Program Affiliation Impact on Educator Perspective of Online Learning Environments

Within the built environment, different types of disciplines, such as architects, civil engineers, and construction (AEC), overlap in professional services. A similar overlap also happens at the university, with architects and civil engineers teaching in construction management-type programs. Academic unit affiliation (i.e., architecture, engineering, or construction management) marks a difference in the requirements for educator terminal degrees, teaching load, and research requirements. Further, there are differences in the discipline-specific coursework (lectures, laboratories, and/or studios) of the different disciplines. These differences may impact educators' perspectives about the online learning environment (OLE). Thus, this paper summarizes the findings of a research project focused on determining how program discipline affiliation differences affect educator perspectives for OLE. A survey methodology was utilized where an online Qualtrics survey was disseminated to AEC educators to determine their concerns about delivering online courses, lectures, design studios, and laboratory-type courses. Since the data collected were qualitative, the framework for analysis of qualitative data for construction and engineering disciplines was used. This research determined that department or program affiliation impacted perceptions of educators and identified a significant difference in perceptions between the two educator groups. This includes differences between educators' concerns and perceptions about which courses cannot be taught online.