Issues and Challenges for Teaching Successful Online Courses in Higher Education

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansureh Kebritchi ◽  
Angie Lipschuetz ◽  
Lilia Santiague
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Content Development

Online education changes all components of teaching and learning in higher education. Many empirical studies have been conducted to examine issues in delivering online courses; however, few have synthesized prior studies and provided an overview on issues in online courses. A review of literature using Cooper’s framework was conducted to identify such issues. Three major categories of findings were identified: issues related to online learners, instructors, and content development. Learners’ issues included learners’ expectations, readiness, identity, and participation in online courses. Instructors’ issues included changing faculty roles, transitioning from face-to-face to online, time management, and teaching styles. Content issues included the role of instructors in content development, integration of multimedia in content, role of instructional strategies in content development, and considerations for content development. To address these challenges in online education, higher education institutions need to provide professional development for instructors, trainings for learners, and technical support for content development.

scholarly journals Characteristics of Online Learning in Higher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-155
Author(s):  
Diana-Crina Marin ◽  
Mușata Bocoș
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Learning ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Quality Of Teaching ◽  
Teaching Learning ◽  
Students Success

"In the context in which the teaching, learning, and assessment processes take place in the online environment, the question arises whether the currently organized learning situations are as effective as the learning situations carried out in the classroom, before the beginning of the pandemic. One of the disadvantages of online learning is related to the teacher’s low control over students’ activity. Factors such as initiative, creativity, efficient time management, intrinsic motivation, responsibility, and intellectual curiosity play an important role in students’ success in learning activities. Attendance at courses should not be formal and superficial and should be a process that involves the active and interactive participation of the students in the learning process. Providing high-quality educational opportunities to all students is a goal that is increasingly difficult to achieve in the context of the absence of face-to-face interactions. Also, applying a curriculum focused on the needs of the learner is becoming hard to achieve. Through this research, we aim to investigate issues related to how online learning takes place and to establish ways in which we can increase the efficiency of current teaching and learning processes. The study revealed that in the opinion of most of the students, the current epidemiological context has influenced in a negative way the quality of teaching and the student-teacher educational relationship. Keywords: Interactive learning, eLearning, independence in learning, higher education, efficient strategies "

Historical Review of Distance and Online Education from 1700s to 2021 in the United States: Instructional Design and Pivotal Pedagogy in Higher Education

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen Betts ◽  
Brian Delaney ◽  
Tamara Galoyan ◽  
William Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
United States ◽  
Instructional Design ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
The United States ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Education Leaders ◽  
Higher Education Leaders

In March 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted education worldwide. In the United States, the pandemic forced colleges and universities across the nation to adopt quickly emergency remote teaching and learning. The ability to pivot instruction seamlessly and effectively across learning formats (e.g., face-to-face, hybrid, online) while supporting student engagement, learning, and completion in an authentic and high-quality manner challenged higher education leaders. This historical review of the literature examines distance and online education from the 1700s to 2021 to identify how external and internal pressures and opportunities have impacted and influenced the evolution of educational formats pre-COVID-19, and how they will continue to evolve post pandemic. This historical review also explores how instructional design and pedagogy have been and continue to be influenced by technological advancements, emerging research from the Learning Sciences and Mind (psychology), Brain (neuroscience), and Education (pedagogy) science.

Massive Online Open Course Assisted Mechatronics Learning

2015 ◽  
pp. 245-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Xing
Keyword(s):  
Online Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Course Structure ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Learning Modalities ◽  
Learning Content ◽  
Education Environment ◽  
Massive Online Open Course ◽  
Face To Face Learning

Massive open online courses (MOOCs), also known as kind of free and accessible online education environment, have been deeply appeals to people and broadly covered in different medium. Nowadays, it seems MOOCs are everywhere. Originally, MOOCs are designed to offer learning content to the participants who do not have an adequate educational infrastructure, or where cost has become a barrier to educational access. However, as the MOOCs become more popular, an important question need to be asked: how do traditional face-to-face learning students benefit from MOOC environments as well? This chapter introduces MOOCs as an assistant platform to rebuild the course structure in order to tie education more closely to work. The major advantage of this hybrid teaching and learning model is that it is flexible as it allows students to work through materials at their own pace and at a time that is most convenient to them. Although the successful integration of such different teaching and learning modalities is a big challenge, the presented case study and the preliminary experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid methodology.

Retention of Online Learners

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-38
Author(s):  
Pamela A. Lemoine ◽  
Gina Sheeks ◽  
Robert E. Waller ◽  
Michael D. Richardson
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Higher Education Institutions ◽  
Dropout Rate ◽  
Dropout Rates ◽  
Online Students ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Online Services ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Education Enrollment

The most important word for contemporary global higher education institutions is retention. Although online education enrollment in these institutions has increased by approximately 40 percent in recent years, the dropout rates for online students is approximately 20-30 percent more than for face-to-face classes. Institutions have tried to address this issue, but the dropout rate continues to be a serious concern. The authors of this manuscript propose that the addition of online services for online students as a possible solution.

Ethical Responsibilities of Preserving Academicians in an Age of Mechanized Learning

2018 ◽  
pp. 210-240
Author(s):  
James E. Willis III ◽  
Viktoria Alane Strunk
Keyword(s):  
Learning Analytics ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Care Ethics ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Ethical Frameworks ◽  
Automated Technology ◽  
Educational Delivery

In quickly-changing educational delivery modalities, the central role of the instructor is being redefined by technology. Examining some of the various causes with ethical frameworks of utilitarianism, relativism, and care ethics, the centrality of human agency in educational interaction is argued to be indispensable. While exploring the forefront of online, face-to-face, and massive open online courses, the shape and technique of teaching and learning as well as their corollary research methodologies are being modified with automated technology. Ethical engagement with new technologies like learning analytics, automatic tutors, and automated, rubric-driven graders is proposed to be a frontier of critical thinking.

Blended Learning in Saudi Higher Education Framework, Implications, and limitations

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 386-392
Author(s):  
Samar Alharbi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Blended Learning ◽  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
New Methods ◽  
Modern Era

In the modern era of teaching and learning, the education system witnessed many changes. New methods of teaching and learning are utilised in order to adapt to the growth of technology. Teachers used some teaching methods, such as online teaching, face to face teaching or a combination of both online and face to face known as blended learning (BL) environment. BL has been proven its advantages empirically in many studies. One of the significant advantages is that BL is used as an extended learning environment to reinforce knowledge and make learning more accessible by utilising technology and online resources. However, there are some drawbacks of implementing blended learning, such as the demand of time and teachers' efforts to provide feedback and follow up students. This paper examined the use of BL in higher education. The first part of this paper reviewed some empirical studies in BL.  The second part presented the theoretical framework of using BL. Benefits and challenges of implementing BL in higher education regarding Saudi universities are explained. Lastly, the paper concluded with some critical remarks.

scholarly journals A usability evaluation of a blended MOOC environment: An experimental case study

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Mohamed Fahmy Yousef ◽  
Mohamed Amine Chatti ◽  
Ulrik Schroeder ◽  
Marold Wosnitza
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Usability Evaluation ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Stakeholder Perspectives ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Enhanced Learning

<p>In the past few years, there has been an increasing interest in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as a new form of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL), in higher education and beyond. Recognizing the limitations of standalone MOOCs, blended MOOCs (bMOOCs) that aim at bringing in-class (i.e. face-to-face) interactions and online learning components together have emerged as an alternative MOOC model of teaching and learning in a higher education context. In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation details of a bMOOC course on “Teaching Methodologies” at Fayoum University, Egypt in cooperation with RWTH Aachen University, Germany, provided using the bMOOC platform L2P-bMOOC. In order to gauge the usability and effectiveness of the course, we employed an evaluation approach based on Conole’s 12 dimensions rubrics, ISONORM 9241/110-S as a general usability evaluation, and a custom effectiveness questionnaire reflecting the different MOOC stakeholder perspectives.</p>

scholarly journals Exploring Future Teachers’ Awareness, Competence, Confidence, and Attitudes Regarding Teaching Online: Incorporating Blended/Online Experience into the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Course for Graduate Students

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Suzanne Le-May Sheffield ◽  
Jill Marie McSweeney ◽  
Aaron Panych
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Graduate Students ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Teaching Expertise ◽  
Teaching Online ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Online Facilitation

Dalhousie University’s Centre for Learning and Teaching offers a Certificate in University Teaching and Learning, which includes a 12-week course entitled Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. This course provides the certificate’s theory component and has evolved to reflect the changing needs of future educators. One significant change is the development of a blended course model that incorporates graded online facilitation, prompted by the recognition that teaching assistants and faculty are increasingly required to teach online or blended (i.e., combining face-to-face and online) courses. This study invited graduate students enrolled in the course to participate in pre- and post-facilitation questionnaires that assessed their awareness, competence, confidence, and attitudes towards online and blended learning. Students recognized the value of the online component for future teaching expertise and experienced increased awareness, competence, and confidence regarding teaching online. However, preference for face-to-face teaching and student learning did not change.  

scholarly journals Learners’ Perceptions towards Online Learning during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Study at a Center of Foreign Languages in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 84-90
Author(s):  
Hung Nguyen Quoc Luu
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Traditional Learning ◽  
Online Learners ◽  
Online Programs ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Face To Face Learning

Online learning is a revolutionary trend of educational technology today. Particularly, online learning has become the donminent alternative to traditional learning during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the new normal. Various studies have shown that online learning has varying effectiveness at all levels and types of education; however, it is worth noting that many learners are still struggling to accept the mode of online learning, and learner retention has been suggested as one of the greatest weaknesses in online education. The current study used a questionnaire with open-ended questions to examine online learners’ perceptions of online learning as well as to understand reasons for their retention in online courses. The results revealed that most of the learners, especially young learners still preferred traditional face-to-face learning to online learning due to various problems they experienced while doing online learning, such as lack of facilities and necessary interactions. However, the retention rates are relatively modest, indicating the perceived quality of online programs at a center of foreign languages in Vietnam.

scholarly journals Online Education: Benefits, Challenges and Strategies During and After COVID-19 in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-85
Author(s):  
Pitambar Paudel
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Management Skills ◽  
Online Mode ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Computer Literate ◽  
Challenges And Strategies

The pandemic COVID-19 has forcefully shifted the mode of teaching and learning from only face to face to online in the higher education of Nepal, which is new experiences and practices for many of the teachers and students. In this context, this study investigated teachers’ and learners’ perspectives on online education in relation to its benefits, challenges and strategies during and after COVID-19 in higher education of Nepal. To achieve this objective, online survey research design was employed. Survey questionnaire were used in the study to determine the perspectives of 280 teachers and students from five universities of Nepal. The results showed that the participants experienced online education beneficial primarily for promoting online research, connecting the practitioners to the global community and getting huge and authentic resource of knowledge though they have found time-management skills, more freedom to the teachers and learners, and   reliable internet at workplace as the extreme challenges. The research also revealed time management skills, technological prepared and computer literate are the basic qualities for the practitioners who want to have online education. The participants suggested that ICT policy should be clear and courses should be developed accordingly. Only online mode of teaching and learning in the context of Nepal cannot be effective so the participants preferred blended learning. The findings of the research indicated that online education can be an alternative means of traditional education. Thus, if blended approach is implemented, the education process would be more effective and successful in the contexts like Nepal.

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