And Never the Two Shall Meet?: Student vs. Faculty Perceptions of Online Courses

The education literature is blossoming with work on perceptions of distance education, online teaching, hybrid courses, and the like. Although this literature is important for helping faculty to understand the costs and benefits for teaching in these newer formats, little attention has been paid to documenting potential differences between student expectations for taking and faculty perceptions about teaching online courses. The current project gathered perceptual data from students and faculty about online courses. Findings suggest that differences between student and faculty perceptions of online courses might create barriers that diminish the effectiveness of the teaching-learning environment in such courses. (Contains 3 tables.)