| Over the past decade online distance education has emerged as one of the most significant issues of change facing institutions of higher education (Baldwin, 1998; Batson & Bass, 1996; Delamarter, 2005; Dolence, 1995; Eckel & Kezar, 2003; Johnson, Hanna, & Olcott, 2003). Faculty, administrators and staff are wrestling with what role online distance education courses and programs will serve at their institution. Although many institutions of higher education have been implementing online distance education programs (National Center for Education Statistics), graduate theological education as a whole has refrained from such practices (Delamarter, 2004). The purpose of this research was to provide a rich description of the processes of organizational change by which one graduate theological school implemented an online distance education program. The following questions provided direction for the study: (1) What are the key factors that assist graduate theological schools during the implementation of online distance education programs? (2) What are the key forces of resistance that hinder graduate theological schools during the implementation of online distance education programs? (3) How have some of the graduate theological schools that have implemented online distance education programs managed the tension between the factors that led towards and the forces that resisted the implementation of online distance education programs?; The significance of this study is the contribution it makes to the literature on how graduate theological schools can better understand the change processes of implementing an online distance learning program. The findings of this research support the fact that change is messy and complex. Although change is difficult, graduate theological schools can successfully implement distance learning programs. Based on the findings of this study, faculty and administrators/staff will be well served to adopt factors that assist (i.e., motivating factors, initiating factors, and confirming factors) in the implementation process. Faculty and administrators/staff will also be well served to adequately respond to the forces of resistance (i.e., diminishing forces and persisting forces) that can hinder the effective implementation of an online distance learning program. |
