Wednesday, April 21, 1999

On-Line Programs Face Faculty Resistance, Management Educators Say By KATHERINE S. MANGAN Atlanta As business schools have joined the stampede toward on-line and other distance-education courses, some faculty members are being dragged along reluctantly, say management educators assembled here this week. For the most part, management educators are upbeat about the growing impact that technology is having on business schools. Even if they welcome the idea of making courses accessible to a wider audience, many business professors complain that distance courses take longer to prepare and won't help them get tenure, according to several of the speakers who have addressed the annual meeting of the International Association for Management Education. And other professors question the educational quality of courses that offer students little or no face-to-face contact with their teachers or classmates. For the most part, however, management educators here are upbeat about the growing impact that technology is having on business schools. More than 1,000 educators from 30 countries are attending the conference, which has focused on distance education, on-line M.B.A. programs, and other examples of what the association calls "the technology revolution in management education." The conference ends today. But several speakers have noted that the opportunities that technology presents -- such as higher enrollments and increasing revenues -- also bring new challenges. While many faculty members are effectively integrating technology into their teaching, some speakers said, others are uncomfortable -- particularly with distance courses. "People who have been very effective in leading group discussions in class may freeze up in a technological environment," said Edward M. Neal, director of faculty development of the Center for Teaching and Learning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. And tenure-and-promotion committees don't always share a dean's enthusiasm for distance learning, and in many cases the committees are unlikely to reward time spent developing on-line courses, some speakers said. "There's a lot of interest in developing Web-based courses, but our younger faculty won't go near it because of the tenure hurdle," complained one educator. Both the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors have issued reports within the last month questioning the effectiveness of distance learning. "People who say there's no difference between distance and traditional degrees are being intellectually dishonest," said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the A.F.T., in an interview Tuesday. The A.F.T. has more than 100,000 higher-education members. The A.A.U.P. maintains that professors should be paid more for teaching on-line courses than for conventional courses because the former take more time to prepare. The union also says that faculty members preparing to teach on line should also be given a lighter course load the previous semester to prepare for such courses. Background stories from The Chronicle: "The Marketing Intensifies in Distance Learning," 4/9/99 "Studies of Distance Education Are Mostly 'Questionable,' Report Says," 4/7/99 "Union Cites Guido Sarducci in Ad Campaign Aimed at Distance Education," 4/5/99