An important survey of faculty, conducted by the Gallup organization, has been published by Inside Higher Ed. The poll measures attitudes on technology, particularly online education. The survey appears to be a valid exercise, with random respondents selected according to all the right protocols. (There are lots of "self-selected" polls out there, which generally aren't very useful. Cranky people are more likely to participate, for instance.)
Please peruse the entire article by Doug Lederman and Scott Jaschik. It's long and complicated, but so is the subject. The article includes a link to the entire survey in pdf format.
Posted comments so far generally emphasize the reported skepticism of faculty that online instruction can match face-to-face instruction pedagogically. Naturally those who teach online have more favorable views, but the statistical difference is not notably striking.
Faculty members are particularly skeptical of MOOCs. No surprise there. With regard to polls that tell us things we already know, you might enjoy this story from The Onion.
Some critics of the new faculty survey emphasize topics that are not covered, in particular the widespread anecdotal observation that online courses work fine for certain kinds of students, but are not good for the average young high school graduate.
Here's a sample comment that appears to match what teachers say:
We do a dis-service to "traditional" online learning when we lump it together with MOOCs. We have had over 25 years of experience with the former and have consistently seen learning outcomes equal to or greater than those found from a classroom experience. MOOCs, on the other hand have yet to demonstrate ANY significant learning . Many have no assessments and those that do are from exams of dubious origin and conducted with little security. The online courses offered by over 70% of public and 60% of private institutions (remember there were nearly 7 million students taking at least one on line course in the fall semester of 2012) have high completion rates (over 80% at my institution), while MOOCS struggle to retain even 5%. We should not conflate the two.
When we talk about online learning there are two points that are often not discussed - who is the student, and what is the quality of the offering. Older post traditional students do very well online. In fact, for many, it is their only option. Traditional, 18-24 year olds do less well, lacking, in many cases, both the same degree of focus and motivation as the adult. In regard to "online" formats and quality, there are as many variations here as their are in the classroom. Institutions that invest in instructional design, use of media, interactivity and student support systems have completion rates and learning outcomes that rival the best of classroom instruction. When those elements are missing, as with the inexpensive electronic correspondence courses, completion and retention rates fall.
