| This dissertation surveyed Illinois community-college chief academic officers to identify the administrative issues to be considered when delivering online instruction. The thirty-seven item survey instrument was developed using the nominal group technique. Thirty-three chief academic officers of Illinois community colleges of the total of thirty-nine completed and returned the survey.; The objectives of this study were to determine the following types of administrative issues to be considered when delivering online instruction as identified by Illinois community-college chief academic officers: (1) institutional issues, (2) programming issues, (3) financial issues, (4) legal issues, and (5) other issues.; As a result of this study, Illinois community colleges should be sure the following administrative issues are appropriately addressed when offering courses online: (1) institutional issues: (a) quality of the entire online program, (b) student retention, (c) strategic plan and business plan for the online courses, including the size and breadth of the program; (2) programming issues: (a) faculty development, including training and support for performance, (b) productivity issues for faculty including how to supervise the process and workload issues, (c) scope of student support including the cyber library and the virtual campus; (3) financial issues: (a) costs of online instruction, including overhead costs, hardware, and personnel; and (4) legal issues: (a) collective bargaining issues with faculty.; As a result of this study, it is not clear whether or not Illinois community colleges should address the following administrative issues: (1) institutional issues: (a) marketing to potential students that will be different for the online students as opposed to the students in the traditional courses, (b) faculty buy in of the online courses, (2) programming issues: (a) accessibility for students, both Americans with Disabilities Act issues and rural areas computer connection issues, (b) evaluation of faculty, (c) eligibility of faculty to develop and teach online, including the necessary skills, and (d) course evaluation procedures including identification of who is responsible for what. |
