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Faculty Perceptions of
Bi-National Distance Education between
the U.S and Mexico: An Empirical Analysis

Martin Feinberg and Roberto Vinaja

Abstract

Effective bi-national distance education between U.S. universities and students attending Mexican universities is another potential benefit from the growing cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico. A survey of U.S. university faculty members who have taught courses to students in Mexico was conducted. The results indicate that two intrinsic motivators, satisfaction/enjoyment and desire to keep up with technology, are the greatest incentives for U.S. faculty to participate in bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico. Extrinsic motivators that ranked high are extra pay and opportunities to obtain grants. U.S. university faculty members rank helping students overcome traveling and scheduling barriers as their strongest perceptions of bi-national distance education between the U.S and Mexico. In addition, U.S. university faculty members rank complicated technical requirements as the lowest perception regarding bi-national distance education.

Introduction

Universities benefit from providing distance education courses in many different ways. For example, distance education courses provide the ability to teach to many more students than provided by traditional education. In addition, higher education institutions can serve a larger student population without facing the considerable costs involved with building additional facilities. Many universities have implemented online distance education programs because of the potential to improve access to students. Other key benefits involve improving educational opportunities to geographically remote students, non-traditional students, and students suffering from disabilities.

U.S. universities and Mexican students can achieve further benefits by implementing bi-national distance education programs. A bi-national distance education program is based on the close collaboration, cooperation and mutual guidance between U.S. and Mexican universities. A major benefit of a bi-national distance education program involves the ability of low-income students from Mexican to earn a degree in the U.S. while living in their own country.

Bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico provides incentives for higher education institutions to keep up with the latest technology in order to stay competitive with peer institutions. The implementation of a bi-national distance education program between the U.S. and Mexico can provide further benefits coinciding with the growing cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico. The synergy provided by NAFTA and other agreements can be further realized.

There are many methods for collaboration, cooperation guidance and joint programs between U.S. universities and Mexican students. For example, an U.S. institution, in the early stages of implementing a distance education program with Mexico, can be guided and coached by both U.S. and Mexican institutions with extensive experience in running distance-learning programs. Regional universities in both the U.S. and Mexico can develop collaboration agreements with their flagship universities. The experienced university will coach the implementation of distance learning programs at the inexperienced university. Another avenue for collaboration is the development of joint programs.

This education modality involved in bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico offers many advantages in respect to time and location. Mexican students can be located in distant geographic locations and still complete course requirements according to their personal schedules. These symbiotic relationships are mutually beneficial. This paper analyzes the perceptions of bi-national distance learning courses and U.S. university faculty incentives for teaching bi-national distance education by conducting a survey of U.S. faculty who have experience teaching online courses to Mexican university students.

Effective Bi-National Course Development

An essential component, in order to have successful bi-national distance education between the U.S. and students in Mexico, is the effective adoption of courses developed in English. The courses can be translated and adapted to the particular needs and characteristics of the local culture. A logical step for the implementation of the English version of the courses is to establish cooperation agreements with universities in Mexico.

For non-native English speakers, clearing up misunderstandings in a live conversation is feasible. However, when doing it online, this is difficult for even the most industrious students. Another difficulty is time zone difference, especially for chat sessions. It might be difficult to schedule an online session and find a time that is convenient for everybody.

In Mexico, most universities offer distance education programs as an additional channel, and not as the core focus of their programs. The development of virtual university joint programs is crucial in order to promote the widespread adoption of distance education in Mexico. Two leading Mexican universities have developed a strategic plan for the implementation and promotion of distance education: the UNAM (Universidad Autónoma de México) and the ITESM (Monterrey Tech) (Bates, de los Santos and Gpe 1997, Pisanty 1998).

ITESM has taken a proactive approach and has signed numerous collaboration agreements with U.S. universities in order to deliver state-of-the-art distance learning programs. ITESM also has the required telecommunications infrastructure (Halik 1993). Students from throughout Monterrey are enrolled in the ITESM virtual university program.

Challenges

There are many challenges in establishing cooperation agreements for distance education programs with Mexican universities. A key point is that Mexico has many other pressing priorities to be taken care of, and the implementation of distance education does not rank high compared to infrastructure needs, public health needs, basic education, etc.

Many education institutions in Mexico are not very aware of the multiple benefits of distance education. The implementation of distance education programs may require a change in the corporate culture of some Mexican educational institutions. It is necessary to increase awareness in Mexico about the benefits of distance education. There is also the need for effective Mexican faculty training and self-development and the need to provide access to distance education to as many students as possible.

Two critical success factors in regards to implementing a U.S.-Mexico distance education program are the eagerness of students to embrace new educational methods and the support of top university officers in both countries. Collaboration agreements need to be more effectively established between governmental officials in both the U.S. and Mexico. Coordination between the two countries in this regard is not simple, and involves many factors. Nevertheless, advances in telecommunications technology, videoconferencing and the Internet have facilitated collaboration among higher education institutions in the U.S. and Mexico.

In the U.S., most universities have the required infrastructure, the resources and the level of technology essential to administrate a full-size distance education program. In Mexico, only a few institutions have the resources and the required technology infrastructure to offer an independent distance education program. Many Mexican regional universities do not have the resources to start and run a distance education program. However a consortium of Mexican universities, often in collaboration with a government agency, can more easily develop the necessary programs that any one university cannot develop on its own. A higher level of collaboration and coordination is required both for the development of joint programs and also for the accreditation of courses taken at U.S. universities.

One of the greatest problems with implementing distance education programs in Mexico is the high cost of technology. However, with higher number of students enrolled, the incremental cost per student will decrease as set up costs are spread out. In addition, Mexican universities often lack the special equipment needed in addition to the required renovation of classrooms with audiovisual equipment. A reliable power supply and a base technology infrastructure are also often unavailable. These requirements are a challenge given the geographic isolation of some universities in Mexico.

The limited availability of telecommunication infrastructure in Mexico is especially challenging. Many Mexican communities in remote locations do not have an extensive phone network or other telecommunication networks. Phone service is usually limited and expensive, and high-speed technologies such as ISDN or DSL are not widely available. Fortunately, many Mexican cities are implementing plans and initiatives to upgrade their phone and telecommunication networks. This development will facilitate the introduction of state-of-the-art technologies in Mexican universities.

Furthermore, most Mexican university students do not have a home computer, much less fast Internet access. The number of students who have Internet access at home or at work is small and can be considered a minority.

A number of Mexican universities have implemented distance education programs with grants and resources provided by international agencies (Potashnik and Capper 1998). However, once the initial grant is depleted there are often not additional resources to maintain and keep the program running. The ongoing maintenance costs in addition to the initial setup costs need to be considered.

The issue of whether dropout rates are higher in Mexican distance education courses compared to traditional courses needs to be examined. The study by Jones (2000) can be further enhanced by dealing with dropout rates in bi-national distance courses.

In many bi-national distance courses between the U.S. and Mexico, the theory can be easily taught online, but when it comes to hands-on practice, lab sessions are necessary. In the case of programming courses, a high level of interaction is required in order to teach the basic principles of structured programming. A successful strategy that has been implemented in advanced programming courses is to provide some flexibility in the design of the modules so students can choose the programming language of their choice (Fowler and Fowler 2000, Whitson 2000). This strategy can be especially beneficial in regards to bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico.

Students have even more different levels of computer skills in Mexico than in the U.S. Many Mexican students have never used a computer before and others have extensive computer skills. This diversity of skills becomes a challenge when delivering a common lecture. Advanced students may feel bored, while beginners may feel overwhelmed. This problem is not as crucial in a bi-national distance education environment, because the learning process can be adapted according to the learning speed and the level of proficiency of every student.

Mexican students can pace themselves depending on their time availability and previous experience. For example, if a student needs to retake a specific module, he or she can reinforce the contents without slowing down the learning process of the class as a whole. An online course can contain required/common modules and optional modules. A hierarchical course organization allows the customization of the course to the particular needs of every student (Whitson 2000).

Faculty Incentives

U.S. universities should target faculty members to implement bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico. Professors can strongly benefit from the incentives involved with teaching bi-national distance education courses (Wolcott 1997)). It is important to identify the potential benefits obtained from teaching bi-national distance education courses. Universities need to identify and address incentives so that more instructors develop and teach bi-national distance education courses.

Faculty can readily participate in the evaluation and selection of the software products that are going to be used for bi-national course development. For example in Mexico, Monterrey Tech provides faculty with ongoing training and technical support for various distance learning development and delivery tools.

This study utilizes a two-part questionnaire. The first part of the questionnaire contains 12 checklist items referring to incentives for faculty members to participate in teaching bi-national distance education courses between the U.S. and Mexico.

 The second part contains 16 items developed from non-published questionnaires developed at The University of Texas-Pan American, and the University of Permain-Basin. A seven-point Likert scale is used for respondents to indicate how strongly they agree or disagree with the statements concerning their experience and with offering distance education to Mexican university students.

The surveys with a cover letter were distributed to faculty members of various disciplines from 18 different universities located throughout the U.S. The faculty members identified themselves as currently teaching or have taught online classes to Mexican students. In total, 624 questionnaires were sent, 622 by electronic mail and two by personal visit. Extensive Internet research was necessary to find universities that offer online classes to Mexican university students and that provide course schedules that include the names and email addresses of the faculty members. Of the 624 questionnaires mailed, 120 were completed with the majority being sent back by e-mail.

 In regards to demographics, 39% of the respondents are over 50 years old, 15.8% of the faculty members are of the age 46 to 50, 19.2% are of the age from 41 to 45, 8.3% are of the age from 36 to 40, and 13.3% are under 35 years old. Hence, the reliability of the study is enhanced by the fact that the sample encompasses a variety of age groups. In addition, the sample includes faculty with various periods of teaching in higher education. Of the sampled faculty, 28% have less than 5 years of experience, 25.8% have 5 to 10 years experience, 19.2% have 11 to 15 years experience, 11.7% have 16 to 20 years experience, and 22.5% have more than 20 years experience. Faculty with tenure account for 45% of the sample, faculty on tenure-track composes 25.8% and the remaining 23.3% are non-tenured track faculty.

Faculty from 67 different academic disciplines are included in the sample including the fields of: Accounting, Journalism, Chemistry, Computer Science, Education, Engineering, History, Management, Mathematics, Nursing, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology and Sociology. Hence, the faculty sample is comprehensive with respect to experience. The sample is also representative with regard to tenure/tenure track/non-tenure track and is also multidisciplinary.

Results and Discussion

The results of part of the survey focusing on faculty incentives for participating in a bi-national distance education program are provided in Table 1 in the Appendix. It can be seen that two intrinsic motivators, satisfaction/enjoyment and desire to keep up with technology, are the two most important incentives for participating in a bi-national distance education program. Extrinsic motivators such as extra pay or stipends and obtaining grants are also important incentives.

Results of the perceptions of bi-national distance education are provided in Table 2 in the Appendix. Helping students to overcome travel barriers is rated by U.S. faculty as their strongest perception of bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico. The low standard deviation (s = 1.12) is another indicator of the strong agreement among faculty with respect to this item. The second highest perception of bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico deals with helping students overcome scheduling barriers. Clearly, it can be seen from these two highest ranked perceptions that faculty members attach high importance to the benefit of teaching students who would not otherwise be able to participate in U.S. higher education.

It is interesting to point out that the item of complicated technical requirements is the lowest rated perception of the U.S. faculty members. This low rating indicates that technical problems are being solved; as does the fact that the fifth highest item is that the campuses are providing sufficient technical assistance.

Conclusions

This study provides insights from U.S. faculty members that have taught online courses to Mexican university students. A survey is conducted in order to determine incentives to participate in and perceptions of bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico. The results indicate that two intrinsic motivators, satisfaction/enjoyment and desire to keep up with technology, are the greatest incentives for U.S. faculty to participate in bi-national distance education between the U.S. and Mexico. Extrinsic motivators, which ranked high, are extra pay and opportunities to obtain grants.

• U.S. university faculty members rank helping students overcome traveling and scheduling barriers as the strongest perceptions of bi-national distance education between the U.S and Mexico. U.S. university faculty members rank complicated technical requirements as the lowest perception regarding bi-national distance education.
• Future research can deal with the effect of tenure on perceptions for bi-national distance education. Another issue that should be studies is bi-national distance education between U.S. universities and students at South American universities.

APPENDIX

Table 1.

Incentives for Participation in Bi-national Distance Education
between the U.S. and Mexico

Table 2.
Faculty Perceptions of Bi-national Distance Education
between the U.S. and Mexico

References

Bates, A W., E. de los Santos and J. Gpe. 1997. Crossing Boundaries: Making Global Distance Education a Reality. Journal of Distance Education 12 (1): 49-66.

Fowler, W. and R. Fowler. 2000. Evolving an Integrated Electronic Environment for Asynchronous Delivery of CSI. The Journal of Computing in Small Colleges 15 (3): 137-146.

Halik, G. 1993. Mexico runs first satellite-delivered digital code. Communications News 30(3): 15.

Jones, E. Student Behavior and Retention in Web-Based and Web-Enhanced Classes. 2000. The Journal of Computing in Small Colleges 15(3): 147-155.

Pisanty, A. 1998. Mexico's National Educational Videoconferencing Network. Proceedings of the 14th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning, University of Wisconsin-Madison , August. Madison, WI: 285-296.

Potashnik, M. and J. Capper. 1998. Distance Education: Growth and Diversity. Finance and Development 35(1): 42-45.

Whitson, G. 2000. Language Independence in a Web-Based Distance Course. The Journal of Computing in Small Colleges 15(3): 6-15.

Wolcott, L. 1997. Tenure, promotion, and distance education: Examining the culture of faculty rewards. American Journal of Distance Education 11(2): 3-18.

About the Authors

Dr. Martin Feinberg is an Assistant Professor of Quantitative Methods at the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas - Pan American. He received his doctorate in 1999 from Louisiana Tech University. His research interests include distance education and quantitative methods. He can be contacted through the Department of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods, College of Business Administration, University of Texas-Pan American at
1201 W. University Dr., 
Edinburg, TX 78539.
Phone (956) 381-2801,
Fax (956) 381-3367,
email: feinbergm@panam.edu

Dr. Roberto Vinaja is an Assistant Professor of Computer Information Systems at the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas - Pan American. He received his Ph.D. in 1999 from the University of Texas at Arlington. His research interests include distance education, intelligent agents, and electronic commerce. He can be contacted at the Department of Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods, College of Business Administration, University of Texas-Pan American,
1201 W. University Dr.,
Edinburg, TX 78539.
Phone (956) 381-3314,
Fax (956) 381-3367,
email: vinajar@panam.edu