scholarly journals Persistence of Women in Online Degree-Completion Programs

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry Müller
Keyword(s):  
Learning Community ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Postsecondary Institutions ◽  
Women Learners ◽  
Degree Completion Programs ◽  
Strong Motivation ◽  
Online Degree

Although online courses at postsecondary institutions promise adults access, flexibility, and convenience, many barriers to online learning remain. This article presents findings from a qualitative case study, which explored the phenomenon of undergraduate and graduate women learners’ persistence in online degree-completion programs at a college in the Northeast of the United States. Research questions asked why women learners persisted or failed to persist, and how factors supporting or hindering persistence influenced learners. Interviews with a purposeful sample of 20 participants revealed the complexity of variables affecting learners’ persistence to graduation. Findings suggested that multiple responsibilities, insufficient interaction with faculty, technology, and coursework ranked highest as barriers to women’s persistence. Strong motivation to complete degrees, engagement in the learning community, and appreciation for the convenience of an online degree-completion option facilitated persistence.

Slack: Adopting Social-Networking Platforms for Active Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (01) ◽  
pp. 183-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerald Sabin ◽  
Andrea Olive
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
The United States ◽  
Postsecondary Institutions ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Media Environments ◽  
Pedagogical Goals

ABSTRACT Online learning in postsecondary institutions has increased dramatically across the United States and Canada. Although research demonstrates the benefits of online learning for student success, instructors face challenges in facilitating communication, delivering course content, and navigating outdated and cumbersome technologies. The authors examine the use of a free third-party platform called Slack as a tool to facilitate better communication among students and faculty, enable the delivery of diverse and dynamic course content, and reach students in an online course that supports both independent and collaborative learning. The authors present a case study of Slack’s use in an online second-year environmental politics course taught at a large Canadian public university. There is a significant and growing literature on how to best engage students in online learning, including active and social learning models as promising approaches to digital teaching. The authors argue that using collaborative social technologies such as Slack—which both replicates and integrates the online and social-media environments that students already inhabit—can assist faculty in meeting their pedagogical goals online. The article documents the instructors’ experience in managing discussion and involving students in their online learning through active learning exercises. Best practices are examined.

scholarly journals An Advising Initiative for Online Students on Academic Probation

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-21
Author(s):  
Nathan Miller ◽  
Katherine Greer ◽  
Lindsey Cozier ◽  
Stephanie Whitener ◽  
Jerry Patton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Academic Advising ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Academic Probation ◽  
Postsecondary Institutions ◽  
Degree Programs ◽  
Academic Experience ◽  
Online Students ◽  
Residential Students ◽  
Academic Standing ◽  
Online Degree

Online courses are increasingly popular with students, and postsecondary institutions are increasing the availability of online courses and degrees. Continued improvements in the academic experience, including academic advising, for students attending online degree programs will be expected as more students take these courses. This article provides an example of how institutions can improve academic advising for online students. An advising initiative designed for residential students on academic probation was adapted for use with online students on academic probation. Discussion of the advising approach used with both populations is included. Outcomes included improved academic standing for both student populations.

Faculty Participation in Online Higher Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 2000-2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faculty Participation ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Student Demand ◽  
Education Report

In the past decade, enrollments in distance education, and specifically online education, have grown dramatically in the United States. According to the 2009 Sloan Report (), enrollments in online courses increased from 9.6% of total postsecondary enrollments in 2002 to 25.3% in 2009. Unfortunately, a number of barriers exist that may result in an inability of higher education institutions to provide quality online education programming in sufficient scale to meet the expected student demand. The Managing Online Education report () identifies the resistance of faculty towards teaching in an online environment as foremost among ten factors that “impede institutional efforts to expand online education programs” (p. 1). An understanding of the factors that both motivate and discourage faculty member participation in online education programs is critical if institutions are to leverage their existing faculty to meet the current and future demand for online education. This case study first presents a number of motivating and inhibiting factors and then discusses how St. Bonaventure University leveraged these factors in an attempt to boost faculty participation in online education.

Using the How People Learn Framework for Online Course Design in Teacher Education

2010 ◽  
pp. 360-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Dole ◽  
Lisa Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Teacher Education Program ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Programs ◽  
How People Learn ◽  
High Level ◽  
Alternative Routes

The demand for online teacher education programs continues to grow in the United States. Two trends have fueled this dramatic growth for such programs: (1) The shortage of teachers in certain areas has prompted the spread of alternative routes to teacher preparation; (2) The nature of the higher education student in alternative programs has transformed from a traditional to a non-traditional profile. With the growth of online programs comes the need for effective courses. This case study uses the How People Learn (HPL) framework as the conceptual model to examine online courses in a teacher education program for evidence of high level learning outcomes. The case study involved data collection in the form of surveys, interviews and artifacts from four online classes using the HPL framework. Results of the study demonstrate that the HPL framework provides a powerful structure for creating and assessing environments conducive to the work of prospective professionals.

Faculty Participation in Online Higher Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 1148-1161
Author(s):  
Michael S. Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faculty Participation ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Student Demand ◽  
Education Report

In the past decade, enrollments in distance education, and specifically online education, have grown dramatically in the United States. According to the 2009 Sloan Report (), enrollments in online courses increased from 9.6% of total postsecondary enrollments in 2002 to 25.3% in 2009. Unfortunately, a number of barriers exist that may result in an inability of higher education institutions to provide quality online education programming in sufficient scale to meet the expected student demand. The Managing Online Education report () identifies the resistance of faculty towards teaching in an online environment as foremost among ten factors that “impede institutional efforts to expand online education programs” (p. 1). An understanding of the factors that both motivate and discourage faculty member participation in online education programs is critical if institutions are to leverage their existing faculty to meet the current and future demand for online education. This case study first presents a number of motivating and inhibiting factors and then discusses how St. Bonaventure University leveraged these factors in an attempt to boost faculty participation in online education.

scholarly journals Como criar e manter interações de qualidade em cursos online?

EAD em FOCO ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Paula Correia
Keyword(s):  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Digital Content ◽  
Final Grade ◽  
Innovative Strategies ◽  
Digital Curation ◽  
Postgraduate Educational ◽  
Peer Facilitation

Frequentemente em cursos online, os alunos participam em discussões que ocorrem em sistemas virtuais. Estas discussões online são muitas vezes atividades obrigatórias que contam para a nota final do curso. Mesmo que, em muitas ocasiões, os alunos considerem improdutiva a exigência de participar nestas discussões, eles participam na mesma por causa do peso que têm na avaliação final. Discussões online sem significado e de pouca qualidade são muitas vezes o resultado desta atividade. Um estudo de caso foi realizado com uma disciplina online de pós-graduação em tecnologia educativa em universidade nos Estados Unidos. Este curso oferece duas estratégias inovadoras para superar os desafios colocados pelas discussões online: (1) moderação de discussões facilitadas pelos colegas; (2) curadoria de conteúdos digitais. Este estudo de caso evidencia a eficácia destas estratégias e a possibilidade de as reusar, transferir para diferentes ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem e implementar em diferentes sistemas. Palavras-chave: Discussões online, Facilitação pelos colegas, Curadoria de conteúdos digitais.  How to create and sustain high quality interactions in online courses?: The potential of peers moderation and digital curation AbstractParticipation in online discussions are often required from students while taking online classes. These are often mandatory activities that count towards the course final grade. Therefore, even though in many occasions online students find this requirement unproductive, they still participate with fear of lowering their grades. The results are often meaningless and superficial online conversations. A case study has been conducted with a postgraduate educational technology online course at a large university in the United States. This course offers two innovative strategies to overcome this issue: (1) peer facilitation, and (2) digital content curation. This case study offers evidence of these strategies effectiveness. This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of these strategies and the possibility of reusing them, transferring them to different virtual learning environments and implementing them in different systems. Keywords: Online discussions, Peer facilitation, Digital content curation.

scholarly journals USING ASYNCHRONOUS AUDIO FEEDBACK TO ENHANCE TEACHING PRESENCE AND STUDENTS’ SENSE OF COMMUNITY

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Ice ◽  
Reagan Curtis ◽  
Perry Phillips ◽  
John Wells
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Teaching Presence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Audio Feedback ◽  
Community Interactions ◽  
Immediacy Behaviors

This paper reports the findings of a case study in which audio feedback replaced text-based feedback in asynchronous courses. Previous research has demonstrated that participants in online courses can build effective learning communities through text-based communication alone. Similarly, it has been demonstrated that instructors for online courses can adequately project immediacy behaviors using text-based communication. However, we believed that the inclusion of an auditory element might strengthen both the sense of community and the instructor’s ability to affect more personalized communication with students. Over the course of one semester, students in this study received a mixture of asynchronous audio and text-based feedback. Our findings revealed extremely high student satisfaction with embedded asynchronous audio feedback as compared to asynchronous text only feedback. Four themes, which accounted for this preference, were culled out in an iterative, inductive analysis of interview data: 1. Audio feedback was perceived to be more effective than text-based feedback for conveying nuance; 2. Audio feedback was associated with feelings of increased involvement and enhanced learning community interactions; 3. Audio feedback was associated with increased retention of content; and 4. Audio feedback was associated with the perception that the instructor cared more about the student. Document analysis revealed that students were three times more likely to apply content for which audio commenting wasprovided in class projects than was the case for content for which text-based commenting was provided. Audio commenting was also found to significantly increase the level at which students applied such content. Implications of this case study and directions for future research are addressed in the discussion and conclusions section of this paper.

The Factual Knowledge Elements and Components of Outstanding Retention and Student Success Coaching

2019 ◽  
pp. 30-62
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Doctoral Studies ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Degree Completion Programs ◽  
Online Degree ◽  
Program Retention ◽  
First Time ◽  
To Receive

The research presented throughout this chapter and in Chapters 3 and 4 comes from a 2015-16 study of a US-based for-profit coaching company that was conducted as part of the author's dissertation and doctoral studies. The research was designed to examine, understand, and explain why students assigned to receive retention and success coaching were significantly more likely to remain enrolled at their institutions than students who did not receive coaching. One of the main elements of the research was to understand and evaluate the coaches' performance in the retention of students in online degree completion programs and to inform the larger, related problem of online course and program retention. As a further focus, the study was designed to inform and improve retention of the most difficult community of students, the non-first-time student enrolled in an online degree completion program. This chapter looks at the knowledge elements and components of highly impactful coaching.

Faculty Participation in Online Higher Education

2014 ◽  
pp. 61-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
The United States ◽  
Faculty Participation ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Online Higher Education ◽  
Student Demand ◽  
Education Report

In the past decade, enrollments in distance education, and specifically online education, have grown dramatically in the United States. According to the 2009 Sloan Report (Allen & Seaman, 2010), enrollments in online courses increased from 9.6% of total postsecondary enrollments in 2002 to 25.3% in 2009. Unfortunately, a number of barriers exist that may result in an inability of higher education institutions to provide quality online education programming in sufficient scale to meet the expected student demand. The Managing Online Education report (Green, 2010) identifies the resistance of faculty towards teaching in an online environment as foremost among ten factors that “impede institutional efforts to expand online education programs” (p. 1). An understanding of the factors that both motivate and discourage faculty member participation in online education programs is critical if institutions are to leverage their existing faculty to meet the current and future demand for online education. This case study first presents a number of motivating and inhibiting factors and then discusses how St. Bonaventure University leveraged these factors in an attempt to boost faculty participation in online education.

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