Learner Perceptions of Online Courses

2011 ◽  
pp. 1340-1345
Author(s):  
Marc R. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Stage Model ◽  
Design Quality ◽  
Student Focus ◽  
Learner Perceptions

The debate about learner perceptions of online courses can be divided roughly into two spheres: those that argue that learner perceptions are influenced mainly by instructor quality, and those that argue that learner perceptions are more affected by course design quality (Ortiz-Rodríguez, Telg, Irani, Roberts & Rhoades, 2005). These divergent views may mirror a shift in research literature away from an instructor focus and toward a student focus – labeled as either a learner, learning, or engagement focus (Ennis-Cole & Lawhorn, 2004; Palloff & Pratt, 2007, and Rice, 2006). This also reflects emerging research (e.g., Jackson, 2007, Palloff & Pratt, 2007, and Wilson, 2007) which indicates that the instructor’s role is changing from being the sole expert responsible for designing, developing, and teaching the class – the “sage on the stage” model – toward a team-based approach where the instructor assists in designing a course with a team and acts as a facilitator for the learners – the “guide on the side” model.

scholarly journals 9. Quality Matters: A Faculty-Centred Program to Assure Quality in Online Course Design

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kay Shattuck
Keyword(s):  
Review Process ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Peer Review Process ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Quality Assurance Program ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Design Standards ◽  
Online Course Design ◽  
Quality Matters

One of the dilemmas faced by today’s faculty is assuring quality in online courses. As one solution to that dilemma, Quality Matters (QM), a program of MarylandOnline, built a rubric of design standards informed by existing research literature and best practices. The rubric was implemented within a faculty-centred, peer review process in which colleagues share their expertise to facilitate course design improvements and to achieve an established level of quality in online course design. This article will describe the basic tenets and processes of QM as an inter-institutional quality assurance program for online learning.

Using Gagné's Events of Instruction to Analyze Online Course Quality

2011 ◽  
pp. 2231-2238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc R. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Design ◽  
Online Education ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Design Quality ◽  
Course Quality ◽  
Events Of Instruction

Student perceptions of online courses are likely influenced by two overarching aspects of quality: instructor quality and course design quality (Ortiz-Rodriguez, Telg, Irani, Roberts & Rhoades, 2005). Both of these forces in online education may be analyzed using a well-known model of instructional design - Gagnés instructional design and cognition theory, the centerpiece of which are the nine events of instruction (Gagné, Wager, Golas, & Keller, 2004). Multiple studies positively correlate learner attitudes and perceptions of the online course to instructor quality. Early studies evaluating instructor quality attempted to correlate instructor quality with the attitude and perception of the learner, but not directly to learner success or course design quality. Researchers of online courses, such as Palloff & Pratt (2003), discussed the role of the instructor in depth while neglecting the roles of the learner, the institution, and course design. The main focus remained instructor-centered, and highlighted key instructor tasks such as understanding the virtual learner in terms of roles the learner plays, fostering team roles for the learner, designing an effective course orientation, and identifying potential legal issues the instructor might face (Palloff & Pratt, 2002, p. 16). A distant secondary focus was on effective course design. This highlighted instructor tasks in building an effective online learning community without highlighting the roles effective communication tools would play.

Engaging a Workbench Dialectic Inquiry Model in an Online Master's Degree Program

2019 ◽  
pp. 279-301
Author(s):  
Henry Gillow-Wiles ◽  
Margaret L. Niess
Keyword(s):  
Small Groups ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Interaction Structure ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Student Community ◽  
The World

This cross-case descriptive study suggests a model for designing online courses that supports TPACK development through communities of inquiry. Borrowing from the world of science research literature, a workbench dialectic inquiry model was engaged in designing a small group-large group dynamic. Mimicking scientists at the workbench, the participants formed relationships in small groups to develop ideas about TPACK, presented their ideas to the larger, whole-class group, then returned to the small groups to integrate feedback. This dynamic group interaction structure provided the participants with the space to develop their TPACK thinking in ways that supported the transition to cognitive discourse. Analysis of the forum postings revealed the complexity of the participant interaction and suggested that facilitating student community engagement supported the development of their TPACK. Course design details are provided. Further research directions might include applying the workbench dialectic inquiry model in other educational contexts and with larger student populations.

scholarly journals Course developers as students: a designer perspective of the experience of learning online

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain McAlpine ◽  
Tony Koppi ◽  
Elaine Pearson ◽  
Jan McLean
Keyword(s):  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Online Study ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Learner Perspective ◽  
User Perspectives

Academic developers of online courses may not have experienced this mode of learning and teaching from the learner perspective. This article makes a comparison between suggestions for online course design from research literature and user perspectives from a focus group, responses to questions on the most and least effective aspects of online study and lasting impressions, and from reflective diaries kept by two of the authors while they were engaged in study from online courses. This direct evidence is used to highlight key issues in the literature from the viewpoint of the learner.DOI: 10.1080/0968776042000216200

scholarly journals Students’ Satisfaction with e-Learning Systems During the COVID-19 Pandemic—An International Comparative Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahrokh Nikou ◽  
◽  
Seongcheol Kim
Keyword(s):  
University Students ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Teaching Style ◽  
Learning Systems ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Design Quality ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Students Satisfaction

t In response to the global COVID-19 situation, quarantine measures have been implemented at the educational institutions around the world. This paper aims to determine the antecedent factors predicting the university students’ satisfaction with e-learning systems during the COVID-19 situation. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) and evaluated a conceptual model on the basis of a sample of university students from Finland (n = 131) and South Korea (n = 114). The SEM results showed that the COVID-19 related factors, i.e., COVID19 awareness, perceived challenges during COVID-19 and the educational institutions’ preparedness indirectly influence the satisfaction with e-learning systems. Moreover, we found a statistically significant moderating effect of course design quality, and instructor’s teaching style between the COVID-19 related factors and the satisfaction with e-learning systems. The implications of these results for the management of e‐learning systems are discussed.

scholarly journals ON THE NATURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL PRESENCE IN ONLINE COURSE DISCUSSIONS

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Swan ◽  
Li Fang Shih
Keyword(s):  
Student Satisfaction ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Quantitative Results

“Social presence,” the degree to which participants in computer-mediated communication feel affectively connected one to another, has been shown to be an important factor in student satisfaction and success in online courses. This mixed methods study built on previous research to explore in greater depth the nature of social presence and how it develops in online course discussions. The study combined quantitative analyses of survey results from students enrolled in four online graduate courses, and qualitative comparisons of students with the highest and lowest perceptions of social presence. Quantitative results revealed significant correlations between perceived social presence and satisfaction with online discussions, and teased apart the respective influences of the perceived presence of instructors and peers. The findings indicate that the perceived presence of instructors may be a more influential factor in determining student satisfaction than the perceived presence of peers. Correlations with other course and learner characteristics suggest that course design may also significantly affect the development of social presence. Qualitative findings support the quantitative results. In addition, they provide evidence that students perceiving the highest social presence also projected themselves more into online discussions,and reveal meaningful differences in perceptions of the usefulness and purpose of online discussion between students perceiving high and low social presence.

scholarly journals Experiencing the shift: How postsecondary contract and continuing faculty moved to online course delivery

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Patricia Danyluk ◽  
Amy Burns
Keyword(s):  
Online Teaching ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Course Delivery ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Online Environment ◽  
Faculty Position ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Additional Work

The shift to online learning that occurred in March of 2020, created an unprecedented period of intense work for faculty and sessional instructors at the post-secondary level. This shift necessitated courses be adapted under short timelines, new technology be integrated into course design and teaching strategies and assessment methods be adapted for an online environment (Van Nuland et al., 2020). This study examines how sessional instructors, referred to in this chapter as contract faculty, and continuing full-time faculty members delivering the same online courses experienced this shift. While the demands of a continuing faculty position call for balancing of teaching, research and service responsibilities, contract instructors have their own unique stressors (Karram Stephenson et al., 2020). Contract faculty lack job security, are paid by the course and often receive their teaching assignments with short notice. By examining their perspectives on delivering the same courses online, we learn that the shift to online teaching resulted in additional work in order to adapt courses to the online environment, with faculty describing the challenges of balancing the additional work with other responsibilities of their position. Concerns of participants focused on a perceived inability to develop relationships with students in an online environment.

Using Learning Analytics to Enhance Student Learning in Online Courses Based on Quality Matters Standards

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Martin ◽  
Abdou Ndoye ◽  
Patricia Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
Learning Analytics ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Online Course ◽  
Design Quality ◽  
Descriptive Data ◽  
Quality Matters ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Enhance Student Learning

Quality Matters is recognized as a rigorous set of standards that guide the designer or instructor to design quality online courses. We explore how Quality Matters standards guide the identification and analysis of learning analytics data to monitor and improve online learning. Descriptive data were collected for frequency of use, time spent, and performance and analyzed to identify patterns and trends on how students interact with online course components based on the Quality Matters standards. Major findings of this article provide a framework and guidance for instructors on how data might be collected and analyzed to improve online learning effectiveness.

How Social Design Influences Student Retention and Self-Motivation in Online Learning Environments

2013 ◽  
pp. 26-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek E. Baird ◽  
Mercedes Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Student Retention ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Online Courses ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Social Design ◽  
Student Collaboration ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
The Social ◽  
Collaborative Activities

Investigating the social structure that works in online courses helps us design for and facilitate student collaboration. The integration of social technologies, and collaborative activities into the course design has a positive influence on student retention in online courses. In this chapter, the authors present an exploratory study of computer-mediated groups that utilized this collaborative-based model to participate in online and/or blended learning courses. Participants were put into groups and observed as they constructed new knowledge using both online dialogue (synchronous and asynchronous), and social media technologies (blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wiki) as tools to support and facilitate their learning in the program.

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