3 Statistics to Consider When Assessing Online Faculty

Online students have many decisions to make before they log into class, be it deciding to go to school, choosing a degree or picking a program.
  
Selecting the right online instructor may not be one of them, but it should be, says Krystal Hagi, an online student at Daytona State College. 

"To me, it's important that I get a good teacher because this is my education – this is how I am going to make a living," says Hagi, who hopes to graduate with a bachelor's​ in information technology in fall 2015.​ "I need to come out of this knowing this information. I don’t want to go to grad school and be like, 'Oh dear God​, I don’t understand any of this.'"

Experts say students looking to choose the right instructor can start by considering some of the facts listed below.

• Years of experience: ​​Since teaching in an online classroom involves a different skill set than teaching in a brick-and-mortar environment,  an instructor's experience leading an online classroom  – or lack of it  – can impact the quality of a course, some experts say. 

​Instructors in the 132 online bachelor's programs that reported data to U.S. News had an average of 5.2 years of online teaching experience as of the 2012-2013 school year.

That experience can come in handy, says Ron Eaglin​, associate vice president for the College of Technology at Daytona State College. 

"Faculty that have experience definitely do a better job because experience does help," Eaglin says. That said, he notes that  faculty who haven't taught online are not necessarily going to do a bad job.

"The younger faculty have taken online classes," he says. "And you learn how to do good classes online by having taken a class yourself." 

David Sylvia, director of academic affairs for graduate programs at Pennsylvania State University—World Campus, agrees that online teaching experience doesn't necessarily equate to quality. Talented, young instructors with no online experience can provide great classes with the right training, he says.

"If you have someone who taught online for 15 years who has bad training or no training that doesn't guarantee you are going to get a good result," he says. 

• Formal training: The more support, training and development schools can give online instructors in terms of becoming better teachers, the better experience students will have, says Sylvia.

One way schools prepare​ their faculty is by introducing them to new technology and helping them use it effectively in the classroom, Eaglin says. In a virtual classroom, "there are whole new possibilities" in terms of how to use technology to enhance learning, he says. ​Some instructors get this, he says, while others simply don't. 

When it comes to understanding the importance of faculty development, universities seem to have received the memo. 

Of the 246 online bachelor's programs that reported the data to U.S. News, about 90 percent reported administering or fully financing formal training courses for online bachelor's faculty on online teaching best practices during 2012-2013. Of those same programs, 165 required that faculty had a minimum amount of training or paired instructors with trained staff members who facilitated class delivery. 

• Accessibility: One key way to judge the quality of an online instructor is by his or her responsiveness and willingness to interact with students, Hagi says.

While she has some professors this semester who are very accessible, she also has one instructor who is teaching from overseas​ and is hard to reach because of the time difference, she says.

"I'm struggling because I'm lacking the ability to just go, 'I need help,'" she says.

Eaglin, with Daytona, agrees that it's important for students to have an instructor who gets back to them in a timely manner. "I actually kind of expect that faculty get back to students within 12 hours, even if it’s a weekend," he says.

That turnaround time might actually be little tight, according to U.S. News data. Of the 211 online bachelor's programs that had a required time for instructors to get back to students during 2013-2013, the average required response time was 32 hours after the question was submitted.  

While it's not always easy to find information about online instructors, Hagi says it's possible if students do a little digging.
 
"Ask other students who have had that instructor – get opinions," Hagi says. "Read up on them on the website. Meet them if you can. It's your education that you are paying for." 

Trying to fund your online education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for Online Education center.