Date of Award
2012
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Abraham S. Fischler College of Education
Advisor
Dian Moorhouse
Committee Member
Gretchen Doninger
Committee Member
Ronald P. Kern
Keywords
accelerated degree programs, accelerated programs, academic administration, academic quality, accreditation, adult education, adult learners, adult learning, andragogy, attitudes, chief academic officers, continuing education, degree programs, descriptive statistics, faculty quality, institutional benefits, instructional hours, Likert scale, Mann-Whitney test, perceptions, program effectiveness, program evaluation, program leadership, student learning assessment, undergraduate education, working adults
Abstract
The purpose of this applied dissertation was to identify perceptions of undergraduate accelerated degree programs for working adults held by chief academic officers and accelerated program deans or directors and to determine if a national accreditation process would enhance those perceptions. Available research on time shortened learning formats was reviewed and analyzed as it pertained to the history and perceptions of such programs. Five areas were identified to measure attitudes toward accelerated programs: instructional hours as a measure of academic quality, faculty quality and teaching skill, assessment of student learning and program effectiveness, relationship of program to parent institution, and enhancement of perception through an accreditation process.
As no appropriate attitudinal survey existed to measure perception of accelerated programs, a self-administered survey was designed, using a 5-point Likert-type scale. The results were tabulated using descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney test for significance at the .05 level. Results indicated stronger than anticipated support for accelerated degree programs for adult learners, held by both chief academic officers and program deans or directors, but did not support an accreditation process as a means of improving perception.
Recommendations for future study include the need for additional research on the academic quality and institutional benefits of accelerated degree programs for adult students and the inclusion of other levels of academic administration in the research study. In addition, providing the survey participants with research material, prior to completing the survey, or the use of personal interviews, might further enhance future study results.