Online Education: A Comparison of the Perceptions of Traditional Versus Online High School Teachers Regarding the Visual Arts

• Main Authors: Fine, Karen A., Lampley, James hH.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2017
• Subjects: online education; high school teachers; Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis; Higher Education
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/3019; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4117&context=etsu-works

As more high school student take advantage of online instruction leading to a high school diploma, teacher training programs are not keeping pace with pedagogical instruction for those high school teachers that want to teach online. We often think of online instructions for home school students, students with long-term illnesses, or students that have been suspended or expelled. However, because many school districts have cut “nonacademic” offerings from the curriculum online instruction in the arts often is the only source of instruction in the arts for these traditional high school students. If teacher education departments are to address this issue the perceptions of classroom teachers (traditional and online) toward online teaching of the arts needs to be studied. Perceptions of faculty members from high schools with traditional instructional delivery models as well as public online schools concerning online education as it relates to the arts in 4 different areas was the focus of this research; delivery method, satisfaction, student learning, and curriculum. Examining the perceptions of teachers gives a blueprint for future learning regarding course design to meet the unique online delivery method. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the perceptions of high school faculty members of online instruction of visual arts compared to traditional face-to-face instruction regarding visual arts delivery method, satisfaction, student learning, and curriculum. Data collection techniques included the use of a survey with a 6-point Likert-type scale and collection of demographic information. Data were analyzed through a nonexperimental quantitative methodology further explained through 4 dimensions (delivery method, satisfaction, student learning, and curriculum). In faculty members age differences, gender, years of teaching, and subject area taught were investigated to see if there were any significant differences. The population included faculty members of online and traditional high schools in the southeastern United States. The following states were chosen for the study; Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. There were 490 participants in the online survey. This study revealed that there is statistical significance difference in several age groups and years worked in the delivery dimension. There is also statistical significance difference in the satisfaction and curriculum dimensions in the academic discipline grouping for fine arts. Curriculum dimension was also found to be significant in the online delivery method. The dimension of student learning was statistically significant in age groups. No significant difference found in gender with any of the dimensions.