Online Learning

Author(s):  
Thomas G. Reio ◽  
Cyntianna C. Ledesma Ortega

Online education continues to grow appreciably to meet both institutional needs for short- and long-term viability and student personal and professional needs for flexible delivery of course offerings. Faculty remains decidedly ambivalent, however, about the legitimacy of online course offerings. This doubt emerges from perceptions of: increased workloads as compared to face-to-face courses, inadequate compensation, lack of a fair reward system for promotion and tenure, and online course inferiority as a means of fostering optimal learning. After being identified through a structured review of recent empirical research, demotivators (e.g., questionable learning outcomes) and motivators (e.g., opportunity for personal growth) of faculty online teaching participation are examined through the lens of self-determination theory. Recommendations such as providing increased support are put forward to increase the likelihood of faculty online teaching.

Author(s):  
Kevin P. Gosselin ◽  
Maria Northcote ◽  
Kristi D. Wuensche ◽  
Trudy Stoddard

Over the past few decades, substantial growth has occurred in online education in general, and this has been particularly true of the higher education sector. Most universities and post-secondary institutions now offer students the opportunity to enroll in online pre-tertiary, vocational, undergraduate and/or postgraduate courses. While some of these courses are successful for the learners who enroll in them, others have been found somewhat deficient, often criticized for their lack of humanization, interaction, communication and online presence. This chapter examines the role of the so-called soft skills of online course design and online teaching that are seen as vital for online educators who are responsible for the facilitation of high quality online learning. Along with a review of relevant literature about the soft skills of online teaching, the chapter presents three institutional case studies from which a set of practically-focused recommendations for promoting the design of humanized online learning environments has been developed.


2022 ◽  
pp. 103-119
Author(s):  
Camelia Marinela Radulescu

This chapter aims at explaining the mechanisms of persuasion for effective communication in online educational environments. It starts by bringing awareness on the particularities of online educational environments and the psychological prerequisites of online studying. It tackles issues of digital skills as well as emotional intelligence abilities for online teaching, specific mindset and digital readiness, result expectations and assessment. Moreover, principles of microlearning and hybrid learning are explained as major approaches in online education. It then addresses issues related to technology-mediated communication with young ages vs. adults. It makes a brief analysis of mediated communication vs. direct communication in terms of adopted strategies according to age, adaptation of message, and feedback according to the online channel of factors affecting communication in online environments vs. face-to-face communication. Particular attention will be given to digital stress.


Author(s):  
Albert L. Ingram ◽  
Lesley G. Hathorn

Collaboration and cooperation have become firmly established as teaching methods in face-to-face classes (e.g., Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998). They are also rapidly becoming widespread in online teaching and learning in both hybrid (mixed traditional and online) course and distance courses. The methods are likely to be most effective if they are firmly grounded in how people actually work together. Some groups collaborate more successfully than others. Frequently, instructors may place students into groups in the expectation that they will collaborate without a clear idea of what collaboration is or how to recognize and encourage it. We must define what we mean by the terms, both so that we can use the techniques successfully and so that we can research them accurately.


Author(s):  
A. Juan ◽  
J. Faulin ◽  
P. Fonseca ◽  
C. Steegmann ◽  
L. Pla ◽  
...  

This chapter presents a case study of online teaching in Statistics and Operations Research (OR) at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). UOC is a purely online university with headquarters in Barcelona, Spain, with students from many countries. As common to most math-related knowledge areas, teaching and learning Statistics and OR present difficult challenges in traditional higher education. These issues are exacerbated in online environments where face-to-face interactions between students and instructors as well as among students themselves are limited or non-existent. Despite these difficulties, as evidenced in the global growth of online course offerings, Web-based instruction offers comparative benefits to traditional face-to-face instruction. While there exists a plethora of literature covering experiences and best practices in traditional face-to-face instruction in mathematics, there is a lack of research describing long-term successful experiences in Statistics and OR online courses. Based on the authors’ experiences during the last decade, this chapter aims to share some insights on how to design and develop successful online courses in these knowledge areas.


Author(s):  
Albert L. Ingram ◽  
Lesley G. Hathorn

Collaboration and cooperation have become firmly established as teaching methods in face-to-face classes (e.g., Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998). They are also rapidly becoming widespread in online teaching and learning in both hybrid (mixed traditional and online) course and distance courses. The methods are likely to be most effective if they are firmly grounded in how people actually work together. Some groups collaborate more successfully than others. Frequently, instructors may place students into groups in the expectation that they will collaborate without a clear idea of what collaboration is or how to recognize and encourage it. We must define what we mean by the terms, both so that we can use the techniques successfully and so that we can research them accurately. In addition, we must distinguish between groups in which people act independently from those who act collaboratively. As Surowiecki (2004) has pointed out, when all the results are aggregated, a large number of people acting independently may give a more accurate solution to a problem than an expert. Interdependent groups may often produce results inferior to the results obtained by their best-performing members or may be affected by a “groupthink” mentality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-412
Author(s):  
Alexandria N. Ardissone ◽  
Jennifer C. Drew ◽  
Eric W. Triplett

AbstractAlthough many studies demonstrate that online education is as good as face-to-face education with regard to learning gains, course grades, and other near-term metrics, there is a major gap in exploring the long-term outcomes of online vs. face-to-face education, particularly in STEM programs. In this study, the effect of course delivery method on the long-term academic success of B.S. graduates was tested by comparing two similar life sciences undergraduate programs at the University of Florida. The Microbiology and Cell Science program teaches all upper division lecture courses online while the Biology program teaches nearly all of its upper division courses face-to-face. Graduate degree outcomes of 4978 students who completed their B.S. degree from either program (2011–2018) were determined using StudentTracker from the National Student Clearinghouse. The percentage of graduates with any doctoral degree (M.D., D.O., Ph.D., or other) did not differ. However, a significantly higher percentage of Microbiology and Cell Science graduates completed a Ph.D. or master’s degree compared to Biology graduates. Thus, online delivery of upper division undergraduate courses had no adverse effect on the future academic success of these students.


2020 ◽  
pp. 148-156
Author(s):  
Christine Fruin

When supporting instructors in the development of online course materials, librarians frequently encounter questions regarding fair use and other copyright and licensing issues surrounding the delivery of course content in an online classroom or through course management systems that support traditional face-to-face teaching. The fair use statute is the primary law by which use of course materials online is evaluated. However, considerations of contract or license agreements must also be made when using digital or streaming materials. Special considerations exist as well depending on the material type.


Author(s):  
Chaitanya Ravi ◽  
Ying-Ying Kuo

Most educators are interested in whether online teaching is at least as good as classroom-based courses in terms of students' learning outcomes, including academic achievement and learning satisfaction. This research study compared two sections of an upper-level, undergraduate, writing-intensive environmental policy course, which were taught in spring 2014 by the same instructor. The f2f session had a blended format with in class-lectures complemented by substantial online resources, while the 100% online course included documentaries, pre-recorded lecture videos, various readings, discussions, and online environmental games.A total of 39 students from both sections voluntarily participated in this research study by taking a course survey online. Both qualitative and quantitative data and students' final grades were collected. The findings revealed no significant statistical difference in students' final grades and learning satisfaction. However, students' overall satisfaction level in the f2f class was higher than the online course. Also, their satisfaction level was associated with (1) receiving valuable feedback from instructor and (2) students' motivation to learn in the course.Our research indicates that the quality of an online course can be equivalent to a f2f course if instructors can support students with regular feedback and keep motivating them to learn.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rome B. Moralista ◽  
Ryan Michael Flores Oducado

This research determined the perception toward online education among faculty in a State College in the Philippines. This study used a descriptive online survey involving a sample of 27 faculty members. Statistical tools employed were descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test. Research findings indicated that the majority of faculty had intermediate computer competency and had no training in online teaching with only a few having a very stable internet connection. Faculty considered that online education will result to more academic dishonesty, will be impersonal and lack feeling compared to face-to-face classes, and will be difficult to manage in terms of technology. Additionally, faculty were undecided if they are in favor of online education. The faculty significantly differed whether they are in favor of online education based on age, sex, college, educational attainment, years in teaching, academic rank, level taught and employment status. Faculty of Higher Education Institutions must be provided with continued support and training as they adapt into the new normal in the higher education landscape and as they embrace the instructional challenges brought by the Coronavirus disease 19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-60
Author(s):  
Majid Elahi Shirvan ◽  
Nigel Mantou Lou ◽  
Mojdeh Shahnama ◽  
Elham Yazdanmehr

Grit—the ability to maintain effort and interest for long-term goals—is argued to be an important individual factor for achievement, especially in the face of obstacles. However, little research has examined the possible fluctuations of effort and interest and how challenges may trigger the changes of effort and interest. In this study, we measured a teacher’s grit at the beginning of an online course during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we focused on the changes in a teacher’s effort and interest throughout the course. In this case study we unpacked the explanations of possible changes in grit via process tracing. Despite the fact that the teacher scored high on the grit scale, we found that the sudden shift from in-person to online teaching had put much pressure and demand on the teacher. The new teaching challenge influenced the teacher’s self-evaluation of their teaching performance and students’ engagement, which led to changes in effort and interest. Therefore, we argue that one’s average grit (e.g., measured by grit scale) cannot be the representation of their ability to maintain interest and effort on different occasions due to the influence of different situational causes or pressure. Specifically, during the course, the teacher’s effort and interest underwent changes on four occasions, characterized by four distinct dynamic patterns in terms of the interaction of high and low interest and effort. The four emerging patterns of L2 teacher effort and interest indicate that the construct of grit could be explained in terms of four dynamic clusters or archetypes. This study provides implications for understanding the complex dynamic nature of grit, which can be further explored through cluster analytic approaches in future studies.


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