Interior Design Faculty Intentions to Adopt Distance Education (2003)

Interior Design Faculty Intentions to Adopt Distance Education

Diane M . Bender, Ph. D., Arizona State University and Linda Good, Ph. D., Michigan State University

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to assess whether behavioral modeling (via CDROM demonstration) could affect a change in interior design educators' perceptions of distance education. The diffusion of innovations conceptual framework suggests that perceptions of an innovation's attributes will predict an individuali intent to adopt that innovation; using the diffusion of innovations framework suggest a manner to assess the acceptability and adoption of distance education by faculty members teaching in the arts. Little research has been conducted to assess distance education, or to better understand the limited participation in distance education efforts by faculty members in the arts (Abacus Associates, 2000).

The sample for this study included 67 self-selected interior design faculty members from across the

United States who had no previous experience with distance education. A Solomon four-group experimental design was used with a questionnaire that addressed the attributes (i.e.( relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, complexity, and observability) of an innovation (i.e., distance education) and assessed intent to adopt that innovation. A 15-minute CD-ROM presentation demonstrating Web-based studio instruction served as The experimental treatment.

Findings indicated that four components of this study-relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, and intent to adopt-have significant impact on interior design educators' perceptions of distance

education. Changes and strategies that may reduce educators' resistance to adopt distance education into interior design curricula are suggested.

Introduction Coping with rapidly accelerating technological change is one of the most important challenges in today's world, and higher education is not insulated from such change. With the multiplicity of new computer-based tools and multimedia communication methods, there is increasing pressure on faculty to pursue alternative forms of instruction, including distance education. Although most-if not all-faculty members recognize the significant role computers currently play in education (Mitra, Steffensmeier, Lenzmeier, & Massoni, 1999), these same faculty are often reluctant to embrace distance education. Because of shifting institutional dynamics, changing student populations, and transforming technologies, many faculty members may no longer have the option of overlooking, deliberately avoiding, or rejecting distance education approaches.

With the availability of affordable information technology, distance education is attracting considerable

attention and gaining a powerful foothold in higher education. A 2000 report from the Department of Education found that 44% of higher education institutions offered some form of distance education in 1998. This is an increase from the 33% reported in 1995 (Weiss, 2000). Likewise, distance education course offerings increased by 48% in 1999 to 67% in 2000 (Eggen, 2000). As the demand for distance-delivered education increases, the pressures faculty face to adopt distance education approaches will likewise increase. Equipping faculty with tools to negotiate changes in education delivery and to manage rapid technological change is crucial for distance-delivered education to flourish in the arts as well as in interior design education.

Those faculty members who have adopted distance education approaches have recognized the potential to improve teaching effectiveness and the potential for increased student learning (Groves & Zemel, 2000). Distance education can free teachers and students from

Q Copyright 2003, Interior Design Educators CounciP, Journal of Interior Design 29/1&2), 66-81

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INTERIOR DESIGN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION

BENDER AND GOOD

Only 1 % of those faculty members surveyed in the N E A study reported teaching distance education courses in the arts

(Abacus Associates, 2000).

the limitations of set schedules and physical spaces; distance education can also provide scheduling flexibility for instructors (Landstrom, 1995; Taylor & White, 1991) and in some institutions, distance education courses could provide a source of departmental revenue. The format and technology used in many distance education courses offer faculty an opportunity to customize courses to accommodate various student learning styles, goals, and abilities while providing instruction on an “any time, any place” basis (Massy & Zemsky, 1995). In research by Baird and Monson (1992), many educators who had taught distance courses found the experience better than their on-campus experience, both in course organization and student interaction. Although the fear of job loss-being replaced by technology-is real (Carnevale & Young, 1999; Guernsey & Young, 1998), respondents to a recent National Education Association (NEA) survey reported the belief that the number of faculty jobs will not decrease, the quality of instruction will not decline, and students will remain as candid in the distance classroom as they are in the traditional classroom (Abacus Associates, 2000).

Only 1 % of those faculty members surveyed in the NEA study reported teaching distance education courses in the arts (Abacus Associates, 2000). The two educational fields with the highest percentage of distance education faculty involvement were matldscience (20%) and social science (ISYO). The arts often lag behind the schools of business, engineering, and science in curricular integration of digital technology, even though technology has demonstrated “a significant impact on the way art is taught, studied, and practiced” (Baldwin, 1998; Lawn, 1998, p. 56). A variety of complex, isolated, and inter- connected factors serve to explain the lack of adoption by faculty teaching in the arts. For example, the distance education instructional model may be viewed as incom- patible with traditional teaching methods used in art-related disciplines like interior design. Today’s interior design education practices have continued to be principally based on the instructional methods introduced in France at L‘Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The Beaux-Arts approach focused on personal instruction and criticism complemented by a high level of interaction between students and instructors. Other components of

the Beaux-Arts approach include a small student-to-faculty ratio and high level of student-to-student interaction. Interior design educators may perceive this teaching method in opposition to the foundations of distance education in maintaining instructional or product quality and even perceive as adverse to learning objec- tives sought through face-to-face critique.

Although a good deal of research now exists that provides insight into student outcomes, course and program design, and the effectiveness of distance education technologies (“What’s the Difference,” 1999), very little research is available that addresses these faculty concerns and their adoption rates (Visser, 2000). Many distance education advocates have concentrated research efforts on the implementation of technologies, rather than on practices of instruction (Olcott, 1991). Therefore, the purpose of this research is: (a) to identify the perceptions interior design faculty members have regarding distance education (identified here as an “innovation”), (b) to determine whether a demonstration of how distance education technology could tx used in a studio setting would change faculty members’ perceptions of distance education, and (c) to better understand whether or not the attributes of distance education predict faculty members’ intent to adopt distance education approaches.

Distance Education and Perceived Barriers to Adoption For the purposes of this study, distance education will refer to the process of instruction where students and faculty are separated by time or place, and more than half of the interaction is via audio, video, and/or computer-mediated technologies. What separates distance education from other forms of education is its reliance on some form of mechanical or electronic communication (Dillon & Walsh, 1992); two forms of communication are prominent in distance education courses: asynchronous and synchronous. Asynchronous communication involves unscheduled learning, where students access course material and interact whenever they wish through the use of facsimile, email, television, videotapes, audiotapes, satellite broadcasts, Web pagedsites, and computer software. Advantages of asyn- ch rpous approaches include providing access to course

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BENDER AND GOOD

None of the advantages distance education offers are attainable, however, if faculty members. ..choose not to adopt distance approaches or attempt to convert

traditional, classroom-based approaches to distance delivery without a thoughtful recognition of the different context that distance learning provides.

-

material from many locations and allowing students time to reflect (e.g., to receive, read, ponder, and then respond to an e-mail message or post to a digital bulletin board). Further, many of these technologies are readily available and cost-effective (e.g., text-based asynchronous systems such as email do not require high-end computers to operate; Mason, 1999). Although much recent attention has been directed toward and much growth reported in Internet- and Web-mediated distance education, it is important to recognize that many institutions offer rich curricula facilitated by non-Internet distance approaches, such as satellite broadcasts.

Synchronous communication is dialogue between students and faculty at prescheduled times, which provides more opportunity for interaction, but is thus more time- constrained than asynchronous communication. Materials may be accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but class participation is at specified times, even if the instructor and students are in different geographical locations. The most common forms of media used for synchronous methods of distance education are Internet- based audioconferencing and videoconferencing. One advantage of synchronous communication is real-time interaction, which allows for timely feedback from the instructor or between students; another advantage is telepresence, whereby the presence-in this case, digital or virtual rather than physical-of an instructor can serve as a means to motivate students to keep pace with the group (Mason, 1999).

Distance education in general-and asynchronous and synchronous delivery and interaction specifically- offers a variety of advantages, but there are obvious disadvantages, one of which is the expectation that students take more responsibility for their learning and collaborate more intensely with peers, rather than having the instructor provide information and appropriate interpretations of that material (Anderson, 1997-1998; Baldwin, 1998). Without a physical space and set time to anchor students to a routine and to a course, students who are not mature and responsible may struggle in a distance education environment. Another disadvantage is the possibility of social isola-

tion. Students taking distance courses often express regret at not being able to interact with peers in a face- to-face environment (Eggen, 2000).

Although the disadvantages are significant, the positive factors of distance approaches, such as Web-based teaching, are hard to surpass. Web-based teaching offers both accuracy and consistency. All students who view a lecture receive identical lecture material, regardless of the instructional model implemented (Charp, 2000). All students get the same view of the professor and material, unlike the front row advantage in conventional classroom situations (Romiszowski, 1988). Students may appreciate the convenience of Web-based classes, which allow flexibility in viewing lectures at their convenience and as many times as they wish. Students who have difficulty concentrating or hearing in a crowded lecture hall are able to pace their experience of a lecture and to linger over particular information as they see fit; further, they can copy and paste information from a Web-based lecture into their word-processing software and add comments and notes. Although some students may fall prey to the burden of responsibility in distance approaches, other students may find that distance education offerings increase their motivation for learning and self-study and enhance their time-management skills. Distance approaches may also eliminate the need for multiple sections of the same course, helpful to departments with high-demand courses but with limited faculty. From a more administrative point of view, distance approaches may decrease information-delivery costs to students and to departments (Charp, 2000).

None of the advantages distance education offers are attainable, however, if faculty members-the disseminators of information and catalysts of learning-choose not to adopt distance approaches or attempt to convert traditional, classroom-based approaches to distance delivery without a thoughtful recognition of the different context that distance learning provides. Here we hope to provide strategies for faculty members to approach and integrate distance education; to do so, we identify distance learning as an innovation and apply a framework of adoption theory, specifically diffusion of innovations.

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BENDER AND GOOD

. . .if interior design educators perceive that an innovation is better than what it replaces, adopting it may save them time and effort.

Figure 1

Variables influencing the intention to adopt.

I - = The Diffusion and Adoption of Innovations The conceptual framework for this study is adoption theory, specifically, diffusion of innovations. Rogers (1995) defined diffusion as “the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system” (p. 5) ; an innovation is a creative idea, process, product, or method. Communication is the transmittal of information. Certainly, we as educators communicate our ideas and beliefs about distance education: on our professional e-mail discussion lists, in the hallways as we chat with colleagues, and in other places and via other media. We might thus identify communication as a process by which information is transmitted. What makes diffusion different from communication is its focus on the acceptance (adoption) process of the innovation. Diffusion, however, is marked by its product, by the ways in which information is not only communicated, but either accepted or rejected.

The focus of this study is first on distance education approaches, and second and more specifically, on the adoption of distance education methods by interior design educators. Based on diffusion of innovation, faculty should be more likely to adopt distance education methods if those methods are recognized as better than

traditional education methods, are compatible with faculty members’ values, and when the results of participation are clearly visible. In addition, if faculty members are given the opportunity to try teaching at a distance and it is not perceived as too complex, it will more than likely be adopted. The time it takes for a person or group to adopt an innovation is referred to as the rate of adoption. An individual’s perception of an innovation, not the innovation itself, affects the rate of adoption. Innovations also diffuse into social systems at different speeds; if an innovation meets the criteria described above, as time passes the percentage of adopters should grow. An important precursor to adoption is an individual’s intent to adopt (Rogers, 1995).

Every innovation has unique attributes perceived differ- ently by each individual. These attributes include relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, complexity, and observability of the innovation. The presence or absence of these attributes not only predicts the adoption rate, but can determine whether or not an innovation will be adopted (Karahanna, Straub, & Chervany, 1999; Rogers, 1995). Figure 1 illustrates the conceptual model for this study, which suggests that the various attributes of distance education will influence the intent of interior design faculty members to adopt distance education. Relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, and observability are all positively correlated to intent to adopt; complexity is negatively correlated.

Attributes of an Innovation: Relative Advantage Relative advantage is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the innovation that it may replace. The greater the recognized advantages of the new innovation, the quicker the innovation will be adopted. Relative advantage may decrease discomfort with an innovation. That is, if interior design educators perceive that an innovation is better than what it replaces, adopting it may save them time and effort. Further, following diffusion theory, if an innovation is adopted by peers and colleagues, the faculty member’s risk in adopting an innovation is minimized. In regard to the specific innovation under examination in this study, distance education efforts might be privileged in larger

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69 Volume 29 Number 1 &2 2003


BENDER AND GOOD

. . .the more compatible distance education appears to be with faculty members’ established values, the more likely faculty members

are to adopt distance education approaches.

institutions, and thus faculty members who adopt distance education methodologies or approaches may be in a position to receive institutional rewards and recognition. Previous research has found relative advantage to be the most important characteristic leading to adoption of an innovation among consumers (see, for example, Plouffe, Vandenbosch, & Hulland’s 2001 study on participation in a card-based payment system in Canada). In academic settings, the relative advantages of teaching and learning at a distance include flexible class scheduling (Taylor & White, 1991; Landstrom, 1995), the potential for increased instructional quality (Abacus Associates, 2000), and the accuracy of providing a consistent level of instruction to all students (Charp, 2000).

Attributes of an Innovation: Compatibility Compatibility involves the perception of consistency between the innovation and an individual’s existing values, past experiences, and needs; innovations consistent with these values and norms will be adopted rapidly. A high level of compatibility indicates that an innovation is more meaningful to the adopter. Even in the face of rapidly transforming technologies and new innovations, we never entirely leave our traditional practices behind; we carry our core values into new spaces of teaching and learning. Faculty members who explore distance education approaches may find that traditional pedagogical philosophies can translate to technology-mediated distance approaches. For example, a faculty member who believes that regular one-on-one communication with a student is crucial to support student learning may find that instant messaging (synchronous communication) or e-mail (asynchronous communication) can facilitate such dialogue, replacing after-class discussions or con- versations during office hours. Another example relates to student learning styles. Just as faculty members have to acclimate to different student learning styles in the traditional classroom, faculty will quickly find the need to negotiate different learning styles while teaching at a distance. For example, faculty may find that students prefer posted Microsoft PowerPoint presentations available to download and peruse at a time most convenient for them, or, instead, faculty may find that students prefer to meet for a synchronous chat during which the faculty member “talks” students through an online presenta-

tion. There will be a range of perceptions of consistency with any innovation; these examples reveal that distance education is no different. Again, the more compatible distance education appears to be with faculty members’ established values, the more likely faculty members are to adopt distance education approaches.

Attributes of an Innovation: Trialability The third attribute, trialability, is the degree to which an individual may experiment with an innovation on a limited, low-risk basis. New ideas that are tried incrementally, on an installment plan or through “pilot tests,” are more likely to be adopted because experimentation can reduce anxiety and uncertainty. Evidence suggests that faculty attitudes toward teaching with technology improve as they become more familiar with the processes of teaching at a distance (Dillon & Walsh, 1992) and as they have time to reflect on those processes and how, or how not, those processes fit with their established approaches to teaching. Unfortunately, the opportunity for faculty development and technology training is lacking in many institutions, constrained by limited faculty release time and minimal budgets for technology training (Murphy & Terry, 1998). Further, technology training that is available to faculty members is often available on a one-time basis (e.g., one 2-hour work- shop) and at a generic, homogenized level. That is, the training is not specific to a faculty member’s area of teaching, but rather is a very general introduction to a technology divorced from the actual context and content in which it will be applied.

Attributes of an Innovation: Complexity Complexity is the degree of difficulty in using and understanding an innovation. New ideas that are simple to understand are adopted more rapidly than ideas that require an individual to seek new skills and methods of understanding (Rogers, 1995). Distance education utilizes a high degree and great diversity of technology, affecting the way faculty do their work and interact with students, which may be an indication of the slow momentum of distance education. For example, only 9% of faculty members surveyed at a Midwestern state university indicated knowledge of the instructional technologies utilized in distance education (Spotts &

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BENDER AND GOOD

In distance education an educator may not “see ” student learning, but is only able to “see” the outcomes of learning processes.

Table 1 be especially true for faculty much more comfortable Overview of CD-ROM content. with face-to-face communication, which is supple-

mented by tone of voice, hand movement, facial SteDs Activity gestures, and more; rather than the text-based method of

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

a 9

10

1 1

The student is given a design prolect Explanation is provided in writing and verbally during lecture

The student completes the weekly task and ”captures” the drawing or image at the end of the task from the computer screen using the Print Screen key

The student pastes the image onto a blank PowerPoint slide and modifies the image by cropping it to remove the menu bars of the software and resizing it to fit the screen The student then exports the PowerPoint slide as a JPEG image

The student transfers the image to the course site using e mail or Internet tools

The faculty member or teaching assistant downloads all student files from the course site Each image is imported into one PowerPoint presentation

The faculty member prints all slides (6 per page) Faculty/guest critic reviews all submissions, identifies problems common to all students, and creates a thoughtful critique of student work

The faculh/ member creates an outline for the critique and records comments with audio sofiware

The faculty member transfers all files to the course site

The faculty member archives the week‘s files for Comparison with subsequent submissions

The student downloads the appropriate files and listens to the critique to make corrections to his prolect Students have several options for getting assistance email, open lab times, and Microsaft Netmeeting

Students are expected to preview the task for the coming week All students come to class to communicate concerns, get personal attention, and ask questions of the faculty and teaching assistants

Bowman, 1995). As noted earlier, the technologies of distance education may be very complex. Faculty members who teach via the Internet must either learn course-management software such as Blackboard or WebCT, or in constructing their own Web spaces, they must negotiate complex coding language and the com- plicated dynamics of designing graphic and text information. Further, the synchronous communication spaces provided by many online teachmg platforms provide a particularly rhetorically complex scenario. This may

online chatting, bulletin boards, or e-mail. These variables add to the complexity of adopting an innovation such as distance education and are important characteris- tics to consider when assessing faculty rate of adoption.

Attributes of an Innovation: Observability The final attribute, observability, is the degree to which the innovation itself and its results are visible and com- municable to others. If it is easy to observe results, an innovation is more likely to be adopted. When an innovation is not easily seen or even described, adoption is hindered. In traditional learning a variety of classroom assessment approaches can be adopted by faculty members to assess student learning; in fact, physical proximity is one very basic human assessment variable: when looking at a classroom of student faces, a faculty member can read and interpret frowns, smiles, indica- tions of confusion, etc. In distance education an educator may not “see” student learning, but is only able to “see” the outcomes of learning processes. Observable outcomes of distance education include a high level of student interactivity (Abacus Associates, 2000; Farrington, 1999), equivalent or higher student achievement than in traditional courses (Navarro & Shoemaker, 2000; Russell, 1999), and active student involvement in the education process ( Bellman, 1992).

Behavior Modeling and Experimental Treatment It is relatively easy to assert that certain attributes of distance education may increase the likelihood of faculty members to adopt distance education. It is much more complex, however, to change faculty attitudes and, subsequently, behaviors. Behavior modeling is one potential approach to shaping faculty behavior and is recognized as a major vehicle for transmitting innovative behavior in the diffusion of innovations model (Bandura, 1977). Because learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior (Decker, 1986), the goal of behavioral modeling training is to influence a person’s attitude through observation that subsequently leads to behavior change.




BENDER AND GOOD

. . .demonstrating a distance education application-in this case, a module based on an actual course and presented via CD-ROM-may change

interior design faculty members’ perceptions of distance education and might influence the intent to adopt distance education.

Figure 2 Figure 3

Faculty advantages of web-based studio. Faculty disdvantages of web-based studio.

To reinforce behavior modeling in this study, an instructional presentation demonstrating a Web-based design studio module (one particular form of distance education) was developed and served as the study treatment. The CD-ROM was created by the researchers and consisted of a 15-minute automated instructional presentation based on an existing interior design studio course that currently utilizes a high degree of Web-based technology and that is offered through a midwestern state university (Bender, Vredevoogd, & Witt, 2002).

The CD-ROM begins with a list of the various advantages and disadvantages of teaching a traditional design studio. This list was introduced for later comparison to the advantages and disadvantages of the technology- enhanced design studio.Technologies used in the course that served as a model for the CD-ROM included e-mail, Web material, lectures in MP3 format, and instant messaging(1M). The instructor of the actual course illustrates on the CD-ROM a four-step student process for completing design assignments and uploading them to the course website. A five-step faculty process is used for compiling all student assignments into one presentation file and uploading an audio critique file to the course website, and this step is also described on the CD-ROM as

is the next step in the process when student critiques are downloaded and reviewed. The CD-ROM presentation concludes with a short list of student and faculty advantages and disadvantages for using distance education to teach interior design studio courses (see Table 1 and Figures 2 and 3). Behavior modeling theory suggests that demonstrating a distance education application-in this case, a module based on an actual course and presented via CD-ROM-may change interior design faculty members’ perceptions of distance education and might influence the intent to adopt distance education.

Method Four-group Design To test the effect of the CD-ROM on educator perceptions of distance education, a Solomon four-group design (SFGD) was used for maximum validity, reliability, and generalizability (Gay, 1996). The SFGD combines the pretest-posttest control group design and posttest-only control group design. Four groups were formed: two groups were premeasured (one control and one experimental) and two groups were not premeasured (one control and one experimental).

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BENDER AND GOOD

Table 2

Participant demographic data.

Frequency Institutional affiliation

2-year 12 4-yea r 51 Neither 3 Missing data 1

Highest degree acquired Bachelor’s 10 Master’s 37 Doctora I 16

Other 3

Age Under 40 13 4 1-50 22 5 1-60 25 61 or older 6

Gender Male 19 Female 45 Missing data 1

Ethnicity Caucasian 62 Hispanic 2 Asian American 1 Other 1 Missing data 1

Professional organization membership IDEC 67 AIA 6 ASlD 26 IlDA 24 Other 15

Percentage

179 76 1

4 5 -

14 9 55 2 23 9

4 5

19.4 32.8 37.3 9.0

28.8 68.2

93.9 3 .O 1.5 1.5

100 9.0

38.8 36.4 22.4

Although considered a strong design, SFGD has been underutilized because of its perceived complexity, need for a larger sample size, and uncertainty concerning its stages of analysis (Walton Braver & Braver, 1988). The

SFGD was chosen for this study because of the strength it provides to conclusions. However, reporting all of the analysis stages will be minimized in order to concentrate instead on the hypotheses with most relevance for interior design educators.

Procedure and Sample Interior design faculty members who were not using distance education methods in their teaching were the target sample for this study. Initial correspondence was sent to members of the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC) in the U.S. to explain the study and request participation. Members voluntarily self-selected to participate in this study; 114 out of 514 members responded (response rate of 22.2%). At various stages of the study, 47 faculty members discontinued participation; 67 participants returned usable surveys for a final response rate of 13.0%. As participation postcards were returned, respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental groups or one of the two control groups by using a table of random numbers. Data collection occurred between September 2001 and February 2002. Respondents with missing data were excluded from analyses involving the specific missing data.

The typical respondent was between 51 and 60 years of age (37.3%), female (68.2%), and Caucasian (93.9%); the typical respondent has a master’s degree (55.2%) and teaches in a four-year institution (76.1%; see Table 2). The average participant reported over 13 years of combined part-time (2.7 years) and full-time (10.6 years) teaching experience and membership in one or more professional design organizations.

Instrument The survey instrument, which served as both the pretest and the posttest, consisted of the attributes of an innovation and intention to adopt scales, developed and extensively tested by Moore and Benbasat (1991) and modified by Plouffe et al. (2001). The number of measurement items for each scale is as follows: relative advantage (3), compatibility (3), trialability (3), complexity (4), observability (i’), and intention to adopt (4). Intention to adopt was included as a variable in the instrument to “capture the respondent’s sense of urgency to formally adopt the innovation”

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Table 3 Construct items.

Relative Advantage

Compati bility

Trialability

Complexity

0 bserva bility

Intention to Adopt

Using distance education would improve the quality of my interaction with students

Distance education would enable me to teach students more effectively

Using distance education would give me greater control over my teaching endeavors

Using distance education would be compatible with all the ways I like to teach

Using distance education would fit with my style as on educator

I think that using distance education would fi t well with the way I educate students

I've hod a great deal of opportunity to try distance education

I am able to experiment with distance education methods as necessary

Before deciding whether to use distance education for instruction, I would be able to properly try it out

Learning to teach at a distance would be easy for me * *The process of distance education is clear and understandable to me *

I would find it easy to get distance education to do what I want it to do * I would find distance education easy to use * Distance education is not very visible in my institution

I hove seen what others ore doing with distance education

I hove not seen many others using distance education in my department or college * I have had plenty of opportunity to see distance education being used

I believe I could communicate to others the consequences of using distance education

*The impact of using distance education is apparent to me

I would hove no difficulty telling others about my experience with distance education

I would be interested in using distance education

I will arrange to teach o distance education course as soon as possible

I will recommend that my colleagues use distance education for instruction

I don't see much need to use distance education *

-

Note *phrase recoded in analysis

(Plouffe et al., 2001, p. 69); see Table 3 for a complete list of measurement items. Moore and Benbasat (1991) and Plouffe et al. (2001) reported reliabilities from .71 to .95. All items were presented on a seven-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). Order of the items was randomized throughout the instrument and scores from negatively worded items were reversed during analysis; this is consistent with previous studies using the instrument (Moore & Benbasat, 1991; Plouffe et al., 2001). Narrative participant comments were also collected along with responses to the two scales.

Hypotheses Three hypotheses guided this research:

HI: Interior design faculty members who are administered the experimental treatment will exhibit higher overall posttest scores on all variables than faculty members who are not administered the experimental treatment.

H2: Interior design faculty members who are administered the pretest and the experimental treatment will exhibit higher



BENDER AND GOOD

Results suggest that interior design educators could see the benefit of using distance education to improve the quality of instruction

and to enable them to teach students more effectively.

Table 4 Table 5:

Overall means, standard deviations, and reliability of variables.

Mean Standard Reliability Deviation

Relative Advantage 3 5522 14536 0 82 Compatibility 3 4925 15617 0 92 Trialability 3 7463 1 4461 0 72 Complexity 4 2313 10246 0 70 Observability 4 2345 0 9909 0 69 Intention to Adopt 4 3246 1 2990 0 95

posttest scores on all variables than faculty members who are not administered the pretest or the experimental treatment.

H3: Relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, complexity, and observability will be significant predictors of an interior design faculty member’s intention to adopt distance education.

Results Tests of reliability were first performed on posttest data ( n = 67). The overall means, standard deviations, and reliability estimates (Cronbach’s alpha) for all variables are provided in Table 4. Reliabilities are acceptable, ranging from .69 to .95; a .05 level of significance was used for all analyses.

The first hypothesis examines whether or not those who viewed the CD-ROM attained higher posttest scores than those who did not view the CD-ROM. Analysis of vari- ance (see Table 5) indicates that perceptions about the relative advantage ( p = .026) of distance education were significantly higher for those who viewed the CD-ROM than those who did not, regardless of whether or not they had taken a pretest. This finding is consistent with past research where relative advantage was found to be the most important characteristic leading to adoption (Axin, 1988; Ploufe et al., 2001). Faculty members who viewed the CD-ROM demonstrated strong agreement that distance education would improve their teaching and provide

Treatment effect results using psitest data.

Pretest No MS F Sig Group Pre Group

Relative 105 5 174 026* Advantage

Treatment 4 4000 3 71 93 NoTreatment 3 1429 3 3056

Compatibility 441 1828 ,181 Treatment 4 3667 4 3667 No Treatment 3 3333 3 3 194

Trialability 039 018 894 Treatment 3 6000 3 8947 N o Treatment 3 6429 3 7500

Complexity 845 789 378 Treatment 3 5250 3 9342 No Treatment 4 2262 3 8785

Observa bi lity 182 186 668 Treatment 3 9286 4 5564 No Treatment 4 05 10 4 2 143

Intention to Adopt 4 2 3 2534 116 Treatment 5 000 4 3 158 No Treatment 4 0357 4 2 188

Abbreviations MS = Mean Square, F = Fishers F rotio, Sig = Significance

Note * p < 05

more control over the teaching experience. Results suggest that interior design educators could see the benefit of using distance education to improve the quality of instruction and to enable them to teach students more effectively. One participant in this study wrote, “I do see a very strong need for [distance education].”

Although no other variables reached significance, both compatibility and intention to adopt means were higher after viewing the CD-ROM, regardless of whether or not respondents were pretested. The other three variables generated higher means after treatment for the group that was not pretested, but not for the group that had taken the pretest. Therefore, the first hypothesis (H1 ) is supported only for relative advantage.

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BENDER AND GOOD

Although many of the interior design educators in this study perceived distance education as compatible with their teaching styles, a number of written comments indicated concern about the ways distance education

could be used to teach interior design.

Table 6 Table 7

1-tests between pre- and posttest scores, Groups 1 and 2.

Multiple regression on intention to adopt using posttest data.

Variable

Relative Advantage

Compatibility

Trialability

Complexity

Observability

Intention to Adopt NOTE * p < 05

Mean Difference

- 2917 - 4028 - 2778 - 2604 0077

- 2292

SD t Sig

7821 -1 827 081 10214 - 1 932 066 1 1945 - 1 139 266 1 0946 -1 165 256 8976 422 677 5156 -2 177 040*

To test the second hypothesis, paired sample t-tests were used to determine pre-post score difference for group one (pretest, treatment, posttest) and group two (pretest, no treatment, posttest). Intention to adopt was the only variable to achieve significance ( p = .04; see Table 6). Posttest scores were significantly higher than pretest scores for those who viewed the CD-ROM, indicating that after viewing the CD-ROM, respondents were more likely to participate in distance education than they had been prior to viewing the CD-ROM. Therefore, the second hypothesis (H2) is supported for intention to adopt but not for the remaining attributes of distance education. Perhaps having the behavior modeled removed barriers in the minds of respondents. Intention to adopt bridges the gap between attitude and behavior, which is important in understanding the diffusion of innovations. Respondents recognized the need for distance education and indicated a personal interest in using it. As behavioral intention is the direct deter- minant of an individual's behavior, the significance of this finding suggests more interior design educators may pursue distance education endeavors in the near future if they are able to view demonstrations of successful applications.

Multiple regression analysis was employed to predict the dependent variable (intention to adopt) by the five inde- pendent variables (relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, complexity, and observability). Results pro- duced an adjusted R2 value of .627 (see Table 7).

Beta t Significance

Relative Advantage 096 770 44 3 Compatibility 61 2 10 906 000" Trialability 20 1 3 416 001 **

Complexity - 097 -1 065 290 Observa bi I ity 035 42 1 675 NOTE * * p < 001

Components of the third hypothesis (H3), compatibility ( p . 0 0 0 ) and trialability (p<.OOl), are significant and positive predictors of intention to adopt. Although the other three attributes did not achieve significance, all relationships were consistent with diffusion theory, as indicated in Figure 1. It is not unusual for the significant predictors of intention to adopt to vary, depending on the particular innovation (Karahanna et al., 1999; Rogers, 1995).

Discussion With the current higher education emphasis on addressing multiple student learning styles and with increasing demand for self-paced learning, interior design educators may view distance education as compatible with teaching methods necessary for today's diverse student population. Students who have difficulty grasping concepts from print materials may be more at ease with learning experiences that engage sense beyond sight. Complex content can be conveyed more effectively due to the integration of computer animation, audio clips, and video files. Self-paced learning is also enabled with distance education technology due to opportunities for continuous assessment of student progress and learning. The instructional process is transformed into a more outcome-oriented enterprise (Massy & Zemsky, 1995), where faculty can concentrate less on day-to-day classroom dynamics and more on student learning.

Although many of the interior design educators in this study perceived distance education as compatible with

Volume 29 Number 1 &2 2003 I



BENDER AND GOOD

Trialability was also a significant predictor of intention to adopt distance education and may be key to overcoming the allegiance to the Beaux-

Arts-only method of teaching interior design.

their teaching styles, a number of written comments indicated concern about the ways distance education could be used to teach interior design. Gandolfo (1998) stated that faculty who become involved in distance education may exhibit expressions of grief due to the loss of what is familiar, such as traditional teaching methods. One participant expressed his willingness to explore distance education for courses such as the history of architecture, design, and furniture, but noted that he did not “...see it replacing the majority of I.D. courses and art courses. Interior design is about people and their places/spaces; it is a creative and functional problem solving [process] at the same time; students and faculty need to ‘feed’ off each other.” True to the Beaux-Arts philosophy, another educator did not believe that studio courses are suitable for distance education delivery because the “person-to-person creativity enhancement would be missing, and the quality of the graphics are not adequate for an appropriate studio experience.”

Trialability indicates that educators would pursue distance education endeavors if they have the opportunity to test and experiment. Trialability was also a significant predictor of intention to adopt distance education and may be key to overcoming the allegiance to the Beaux- Arts-only method of teaching interior design. Training interior design educators to use instructional technologies is an important component of a successful distance education initiative. What educators also need to learn are the critical dimensions of new technology-mediated learning environments to develop appropriate methods for teaching design. The experimental treatment utilized in this study did not provide the opportunity for participants to teach with distance education methods but did model the behavior for participants. One participant in this study said he was “in the process of trying it now.” Another educator commented, “I’m willing to try.”

Study Limitations and Directions for Future Research Findings should be interpreted in light of several limitations. First, there is risk of bias when using a self-selected sample. Because the demographic profile of IDEC members is unknown (R. Brown, personal communication,

February 2.5,2002), it is assumed that this sample is rep- resentative of interior design educators. Regarding study population, this study included interior design faculty members only; thus, the ability to generalize past this population to all arts and humanities content areas is limited. Any lack of significance can be due to the homo- geneity of the population; in other settings different patterns of predictors may emerge.

Second, the study began during the fall semester, which is a busy time for most educators. Further, the unex- pected U.S. terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 delayed delivery of mailed items and consequently extended data collection. A related issue was the anthrax threats from November 2001 to February 2002; individuals who earlier agreed to participate may have forgotten their commitment and disposed of the follow-up mailings, fearing mail from an unfamiliar source. These two events may have inhibited response rate.

The validity of the statistical conclusions and the statistical power of the study would undoubtedly be stronger with a larger sample size. Use of the SFGD requires a large sample, and testing of hypothesis 2 used data from only two of the four groups. A group size of 4.5 in each group would provide 90% power (Johnson & Leone, 1964), which this study was unable to achieve. However, the rigor of the design does provide confidence in the results.

A fourth limitation relates to the experimental treatment. The 1.5-minute treatment used in this research combined instruction and exploration (about distance education), which is part of the behavioral modeling approach (Simon & Werner, 1996). Bandura (1977) expressed concern that mere exposure to modeled activities may not result in observational learning, but past research has found no significant relationship between the length of training and resultant behavior (Harrison, 1992). Due to design limitations, the groups receiving the experimental treatment had no opportunity to actually experiment with distance education approaches. The integration of a training component in the experimental treatment may have increased the treatment effect.

Distance education is an innovative approach to teaching interior design. Yet its impact on higher education

JOURNAL OF INTERIOR DESIGN Volume 29 Number 1 &2 2003

University policy related to Web-based course ownership may impact a faculty member’s willingness to adopt distance education methods.

as a whole, and on faculty members in particular, remains unclear. Much more research is needed related to faculty attitudes toward distance education; for example, investigating how variations in training methods affect faculty attitudes toward distance education would contribute to existing knowledge. Behavioral modeling involves three stages of applied learning: (a) presentation of the role behavior, (b) imitation of the modeled behavior, and (c) positive social reinforcement (Nunns & Bluen, 1992). Our research provides support that stage one does have merit as a means of changing attitudes; however, research that utilizes stages two and three could provide insight into more comprehensive and effective attitude change strategies.

Further investigation should address factors that might impact a faculty member’s pursuit of distance education, such as whether the initial adoption decision was voluntary or involuntary (Karahanna et al., 1999; Mathieson, 1991). How distance education endeavors are rewarded in the traditional faculty reward system is another critically needed stream of research. Faculty members in the fine arts are typically evaluated on the basis of tangible and creative activities (Lawn, 1998). If distance teaching, traditional teaching, service, and scholarly research have unequal status in the promotion and tenure system (Wolcott, 1997), faculty in the arts will be less inclined to participate in distance education endeavors.

Intellectual property and copyright ownership is becoming an important issue in distance education and merits critical attention (Smith, Eddy, Richards, & Dixon, 2000; Guernsey & Young, 1998). The impact of the Internet on copyright infringement may be discour- aging innovation in education (Fisher, 2000). University policy related to Web-based course ownership may impact a faculty member’s willingness to adopt distance education methods.

Finally, Moore and Benbasat (1991) strongly encourage using their attributions of an innovation instrument to assess the opinions of various populations, with a diversity of innovations. This study offers findings based on one particular innovation, one specific experimental model of that innovation, and one particular population of faculty. Future research should extend analyses of this and

other distance-education-related innovations to other faculty populations in the arts.

Conclusions The purpose of this study was to assess whether a behavioral modeling experimental treatment affected a change in the perceptions of the attributes of distance education, using the diffusion of innovations as the conceptual framework. Our overall hypothesis was that viewing a CD-ROM demonstration of teaching certain interior design concepts would affect a more positive perception of distance education attributes for interior design educators. We also hypothesized that the five attributes of an innovation would predict intention to adopt distance education as a teaching method. Viewing the CD-ROM presentation significantly enhanced the perceptions of the relative advantage of distance education and intention to adopt distance education methods. In addition, compatibility and trialability were significant predictors of an interior design educator’s intention to adopt distance education.

Change is being asked of faculty in two ways. First, they are being asked to adopt new teaching tools. Second, they are being asked to alter the way in which instruction is delivered and to change the form of interaction with students (Dias, 1999). The definition and role of the distance educator is currently unclear and relatively undefined, intellectually and institutionally. Cini and Vilic (1999) believed that the role of an instructor in distance education is to: (a) design experiences to facilitate learning, (b) encourage students to be active learners, (c) guide the process of learning, (d) encourage student initiative, and (e) learn from students. These roles involve a set of issues, all of which impact an educator’s decision to pursue distance instruction; these issues include, but are not limited to: (a) quality and control of curriculum, (b) student learning and participation, (c) access to instructional technology, (d) faculty development, (e) time and workload, (f) intellectual property, (g) higher education reward system, (h) administrative support, and (i) traditional design education methods.

An obstacle to adopting distance education identified by comments in this study was the complexity of learning and using the necessary technology, a common refrain in



BENDER AND GOOD

A crucial question that we, as a discipline, must address is whether or not interior design programs are currently too rooted in tradition to contemplate

an explorative technology-based pedagogy such as distance education.

distance education research (“Continuing Challenge,” 1999). As one interior design educator commented, “My major concern is getting and understanding and dealing with the glitches of technology.” Past research has revealed that technology is a detriment to faculty willingness to continue initial distance education endeavors (Stinehart, 1988). But other research has revealed that the computer has enhanced the experience of faculty participating in distance education (Abacus Associates, 2000), suggesting that faculty who are adequately trained in technology are more satisfied when teaching a distance education course. How adequate training can be provided and how faculty learning can best be supported are crucial tasks to address as the number of individuals and institutions adopting distance education approaches continues to grow.

A crucial question that we, as a discipline, must address is whether or not interior design programs are currently too rooted in tradition to contemplate an explorative technology-based pedagogy such as distance education. The current model of teaching and learning in higher education is not often used because it is the “right way,” but rather because it has worked for such a long time (Farrington, 1999). By providing interior design educators the opportunity to explore new technological applications, investigate alternative teaching methods, and view or participate in a sample distance course, faculty could be provided a space to contemplate their teaching methods, interrogate their pedagogical styles, and perhaps rethink the methods and modes of educational delivery. An effective technique is to offer a distance education mini-course to faculty so they can experience first hand what it is like to participate in this type of course (Cini & Vilic, 1999), allowing faculty members to become introduced to the features and activities possible without burdening their busy schedules for a long period of time. Another strategy is to expose faculty to the teaching methods and technology tools through tutorial exercises and written documentation.

Distance education courses are increasing in number every year (Eggen, 2000; Everhart, 2000). As new electronic technologies become available, traditional education methods are converging with those currently used for distance education. Rather than having distance

education merely supplement on-campus instruction, it is suggested that a paradigm shift will occur where the two instructional models become one; this transforma- tion will be triggered by advancing technology, declining funds, globalization, and student diversity (Moran & Myringer, 1999; Otchet, 1998). In the face of sweeping technological and institutional change, interior design educators who are willing to pursue distance education approaches will serve as pioneers, as role models, and as teacher-trainers, and must be institutionally and intellectually recognized as such.

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Authors' Notes

The authors would like to thank Danielle DeVoss and three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on the earlier drafts of this manuscript.

This research was conducted by the authors while employed at Michigan State University. Date collection was funded in part by the Department of Human Environment and Design.



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Interior Design Faculty Intentions to Adopt Distance Education (2003)