Sher, W; Williams, A and Northcote, M (2015) The lived experience of online educators: Insights from construction management. Construction Economics and Building, 15(2), pp. 49-62. ISSN 2204-9029
Abstract
Academics in higher education institutions often experience the conflicting demands of teaching, research and administration. With the growth of online education these staff are frequently required to design, develop, teach, facilitate and, in some cases, administer online courses. Cumulatively these additional tasks challenge academics, not only in terms of the personal professional development but also in accommodating the range of tasks expected of them. This paper reports the findings of a study which investigated the lived experience of construction management academics teaching at universities in Australia. The study adopted a lived experience research approach that enabled the lives of construction management academics to be investigated through the collection of a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data. The study provides empirical evidence of a range of challenges facing those delivering online courses. Recommendations for online teachers and online course designers emerged from this study with application to both faculty-based and institution-wide practices. The findings are relevant to those in the higher education sector who are involved in online teaching, course design for online delivery and professional development related to online initiatives.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction management education; online education; professional learning |
| Index terms: | construction management education, professional development, higher education, designer, Australia, evidence, higher education institution |
| Subjects: | educational institutions, Geography, professional development, profession, evaluation and assessment methods, professional education |
| Topics: | Information Management, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Education, Geographical Context |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here