Examining the Factors that Influence how Instructors Provide Feedback in Online Learning Environments

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 47-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan S. Conrad ◽  
Nada Dabbagh

Feedback is considered to be the bridge between what has been learned and what the student should know. Feedback can correct misconceptions, motivate learners, stimulate deep thinking, and guide future behavior. However, in the online environment instructors must rely upon technologies to deliver feedback to students. To better understand the prompts and processes for online delivery of feedback, a descriptive study of higher education instructors who teach online was conducted to discover what events trigger instructor feedback and what tools the instructors choose to administer this feedback to online students. Results of the study revealed that the chosen feedback delivery mode and method are impacted by an instructor's technology expertise, the class size, and audience composition and assessment type. The study revealed that instructors teaching online have transformed their pedagogy by purposively planning feedback methods into their course design and applying reflective methods into their teaching style.

Author(s):  
Allison Brown

<span>How do online courses differ from traditional university courses? What are the new learning demands made on students in online courses? Which particular design features optimise the teaching and learning process in an online delivery mode?</span><p>These were the questions explored in a collaborative course design project involving an economics lecturer and the instructional designer at Murdoch University. Emerging from the project is the fully online course <em>Economic Thought and Controversy</em>, together with an instructional design template. This template is now being applied to other courses in the discipline with the aim of transferring the whole economics programme to online delivery in 1998.</p><p>This paper describes the pedagogical rationale of the design template.</p>


Author(s):  
Sorin Walter Gudea

In the previous chapters, teachers shared their experiences and feelings about online teaching; we have seen some of the perspectives related to online teaching and to teaching in general. Teachers talked about how the online environment affects them and their teaching style; about the tradeoffs they find; the issues associated with technology and teaching online; about the adjustments they feel they have to make; and about the benefits and the losses they notice as a result of their teaching online. Thus this chapter tries to put things in perspective and find out how, if at all, these stories intersect. The chapter also focuses on the central ideas that are related to technology and its use in the online classroom, ideas that have been derived from the interview data.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (6) ◽  
pp. 111-131
Author(s):  
Dawn Adams ◽  
Kate Simpson ◽  
Lynda Davies ◽  
Chris Campbell ◽  
Libby Macdonald

Online course delivery is increasingly being used by universities to deliver accessible and flexible learning environments. As this mode of delivery grows it is important to consider the equity of the learning experience for all students. As online delivery may reduce challenges and stressors present in face-to-face delivery, it could be suggested that it may promote student learning for specific student groups, including those with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum. However, little is known about the experience of learning online for students on the autism spectrum. This paper presents findings from two studies: A systematic review of the literature and a survey of students on the autism spectrum studying online. From the systematic literature review, only four previous studies were identified reporting on this topic. Findings from two studies identified that the online environment provided both facilitators and barriers to the learning experience for students on the autism spectrum. Although the online environment provided flexibility for learning, how design factors are employed in online delivery may unintentionally create barriers to the learning experience for students on the spectrum. An outcome from this study has been the creation of a suite of resources to assist with course design and delivery.


Author(s):  
Leanri van Heerden

After the #FeesMustFall strikes that have been haunting South African universities since 2015, Instructional Designers felt pretty confident that they can drive their institutions through any dilemma. Along came the 2020 COVID-19 epidemic and they realised they have been playing in the kiddie pool all along. On 23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national lockdown level 5 to start on 26 March 2020 (Department of Health, 2020). Three days head start for a three-week lockdown (which was eventually extended till the time of writing) was a logistical nightmare for even the most technology driven universities. All staff were sent home with only enough time to grab their office plants and laptops and no idea how they were going to move forward. The issue with staff and students all working from home is that the lecturers working at the Central University of Technology (CUT), being primarily a face-to-face delivery university, was completely unprepared for moving their traditional and blended approaches to completely online. In their study, Mogeni, Ondigi and Mufo (2020) found that most of the investigated teachers were not empowered enough to deliver instruction fully online and either needed to be retrained, receive further specialised training or be trained completely from scratch. A lack of confidence in the delivery mode of instruction will cause even the most knowledgeable subject spcialist to fail in their task. At the CUT lecturers needed a way of quickly acquiring the necessary skills to deliver their content and assessments on the institution Learning Management System (LMS). The aim of this paper is to measure participant perspectives of an emergency intervention to facilitate the process of online delivery skills acquisition quickly and online. To ensure relevant results a systematic process of designing an intervention and recording participant perspectives is necessary. This extended abstract will take a look at the methods used to drive the paper, briefly discuss the results and findings, and lastly explore the implications and significance of the research for the use of higher education institutions for emergency LMS training. Keywords: LMS training; e-Learning; Online Instruction; Instructional Design


Author(s):  
Shahrokh Nikou ◽  
◽  
Seongcheol Kim

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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 137-150
Author(s):  
Bhan Singh Dhami

Face-to-face delivery of education system had been greatly affected due to the outbreak of COVID-19. As an alternative to it, classes were run online wherever there was access to the Internet with technological devices. With this scenario, this study explored the perceptions of semester students about online class at master’s level during COVID-19 pandemic. By using the phenomenological research design of qualitative study, purposive sampling technique was used to collect the views of three students of master’s level studying at third and fourth semesters at an affiliated campus of Tribhuvan University (TU) and a constituent campus under Far Western University (FWU) of Nepal. Semi-structured online interview was conducted to collect the data. The result showed that the students were positive towards online delivery mode due to the need for getting education during COVID-19 pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Patricia Danyluk ◽  
Amy Burns

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 14-32
Author(s):  
Zeina Hojeij ◽  
Sandra Baroudi

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, universities have moved rapidly to transition of various courses and programs from face-to-face to online delivery mode. Involving pre-service teachers in the virtual field experience remained almost impossible. In the United Arab Emirates, however, a small cohort of four pre-service teachers have completed their teaching practicum online for the first time. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effectiveness of virtual practicum placement and its impact on developing preservice teachers' teaching practices, classroom management skills, and the use of online resources. A qualitative approach was employed for data collection including open-ended interviews, journal entries, and written reflections under guided reflective categories to uncover participants' perceptions about their virtual teaching experience. Findings revealed the significant role of the mentor and suggested a framework for effective virtual field experience.


Author(s):  
Patricia McGee

Blended or hybrid course design is generally considered to involve a combination of online and classroom activities. However defining blended courses solely based on delivery mode suggests there is nothing more to a blended course than where students meet and how they use technology. Ultimately there is a risk that blended courses defined in this way will not utilize effective strategies that have proven to improve learning for students. This study investigates pedagogical strategies or designs that have reported success in higher education coursework as published in articles that address blended pedagogy. A qualitative meta-interpretive analysis identified eight themes: definitions of blended design, meetings for the learner, online priority, technology with a purpose, focused e-interactions, active learning, distribution of time, pedagogical chunking, and outliers and omissions.


Author(s):  
Terry S. Atkinson

This chapter details the experiences of a university professor whose perspectives shifted from one of initial dissent to eventual advocacy for online learning as a delivery mode for her reading/literacy courses. Spanning eight years, her distance education teaching practices were shaped by her personal ventures as an online student, the outcomes gained by enhancing the social presence of her online courses, collaboration with colleagues, and systematic examination of her online teaching practice relative to its rigor, quality, and effectiveness within a teacher preparation program. Insights gained while teaching online conclude with recommendations for faculty members, institutions, systems, and organizations with vested interest in the future of teacher education.


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