Theory and Application in the Design and Delivery of Engaging Online Courses

Author(s):  
Dixie F. Abernathy ◽  
Amy Wooten Thornburg

For the last quarter of a century, online learning has emerged as a viable and, in many cases, preferable instructional option for higher education students. As this wave of educational change became more prevalent and sought after by students and faculty, at times the implementation, driven by financial benefit as well as student demand, may have advanced beyond the preparation. Research and experience have now exposed numerous issues that may hinder the effectiveness of online learning for all involved stakeholders. Designing effective online courses is the first step, but too often the preparation for and focus on engaging instruction and learning ends as the course design is concluding. Recognizing the key principles behind effective student and instructor engagement may add to the overall stakeholder experience in the online learning environment.

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Hui-Ching Kayla Hsu

The rise of online courses has created an ongoing demand for instructional designers in higher education. Collaboration between faculty and instructional designers in developing online engineering courses has therefore increased. Potential challenges during the collaboration can be addressed when faculty and instructional designers have a mutual understanding of instructional design principles. This article provides a resource kit that contains a synthesis of online learning theories and examples collected from online engineering courses. These examples can help create a course design that recognizes students’ cognitive load and provides meaningful interactions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2-2 ◽  
pp. 100068
Author(s):  
Svenja Bedenlier ◽  
Iris Wunder ◽  
Michaela Gläser-Zikuda ◽  
Rudolf Kammerl ◽  
Bärbel Kopp ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Margaret Anne Carter ◽  
Marie M'Balla-Ndi ◽  
Ariella van Luyn ◽  
Donna Goldie

As a result of the rapid online expansion of digital learnscapes, resulting in university students regularly engaging in online learning communities, cyberbullying has increasing potential to become a serious issue for higher education institutions. The effectiveness of educating students and staff in higher education on the elements and impacts of cyberbullying has driven this innovative study, which involves the development of an action research-led and student-directed interactive educational website to inform higher education students and staff about the consequences of cyberbullying. In describing the ongoing development and generalisation of the site, this chapter highlights the third cycle of an action research inquiry, and more generally the need for such resources to support higher education so that users understand what constitutes cybersafety and cyberbullying. As such, the research is directed toward understanding, sharing, participation, reflection, and change. Findings are discussed in relation to the information on the site for users in higher education.


Author(s):  
Reza Dashtestani

This study focused on the acceptance level of higher education stakeholders of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) of online courses in Iran and pre-service teachers’ learning achievement in online courses. Three cohorts of participants who were teaching or learning in online courses included pre-service teachers of TEFL (n=104), TEFL university instructors (n=23), and heads of TEFL departments (n=10). A questionnaire was designed. The Kruskal Wallis test was used to detect differences among the perspectives of the participants. Semi-structured interviews were also utilized. Results indicated that there were significant differences among the perspectives of the three groups of participants about online courses. The pre-service teachers appeared to be relatively positive about online learning, while the university instructors and heads of departments showed a lower level of satisfaction. The participants pointed out several challenges, including the lack of rigor of online courses, the incredibility of the certificates, the lack of technological infrastructures, technical problems, the impractical content of the lessons, the lack of human interaction, the low competence levels of online learning students, and employers’ lack of interest in employing graduates of online courses. The participants also mentioned that pedagogical and technological training was required for both university instructors and pre-service teachers of TEFL. The comparison of pre-service teachers’ mid-term and final scores in the online courses showed a significant difference and improvement of students’ learning achievement in online courses with medium to large effect sizes. In the interviews, the participants also confirmed that online courses could improve student learning.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 396
Author(s):  
Anang Fathoni ◽  
Ali Mustadi ◽  
Wahyu Kurniawati

The emergence of Covid-19 has had a significant influence on the world of education. Even though the emergence of Covid-19 has accelerated the integration of technology in learning, there are still negative classroom learning impacts. This study aims to explore student experience in online learning in the Covid-19 Pandemic period; describe the negative impacts and obstacles that arise in online learning; and describe student strategies in online learning. This research is qualitative in the type of case studies. Data were collected through open questionnaires and interviews with participants of 20 students. Data analysis was accomplished with Bogdan and Biklen models through reduction, searching for sub-themes, and seeking relationships between sub-themes to obtain the conclusion. The results of this study show that learning in the Covid-19 pandemic period has not been fully optimally done. In addition, students also get physical and mental impacts during online learning. Furthermore, students get barriers to signals, learning environment, and learning activities with lecturers online. However, students have a varied learning strategy to minimize obstacles and negative impacts of online learning.


Author(s):  
Mary Holz-Clause ◽  
Dileepkumar Guntuku ◽  
Vikram Koundinya ◽  
Reginald Clause ◽  
Kanika Singh

Emerging educational practices and growing demand from education researchers and learners appear to be driving a shift toward the learner and context-centered teaching approach. Higher education is transitioning delivery from a predominantly teacher-centered mode to a non-traditional learner-oriented one. This change is being primarily facilitated by the advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in curriculum design and delivery ushering online learning. In this chapter, we discuss the current and future trends in higher education for curriculum design and delivery using online learning. We present Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as an online teaching-learning future trend that can help provide educational access to millions of students geographically situated all over the world. We share a case study from India, highlighting the initiatives in the field of higher education and course delivery with the use of ICTs and the changes in methods of learning-content delivery. The advantages and challenges associated with MOOCs are also discussed.


Author(s):  
Maria Northcote

The field of online learning, like many other technological innovations, has not burgeoned without controversy. Despite the debates about the role and value of online learning, it has continued to grow in many sectors, especially in higher education. Alongside the growth of online learning, discussions about its benefits and limitations have also flourished, and many studies have investigated the quality and integrity of online courses. This chapter offers an investigation of some of the history of online learning, concluding with a collection of practical recommendations and suggestions for future research directions to guide institutions embarking on online learning programs.


Author(s):  
Geraldine Torrisi-Steele

Online learning experiences are becoming the norm for an increasing number of higher education students. Although there are clear advantages to online learning in terms of flexibility and access, many students struggle to succeed, especially in purely online learning environments. To a large extent student success in online learning environments is dependent on students' ability to self-regulate and ‘learn for themselves'- both abilities related to academic metacognition. Unfortunately, even at university, many students do not have well developed metacognition. It is therefore important to consider carefully metacognitive scaffolding in the design of online learning experiences. However, the models of instructional design commonly used in online learning tend not to place great emphasis on the importance of metacognitive scaffolding. The aim of the present chapter is therefore to increase awareness of metacognition, as one of the important considerations in the design of online learning environments that can help to maximize chances of student success. Towards this end, a framework of instructional design that is more sensitive to metacognition is developed.


Author(s):  
Pamela A. Lemoine ◽  
P. Thomas Hackett ◽  
Michael D. Richardson

Intellectual Property (IP) has long been an issue of debate among higher education institutions in the United States and other countries. However, determining ownership and the income dispersion of creative works is still a relatively new phenomenon which compounds delivery of education in a virtual world that knows no boundaries. Intellectual Property (IP) issues are numerous and often complex in higher education because colleges and universities are major suppliers and consumers of online learning, particularly in a global context. Many higher education institutions claim ownership of the materials created by faculty for online courses, and often the courses themselves; many more are plagiarized or used without the author's permission as a result of teaching in an online environment. In addition, global copyright laws are very unclear regarding the ownership of works created in an electronic environment. In the past, instructors created materials have been considered the intellectual property of the creator. The potential economic value of multimedia and online course materials has raised the stakes for higher education institutions and prompted them to critically examine how online learning has opened old wounds regarding the ownership of intellectual property.


Author(s):  
Sang Chan ◽  
Devshikha Bose

Online learning will continue to be one of the popular modes of instruction offered by higher education institutions to accommodate different learning needs. Student engagement is critical to the success of online learning. Students should be engaged cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. This chapter discusses design considerations for online courses to promote student-instructor, student-student, and student-content interactions to engage students cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally. The chapter also discusses the application of flow theory, specifically, in the design of instruction to engage students during their interaction with course content.


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