Online Learner Expectations

Author(s):  
Gary W. Hawkins ◽  
Jason D. Baker

The rapid growth of online courses presents new opportunities and challenges for educational institutions. Thanks to online learning, increasing numbers of students can enroll in online educational programs without the institution needing additional classrooms or dormitories and such online instruction offers many students the opportunity to take courses who might otherwise have been unable to participate. This sudden shift to online learning, however, comes without ashared experience for either the learner or instructor. In other words, while most learners and instructors have had years of formal and informal experience in the face-to-face classroom, few have had similar breadth of online educational experience. Accordingly, there would appear to be a divergent array of expectations regarding the online learning experience. Failure to understand and address these expectations will likely result in a disappointed educational experience for learners and instructors alike.

2011 ◽  
pp. 1365-1369
Author(s):  
Gary W. Hawkins ◽  
Jason D. Baker

The rapid growth of online courses presents new opportunities and challenges for educational institutions. Thanks to online learning, increasing numbers of students can enroll in online educational programs without the institution needing additional classrooms or dormitories and such online instruction offers many students the opportunity to take courses who might otherwise have been unable to participate. This sudden shift to online learning, however, comes without a shared experience for either the learner or instructor. In other words, while most learners and instructors have had years of formal and informal experience in the face-to-face classroom, few have had similar breadth of online educational experience. Accordingly, there would appear to be a divergent array of expectations regarding the online learning experience. Failure to understand and address these expectations will likely result in a disappointed educational experience for learners and instructors alike.


Author(s):  
Michelle Kilburn ◽  
Martha Henckell ◽  
David Starrett

Identifying the positive attributes of students and instructors in the online environment will contribute to the understanding of how we can enhance the learning experience for the student and the teaching experience for the instructor. This article will assist students and instructors in understanding the differences that may be experienced in the online environment versus the face-to-face environment and provide the opportunity to consider whether online learning and/or teaching is a “good fit” for them. Understanding why students and/or instructors might choose the online environment will also assist administrators in developing successful, quality online programs that enrich the experiences for both students and instructors.


Author(s):  
Michelle Kilburn ◽  
Martha Henckell ◽  
David Starrett

As technological advances become mainstream in higher education, many universities have begun delving into online learning as an effective means of course delivery. Transitioning from the Industrial Age to the Digital Age of learning has forced some evaluators to rethink standards of success and the idea of productivity and learning (Leonard, 1999). Understanding the positive attributes of students and instructors in the online environment will contribute to the understanding of how we can enhance the learning experience for the student and the teaching experience for the instructor. This article will also assist students and instructors in understanding the differences that may be experienced in the online environment vs. the face-to-face environment and provide the opportunity to consider whether online learning or teaching is a “good fit” for them. Understanding why students or instructors might choose the online environment will also assist administrators in developing successful, quality online programs that enrich the experiences for both students and instructors.


Author(s):  
Chia-Wen Tsai ◽  
Pei-Di Shen

Many educational institutions provide online courses; however, the question whether they can be as effective as those offered in the face-to-face classroom format still exists. In addition, it also remains unclear whether every subject is appropriate to be delivered in web-based learning environments. Thus, the authors redesigned two courses with different orientations and conducted a quasi-experiment to examine the effects of web-enabled self-regulated learning (SRL) in different course orientations on students’ computing skills. Four classes with 173 students from the courses ‘Database Management System’ and ‘Packaged Software and Application’ were divided into 2 (Design-oriented vs. Procedural-oriented) × 2 (SRL vs. non-SRL) experimental groups. The results showed that students who received the intervention of web-enabled SRL had significantly higher grades on the examination for certificates than those that did not receive this intervention, whether in design-oriented or procedural-oriented computing courses. Moreover, students in the two different courses had very similar scores, which resulted in non-significant differences in their end-of-term computing skills.


Author(s):  
Louis B. Swartz ◽  
Michele T. Cole ◽  
Daniel J. Shelley

To remain competitive, expand access to education, and meet the needs of students, institutions of higher education are offering larger numbers of online courses. As online instruction increases, educational institutions, students and society need to make sure that online courses and programs are as effective as traditional classroom courses and educational programs. To address this need, this paper focuses on the question, “Are online courses and programs as effective as those taught in the classroom?” Numerous authors have addressed the question of the effectiveness of online classes (Keegan, D., 1996; Russell, T., 1999; Schulman, A.H. and Sims, R.L., 1999; Harasim, L. 2000; Ryan, R.C. 2000; Rivera, J.C. and Rice, M.L., 2002; Bernard, R.M., et al, 2004; Frantz, P.L. and Wilson, A.H., 2004; Suanpang, P., Petocz, P. and Kalceff, W., 2004; Fjermestad, Hiltz, S. and Zhang, Y. 2005; Weaver-Kaulis, A. and Crutsinger, C., 2006). Most studies center on student satisfaction and/or student learning. The studies have produced mixed results. This paper provides a summary of a number of important studies on the effectiveness of online courses and educational programs. It synthesizes the results from the studies and presents possible reasons for the differences in findings. It concludes with a discussion of future trends and suggestions for areas of further study.


Author(s):  
Lizbeth Habib-Mireles ◽  
Mónica Zambrano-Garza ◽  
Neydi Gabriela Alfaro-Cázares

The COVID-19 crisis quickly led to the closure of educational institutions at all levels around the world, from one moment to another, millions of children and young people around the world were left without receiving their face-to-face classes, and many of them went through virtual classrooms framed in a phenomenon known as emergency remote teaching (ERT). This research sought to determine that well-designed and planned online learning experiences are significantly different from virtual courses offered online in response to this crisis, in order to identify what were the main areas of opportunity that learning in this emergency brought to teachers, students and educational institutions. A 12-item instrument was applied that was analyzed under a systematic random probability sampling, obtaining a sample of 49% of the population. The results made it possible to show the difficulties that arose, as well as the tools and platforms most used during the crisis in the institution of study in order to take advantage of knowledge to improve the learning experience of students.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
Rizal Wahid Permana Putra

The increase number of Covid-19 outbreak has profoundly changed our education system. This condition has led the teachers to alter the face-to-face learning into online learning. Online learning emphasizes on the internet-based courses synchronously and asynchronously. Besides its technical problems, conducting online learning was said to be monotonous since the teachers preferred doing online tasking to providing effective learning experience. Further, this condition led to low students’ motivation in learning English. In other words, the students might be in boredom to participate and engage in the teaching- learning process owing to the monotonous learning. Most students were said to be late or even reluctant to complete the assignments. Therefore, the researcher conducted the Classroom Action Research dealing with the use of Google meet to improve the students’ motivation in learning English during the online learning. The research subject was the 7th grade students of SMP Negeri Satu Atap Jarit. The research was conducted in two cycles. In cycle I, it showed that there was an increase of students’ motivation in learning English. The increase of students’ motivation was 61, 8%. Meanwhile, in cycle II, the researcher found that the Google meet significantly improved the students’ motivation in learning English. The increase of students’ motivation was 79, 4%. The result showed that the students actively participate and engage in the teaching-learning process. The students were very enthusiastic to respond and answer the some questions, and share their ideas related to the topic of the meeting. In addition, the increase of students’ motivation influence the students to compose sentences correctly related to the given assignments. Based on the result of data analysis, the researcher drew a conclusion that the use of Google meet significantly improved the students’ motivation in learning English during the online learning.Keywords: Google meet, Learning English, Students’ Motivation


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Colin William Campbell

The COVID-19 pandemic forced higher education institutions in South Korea to administer Spring 2020 semesters online. This mixed-methods study examined instructor/professor competence for the instructional delivery formats of Face-to-Face and online teaching. Quantitatively, the researcher measured teacher competence for Face-to-Face and online instruction by measuring the Teacher Self-Efficacy levels of non-Korean instructors/professors in South Korean higher education institutions. The qualitative questions assessed the advantages and drawbacks of each instructional delivery format. Findings indicate that instructors/professors are significantly more effective teaching Face-to-Face courses than online courses. However, instructors/professors with online learning experience were significantly more effective teaching online courses than those without online learning experience. It is recommended that all instructors/professors engage in professional development geared towards equipping educators with the tools needed to succeed in the online education environment.


Author(s):  
Robert H. Woods ◽  
Jason D. Baker

Optimal learning outcomes, whether in face-to-face or online settings, are inextricably intertwined with the establishment of social networks among participants engaged in a collaborative enterprise. Students who feel socially connected to other students and faculty are more likely to persist in coursework and report higher levels of learning than those who report being less connected (McDonald, 2002; Rovai, 2002; Tinto, 1987; Wegerif, 1998). But in the online setting, creating and maintaining a learning community is somewhat more challenging than in the face-to-face-setting. For despite advances in audio and video streaming technologies, online learning remains primarily a largely textual and asynchronous environment. The challenge in this setting might be stated as follows: “How do we adapt a series of threaded texts to make them build a socially interactive, diverse network of learners who experience a positive sense of community?” There are numerous pedagogical strategies that may be used to build highly interactive and socially rich educational environments. In this article, the researchers propose a model of “communal scaffolding,” which serves as a framework for a variety of online and off-line activities that can positively enhance the social dynamics on online courses toward the goal of increased cognitive and affective learning.


Author(s):  
Colla J. MacDonald ◽  
Terrie Lynn Thompson

In order to satisfy the needs of growing numbers of adult learners, the availability of well-designed, effectively implemented, and efficiently delivered online courses is essential (MacDonald, Stodel & Casimiro, 2006; Palloff & Pratt, 2001). Despite the demand and prevalence of e-learning, there are still concerns regarding the quality and effectiveness of education offered online (Carstens & Worsfold, 2000; Noble, 2002). Too often, in an “effort to simply get something up and running” (Dick, 1996, p. 59), educators have been forced to compromise quality and design. Intensive competition among educational institutions has resulted in quality assurance becoming a critical issue for promoting learning and learning programs. Within this economically motivated environment, online learning has not escaped the scrutiny of quality standards. Quality in online programs is generally defined in terms of the design of the learning experience, the contextualized experience of learners, and evidence of learning outcomes (Jung, 2000; Salmon, 2000). However, the plethora of online learning courses and programs with few standards to ensure the quality of content, delivery, and/or service creates a challenge. The resulting variance in quality makes it difficult for an organization or learner to choose a program that meets their needs and is also of high quality.


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