| Education offered at a distance via the World Wide Web is on the rise. So too is the demand for university faculty members who will teach those courses. While traditional academic and professional expectations remain unchanged, the new medium presents a new context in which these faculty members live, work, and balance personal and professional decisions.; This study provided a multi-dimensional perspective of one college of education's faculty and administrators as they seek to negotiate this emerging environment. Previous literature focuses on the risks and rewards associated with teaching in the emerging field of online instruction in higher education. Building upon this foundation, the researcher used an interpretive case study approach to describe the intersection of traditional academic and professional expectations with the changing field of online education at a medium sized university's college of education in the southwestern United States.; Using interviews and documents, a detailed description of the context in which online faculty work was developed. Study participants were asked to talk about the risks and rewards they perceived to be associated with teaching online. State and university policy documents were examined to provide the official policy for conditions of faculty service. Faculty provided the insider's perspective on this unique context. Additional faculty members who serve on performance review committees for online faculty added the peer reviewer's perspective. Finally, administrators were interviewed in order to gain a wider perspective of what faculty face as they work to successfully meet their academic and professional expectations.; Results from the study aligned with previous literature on the topic. Official state and university documents confirmed that there is no policy that recognizes the different environment in which university faculty work. Interviews confirmed the presence of risk and rewards associated with teaching online. Risks to teaching, research, service, and the annual performance review were discussed. The unifying factor in the area of rewards was the idea of flexibility. Study participants were unanimous in that the flexibility afforded by teaching online was the greatest reward. |
