Internet Learning Volume 3, Number 1, Spring 2014 | Page 96

Internet Learning Volume 3 Issue 1 - Spring 2014
Beliefs Regarding Faculty Participation in Peer Reviews
of Online Courses
Andria F. Schwegler A , Barbara W. Altman B , Lisa M. Bunkowski C
Prior to implementing a voluntary, unofficial Quality Matters peer review process
for online courses at our institution, several faculty members openly expressed
concerns about the process. To systematically identify and examine how
highly endorsed these beliefs actually were, we used the Theory of Planned Behavior
(Ajzen, 1985) to investigate faculty beliefs and their plans to participate
in the peer review. This behavior prediction model provided a logical theoretical
basis for this investigation because it targets intentions to perform volitional
behaviors and directly examines salient beliefs underlying attitudes, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioral control toward the behavior. Though differences
in belief endorsement between faculty members who chose to participate
in the peer review and those who did not could not be tested statistically due to
small sample sizes, a qualitative examination of the endorsement of the modal
belief statements provided useful information about faculty members’ perceptions
of completing the peer review. Our results indicated that many of the
concerns and criticisms of the peer review process were not as highly endorsed
as initially assumed. Our objective examination of faculty beliefs, instead of
reliance on hearsay and a vocal minority, was useful in identifying genuine
faculty concerns that could be directly addressed. Our data provided directions
to guide administrative changes in our process to increase participation in internal
peer reviews with the goal of improving the online course design quality.
Keywords: peer review, online course design, faculty beliefs, Quality Matters,
faculty attitudes
A
Dr. Andria F. Schwegler is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and the Online Coordinator for the College
of Education at TAMUCT. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Psychology including social
psychology, statistics, and research methods. Her research areas of interest include social norm formation and
change, post-traumatic stress and depression symptoms in soldiers returning from combat, and the scholarship
of teaching and learning.
B
Dr. Barbara W. Altman is an Assistant Professor in Management and the Online Coordinator for the College
of Business Administration at TAMUCT. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Business Ethics,
Leadership and Strategy. Her research interests are in corporate social responsibility, organizational change,
inter-organizational partnerships, and the leadership traits necessary to facilitate such linkages. Her research
interests also involve methods to improve online and blended course design and delivery.
C
Dr. Lisa M. Bunkowski is an Assistant Professor of History and the Director of Instructional Enhancement
and Innovation (IEI) at TAMUCT. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in American History.
Her disciplinary research focus is on the mid-nineteenth century USA, with emphasis on issues of violence
and gender. She is also involved with several regional Oral History projects. As the Director of IEI, she is focused
on the scholarship of teaching and learning, faculty development, and is actively involved in supporting
course design and delivery of online and blended programs.
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