This dissertation is a study of faculty motivation to teach online at a major land grant university in the Midwestern United States. Recent growth of interest in online distance education is prompting traditional colleges and universities to adopt online degree programs. With the development of these new degree programs come new policy and programmatic challenges. Faculty are the greatest resource in any university degree program, and the growing demand for online education will increase the need for faculty to teach online. Therefore, a timely issue in higher education is what motivates university faculty to teach online courses.

In this study 71 faculty completed an-online survey about factors they felt would or would not motivate them to teach an online course. Participants were asked to rate the factors on a scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree, yielding quantitative data for analysis, as well as one open-ended question allowing participants to comment on their motivation for teaching online or not. The survey was developed considering the domains of professional development suggested by Caffarella and Zinn (1999). Fifteen of the 71 respondents participated in a semi-structured interview, providing the researcher with qualitative data to compare and contrast with the survey results. The interview provided an opportunity for a richer understanding of faculty motivation to teach online.

Results showed issues of teaching and student learning (including concerns about pedagogical quality of online learning, connecting with off-campus students, and new teaching opportunities), issues of time (including tenure process concerns and course development time) and issues of technology support (pedagogical and technical) are major areas affecting faculty motivation to teach online. Analysis of faculty voices from the open ended survey question and interviews highlighted the individuality of faculty perceptions of online teaching and their motivations for teaching or not teaching online. Additionally, the study showed the importance of faculty discourse in the development of policies and structures relating to online learning programs. Results of the survey and interview portions of the study were consistent with each other and confirmed prior research on faculty motivation. The results of this study may prove useful in designing motivational incentives and support structures for university faculty teaching online.