Online Learning and Quality Practice With Administrative Support and Collaboration

Author(s):  
Deborah G. Wooldridge ◽  
Sandra Poirier ◽  
Julia M. Matuga

Higher education institutions must innovate and develop new modes of learning, both formal and informal, that meet the demands of the knowledge-driven economy. There is a growing demand for education and a push for non-traditional ways of delivering knowledge and learning. This chapter begins by identifying the technological changes that are affecting all societies and how these changes will specifically impact postsecondary education. The topic of course delivery is viewed as a cultural issue that permeates processes from the design of an online course to the evaluation of an online course. This chapter will examine and review key components of and tools for designing high impact online courses that support student learning and provide suggestions for faculty teaching online courses to assist in creating high-quality online courses that support teaching and, consequently, facilitate opportunities for student learning.

Author(s):  
Julia M. Matuga ◽  
Deborah Wooldridge ◽  
Sandra Poirier

This paper examines the critical issue of assuring quality online course delivery by examining four key components of online teaching and learning. The topic of course delivery is viewed as a cultural issue that permeates processes from the design of an online course to its evaluation. First, the authors examine and review key components of and tools for designing high impact online courses that support student learning. Second, in this paper, the authors provide suggestions for faculty teaching online courses to assist in creating high quality online courses that supports teaching and, consequently, facilitates opportunities for student learning. Quality online course delivery is also contingent on the support of faculty by administration. Lastly, this paper provides suggestions for conducting course evaluation and feedback loops for the continual improvement of online learning and teaching. These four components are essential elements in assuring quality online courses.


Author(s):  
Julia M. Matuga ◽  
Deborah Wooldridge ◽  
Sandra Poirier

This paper examines the critical issue of assuring quality online course delivery by examining four key components of online teaching and learning. The topic of course delivery is viewed as a cultural issue that permeates processes from the design of an online course to its evaluation. First, the authors examine and review key components of and tools for designing high impact online courses that support student learning. Second, in this paper, the authors provide suggestions for faculty teaching online courses to assist in creating high quality online courses that supports teaching and, consequently, facilitates opportunities for student learning. Quality online course delivery is also contingent on the support of faculty by administration. Lastly, this paper provides suggestions for conducting course evaluation and feedback loops for the continual improvement of online learning and teaching. These four components are essential elements in assuring quality online courses.


Author(s):  
Julia M. Matuga ◽  
Deborah Wooldridge ◽  
Sandra Poirier

This chapter focuses upon the critical issue of assuring quality online course delivery by examining four key components of online teaching and learning. The topic of course delivery within this article is viewed as a cultural issue that permeates processes from the design of an online course to the evaluation of an online course. First, this chapter will examine and review key components of, and tools for designing high impact online courses that support student learning. Second, this chapter will provide suggestions for faculty teaching online courses to assist in creating high quality online courses that supports teaching and, consequently, facilitates opportunities for student learning. Quality online course delivery is also contingent upon the support of faculty by administration. Lastly, this chapter will provide suggestions for conducting course evaluation and a feedback loops the for continual improvement of the online learning and teaching. These four components are essential elements in assuring quality online courses.


Author(s):  
Deborah G. Wooldridge ◽  
Sandra Poirier ◽  
Julia M. Matuga

Traditional education systems alone, despite the essential role they have played and will continue to play in learning, are simply not capable of serving the world's growing and changing needs. The knowledge explosion, driven by the power of the network to connect people and spread ideas, has changed the very nature of learning. We must innovate and develop new modes of learning, both formal and informal, that meet the demands of the knowledge-driven economy in this information age. This chapter begins by identifying the technological changes that are affecting all societies and how these changes will specifically impact postsecondary education. The topic of course delivery within this chapter is viewed as a cultural issue that permeates processes from the design of an online course to the evaluation of an online course.


Author(s):  
Holim Song

As online course has become a popular course delivery method in American higher education, developing online courses has raised controversial issues and challenges for many instructors. University administrators continually put pressure on them to develop and deliver online courses. Most instructors, however, are not responding as quickly as administrators would like. They faces some issues such as lack of technical support, lack of software/adequate equipment, lack of faculty/administrative support, the amount of preparation time required to create assignments, and student resistance. This chapter describes some issues in online courses using Course Management System (CMS) along with challenges that instructors face in higher education when preparing online courses.


Author(s):  
Ruby L. Owiny ◽  
Elizabeth Hartmann

Any course must be goal-focused and consider the needs of all learners. However, online courses require instructors to be proactive in planning for learning. Recruiting and sustaining engagement in an online course must be carefully considered and planned for during all learning modules or units. This chapter addresses how to keep students engaged by considering their affect, the general way students feel toward their learning. Affect impacts motivation, which in turn can impact how a student persists in a course. The Universal Design for Learning principle of engagement addresses the affect through three guidelines. These guidelines are explained in this chapter with potential barriers to student learning and motivation explained as well. Furthermore, possible solutions are provided to give readers examples of ways in which they might reduce or remove barriers to engagement in their online courses.


Author(s):  
David J Harrison

<p>Online educational videos disseminated content for a university pre-service teacher internship program. Placed within an online course management system, the videos were accessed by 202 interns located in several Western U.S. states. To ascertain the interns’ subjective experiences of the online course and videos to assist in the evaluation of the course, the researcher analyzed qualitative survey data in the form of constructed response items using a new qualitative-to-quantitative protocol. Based on phenomenological and grounded theory methods, this protocol was designed to handle the large amount of subjective constructed responses, allowing the inductive understanding of the overall experiences of a common phenomenon. The responses provided critical information that is useful for instructional designers, online educators, and educational video producers. The data suggest:</p><p>1) Universities must carefully consider video hosting options to ensure access.</p><p>2) Online videos should be carefully planned to create high quality, concise videos of less than ten minutes in length, yet contain enough educational content to reduce the overall number of required videos.</p><p>3) Students appreciate the flexibility online course delivery offered in terms of scheduling and eliminating the need to come to campus to attend seminars.</p><p>4) Self-paced online courses require progress indicators to alleviate confusion.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Libby V. Morris ◽  
Haixia Xu ◽  
Catherine L. Finnegan

Although the availability of web-based education and the number of totally asynchronous courses have grown exponentially in the last decade, the literature on online instruction offers limited empirical guidance to faculty teaching in this environment. Much of the literature is anecdotal and prescriptive, and much more research needs to be done to situate research in practice settings. This study examines faculty roles in the online environment through the perceptions of faculty teaching online and through the archival analysis of their courses. Data were collected through document analysis of ten online courses and from interviews with thirteen instructors in the humanities and social sciences. Using Berge’s typology of online facilitator roles, this study examined the relationship between roles as perceived and enacted by faculty, identified wide variations in faculty roles and participation between experienced and novice instructors, and explored the relationship between faculty workload and perception of facilitation in the online environment. Directions for future research are suggested.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Virgil E. Varvel ◽  
Michael Lindeman ◽  
Iris K. Stovall

The Illinois Online Network (ION) is a faculty development partnership between all forty-eight community colleges in the state of Illinois and the University of Illinois. The goals of the ION program are to help faculty to develop and deliver courses in a completely online format, and also to produce online courses that incorporate best practices for engaging students in discussion and critical thinking. ION accomplishes its goals with a variety of programs, such as the Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality series of online faculty development courses. Evaluation surveys indicate that ION activities have had an impact on the satisfaction and confidence of faculty teaching online courses. This paper examines the programs and resources that ION provides, the effectiveness of the program as a whole, and the lessons ION has learned about providing a large-scale faculty development program.


2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Peruski ◽  
Punya Mishra

In this study, we followed three faculty members’ experiences with designing and teaching online courses for the first time. In order to complete the activity, the faculty members had to work collaboratively with others across the university. Activity theory provided a framework within which to study faculty members’ collaborative activities with members of different activity systems that had different goals, tools, divisions of labor and accountabilities. In concordance with activity theory, such differences led to contradictions, disturbances, and transformations in thinking and work activities. The results of the study have implications for individuals and systems undertaking technology integration in teaching.DOI: 10.1080/0968776042000211520


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document