Chapter 4: Validation of Competencies

The survey was distributed across social media networks, a link on the IB-STPI webpage, and listservs on the Internet known to be used by instructors across national borders. The survey remained open for a period of approximately 6 months, and during this period several reminder posts and emails were issued to collect the broadest possible sample of instructors with core, blended, and online teaching experiences.

Table 4.1 provides the demographic characteristics of the sample of N = 578 instructors. As can be gleaned, approximately 55% of the sample were female and the others were male, with a few missing responses. The survey did include an “other” option for gender, but this selection was not used by the participants. More than three-quarters of the participants were between the ages of 20 and 59, and more than 60% of the participants held a master’s or doctoral degree. More than two-thirds of the participants were within the United States or Canada. Finally, as shown, the participants had a wide range of core, blended, and online teaching experiences.