Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?

Outside an academic setting, telecommuting has become fairly popular in recent years. However, research on telecommuting practices within a higher education environment is fairly sparse, especially within the higher distance education sphere. Drawing on existing literature on telecommuting and the...

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Autor principal:	Deon Harold Tustin
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Athabasca University Press 2014
Materias:	Telecommuting Nontelecommuting Working from home (WFH) Working from office (WFO) Open distance learning Special aspects of education LC8-6691
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/1ab660739ddf4617ab81c7f285e899b7
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:1ab660739ddf4617ab81c7f285e899b72021-12-02T18:03:24ZTelecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?10.19173/irrodl.v15i3.17701492-3831https://doaj.org/article/1ab660739ddf4617ab81c7f285e899b72014-06-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1770https://doaj.org/toc/1492-3831 Outside an academic setting, telecommuting has become fairly popular in recent years. However, research on telecommuting practices within a higher education environment is fairly sparse, especially within the higher distance education sphere. Drawing on existing literature on telecommuting and the outcome of a valuation study on the success of an experimental telecommuting programme at the largest distance education institution in South Africa, this article presents discerning findings on telecommuting practices. In fact, the research builds on evolutionary telecommuting assessment methods of the direct or indirect effect (work based) and affective impact (emotional) on multiple stakeholder groups. This holistic approach allowed for comparative analysis between telecommuting and nontelecommuting academics with regard to the impact of telecommuting practices. The research reveals high levels of support for telecommuting practices that are associated with high levels of work productivity and satisfaction, lower levels of emotional and physical fatigue, and reduced work stress, frustration, and overload. The study also reveals higher levels of student satisfaction with academic support from telecommuters than nontelecommuters. Overall, the critique presents insightful findings on telecommuting practices within an academic setting, which clearly signal a potential for a shift in the office culture of higher distance education institutions in the years to come. The study makes a significant contribution to a limited collection of empirical research on telecommuting practices within the higher distance education sector and guides institutions in refining and/or redefining future telecommuting strategies or programmes. Deon Harold TustinAthabasca University PressarticleTelecommutingNontelecommutingWorking from home (WFH)Working from office (WFO)Open distance learningSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691ENInternational Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, Vol 15, Iss 3 (2014)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Telecommuting Nontelecommuting Working from home (WFH) Working from office (WFO) Open distance learning Special aspects of education LC8-6691
spellingShingle	Telecommuting Nontelecommuting Working from home (WFH) Working from office (WFO) Open distance learning Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Deon Harold Tustin Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?
description	Outside an academic setting, telecommuting has become fairly popular in recent years. However, research on telecommuting practices within a higher education environment is fairly sparse, especially within the higher distance education sphere. Drawing on existing literature on telecommuting and the outcome of a valuation study on the success of an experimental telecommuting programme at the largest distance education institution in South Africa, this article presents discerning findings on telecommuting practices. In fact, the research builds on evolutionary telecommuting assessment methods of the direct or indirect effect (work based) and affective impact (emotional) on multiple stakeholder groups. This holistic approach allowed for comparative analysis between telecommuting and nontelecommuting academics with regard to the impact of telecommuting practices. The research reveals high levels of support for telecommuting practices that are associated with high levels of work productivity and satisfaction, lower levels of emotional and physical fatigue, and reduced work stress, frustration, and overload. The study also reveals higher levels of student satisfaction with academic support from telecommuters than nontelecommuters. Overall, the critique presents insightful findings on telecommuting practices within an academic setting, which clearly signal a potential for a shift in the office culture of higher distance education institutions in the years to come. The study makes a significant contribution to a limited collection of empirical research on telecommuting practices within the higher distance education sector and guides institutions in refining and/or redefining future telecommuting strategies or programmes.
format	article
author	Deon Harold Tustin
author_facet	Deon Harold Tustin
author_sort	Deon Harold Tustin
title	Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?
title_short	Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?
title_full	Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?
title_fullStr	Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?
title_full_unstemmed	Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?
title_sort	telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of south africa: more content, productive, and healthy?
publisher	Athabasca University Press
publishDate	2014
url	https://doaj.org/article/1ab660739ddf4617ab81c7f285e899b7
work_keys_str_mv	AT deonharoldtustin telecommutingacademicswithinanopendistanceeducationenvironmentofsouthafricamorecontentproductiveandhealthy
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Telecommuting academics within an open distance education environment of South Africa: More content, productive, and healthy?

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