Administrators’ and Faculty’s Perceived Online Education Barriers and The Role of Transformational Leadership at a U.S. University in Lebanon

Abstract

<p>The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the perceived barriers obstructing the implementation of online education by administrators and faculty at the School of Arts and Sciences of a U.S. university located in Lebanon. The aim of this study was to offer a solution to the most important perceived barriers to online education that informs administrative decisions concerning the appropriate modalities of online instruction that may be implemented at the university. The exploratory factor analysis identified 8 factors out of 35 possible perceived barriers to online education. Faculty and administrators perceived the structural barriers and the pedagogical barriers as very important. Faculty also perceived technical barriers as very important. As a first step toward offering online instruction, the university leadership could offer blended traditional and online education instruction for suitable courses in the School of Arts and Sciences with the goal of assessing feasibility and acceptance. The implementation of this solution may be smoother if facilitated using various leadership styles. In this article, the transformational leadership style is used for implementing the solution to the problem. The findings of this research may be beneficial for other universities in Lebanon and other nations that may be considering the implementation of online education.</p>