Perceived Demand for Online and Hybrid Doctoral Programs in Technical Education

Overview & Synopsis

Data from Sloan-C snapshot of the status of online education in the US indicate that online education is becomingly increasingly a part of the long-term goals and strategies of many institutions. Technical education has begun taking advantage of the online market by offering online education at the bachelor's and master's level. However, the critical need is at the doctoral level for technical education students who are enrolled in programs designed to promote research and to train faculty researchers. While there has been an analysis of online learning needs in technology education, there has been no study focused specifically on online doctoral education in technical education. This article aims to characterize the reported demand for online and hybrid doctoral programs in technical education and the attitudes and recommendations of prospective students. It also explores attitudes held toward this type of degree by those who have completed a traditional face-to-face doctoral degree in the field of technical education. The population for this study was intended to be those people currently involved in technical education and related fields as evidence by their membership in the International Technology Education Association (ITEA), the American Technical Education Association (ATEA), or the Association for Career and Technical Education (ATCE). The researchers used an online survey method of data collection in order to maximize sample size while minimizing the time and cost required for data entry as well as minimizing data-entry errors. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)