education, why many faculty remain ambivalent about online teaching, and suggests ways to address these challenges. iv CONTENTS CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 I. Background ......................................................................................................................... 1 II. Prior Research ................................................................................................................... 2 III. Research Goals ................................................................................................................. 2 IV. Methods ............................................................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER II: RELATED WORK ............................................................................................. 5 I. Online Teaching and Learning .......................................................................................... 5 1. Definitions ........................................................................................................................ 5 1.1 Distance Education ..................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Face-to-Face Learning ................................................................................................ 6 1.3 Web Facilitated ........................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Blended/Hybrid Learning ........................................................................................... 6 1.5 Online Learning .......................................................................................................... 6 2. Brief History of the Field ................................................................................................. 7 3. Online Learning in 2012 .................................................................................................. 8 3.1 Significant Growth ..................................................................................................... 8 3.2 The Main Actors of Online Learning ......................................................................... 9 3.3 Learning Outcomes .................................................................................................. 10 4. Practical Barriers to Online Teaching ............................................................................ 12 4.1 Pedagogy and Technology ....................................................................................... 12 4.2 Student Readiness ..................................................................................................... 12 4.3 Time Commitment and Compensation ..................................................................... 13 4.4 Perceptions of Online Learning ................................................................................ 14 II. Identity, Teaching Identity and Online Identity ........................................................... 15 1. Identity ........................................................................................................................... 15 v 2. Identity Attributes .......................................................................................................... 16 2.1 The Social Construction of Identity ......................................................................... 16 2.2 Multiple Identities .................................................................................................... 17 2.3 Changing Identities ................................................................................................... 18 3. Teaching Identity ........................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Definition .................................................................................................................. 19 3.2 Importance of Teaching Identity .............................................................................. 21 3.3 Academic Identity .................................................................................................... 21 4. From Classroom to Online Identity ............................................................................... 22 4.1 Embodied and Disembodied Identities ..................................................................... 22 4.2 Online Teaching Selves ............................................................................................ 23 4.3 Identity Enactment Online ........................................................................................ 24 III. Technologies of Distance Learning ............................................................................... 24 1. History of Distance Learning Technologies History ..................................................... 24 1.1 Garrisson and Anderson’s Model ............................................................................. 25 1.2 Taylor’s Model ......................................................................................................... 28 2. Technology Packages ..................................................................................................... 29 2.1 The Course Management System ............................................................................. 29 2.2 Social Media ............................................................................................................. 31 3. From Text to Virtual Reality .......................................................................................... 32 3.1 Text-Based Technologies ......................................................................................... 32 3.2 Audio-Based Technology ......................................................................................... 34 3.3 Video-Based Technology: Exploring Telepresence ................................................. 35 3.4 Virtual Reality: Exploring Identity Construction ..................................................... 37 4. Limitations of Previous Work ........................................................................................ 39 CHAPTER III: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................