A Qualitative Study of Student Expectations of Online Faculty Engagement

Institutions offering online courses and degrees often develop requirements for faculty-to-student interactions; yet, these requirements may not align student preferences for faculty engagement. This chapter expanded the work on an earlier study by Shaw, Clowes, and Burrus, “A Comparative Typology of Student and Institutional Expectations of Online Faculty.” The current study included a new sampling of 57 students across two institutions focused on their experiences in online courses. Using the original typology as a lens, results were grouped into themes including substantive feedback, timeliness, and course expectations. Recommendations for further study include conducting a quantitative study of the relationship between faculty outcomes and student satisfaction after implementing student performance expectations.

Beyond Instructional Engagement

Faculty functions as the foundation for student engagement in higher education. Nowhere else is such a claim more evident than in the higher education online teaching environment. Evolutionary changes have taken place in higher education due to the nature of online education, which has transformed the traditional role of faculty. Higher education faculty roles have shifted from serving as content experts and researchers into roles that require the provision of more comprehensive and expansive support for students. In the online higher education industry, faculty members have been assigned tasks that increasingly cover multiple responsibilities that are typically the purview of technology helpdesk specialists, social workers, managers, student advisors, and customer service personnel. These wide-ranging obligations often hold online faculty accountable to numerous stakeholders. This chapter explores how the changing function of higher education faculty and institutions have a direct impact on instructors' ability to successfully create engaging learning environments.

Using Learning Analytics to Improve Engagement, Learning, and Design of Massive Open Online Courses

Academic research in the past decade has indicated that using data and analyzing learning in curriculum design decisions can lead to improved student performance and student success. As learning in many instances has evolved into the flexible format online, anywhere at any time, learning analytics could potentially provide impactful insights into student engagement in massive open online courses (MOOCs). These may contribute to early identification of “at risk” participants and provide MOOC facilitators, educators, and learning designers with insights on how to provide effective interventions to ensure participants meet the course learning outcomes and encourage retention and completion of a MOOC. This chapter uses the essential human biology MOOC within the Australian AdelaideX initiative to implement learning analytics to investigate and compare demographics of participants, patterns of navigation including participation and engagement for passers and non-passers in two iterations of the MOOC, one instructor-led, and second self-paced.

A Framework for the Redesign Principles That Improved Engagement in an Online Graduate Class

At a large, Midwest university, the authors taught an online course to graduate students in an educational reading methods course. While the course covered compelling content, the user experience frustrated students as they struggled to navigate an outmoded online learning management system (LMS), which inhibited their ability to engage with course content. Recognizing that the course could be a powerful and relevant learning experience for students, the chapter authors drew on engagement theory, technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), and the triple E framework to redesign the course. While maintaining the valuable course content, the chapter authors developed a framework to create an engaging and positive online learning experience. This chapter describes the framework and details how the course was redesigned, articulates the rationale for the course changes, and explores the positive impact it had on teaching and learning.

Best Practices for Engaging Graduate Students in Problem-Based Learning

In this chapter, the author discusses two graduate online courses and the use of the online discussion boards specifically as they were used for problem-based learning. In the first course, the instructor scaffolded the learning more closely by providing a specific case to be solved by students and by providing specific instructions. In the second course, students were in the field tutoring and were to use the online discussion board as a place to bring their problems or issues to be problem-solved by the group. In this second context, graduate students became a discourse community developed their own ways of solving problems, working sometimes as more knowledgeable others and sometimes as the one seeking assistance, and generally encouraged each other. The instructor, after providing instruction and modeling during the first course, had little role during the second course besides providing resources, monitoring, and providing occasional corrections.

Developing a Sense of Community Through Engaging Platforms in Support of Online Graduate Students Socialization

Graduate schools often operate in a decentralized community due to the diversity of disciplines and needs within; as such, the success of graduate students and their involvement are then left to the purview of the colleges and programs. However, we know that collaboration with programs and other campus departments are important in developing a sense of community for students in support of student success, retention, and graduation. Yet, the availability of student resources that fosters and supports student academic and professional socialization which are evident in traditional graduate programs are not always reciprocated in online programs. In this chapter, the author will draw from the theories of socialization, community of inquiry (COI) and the equivalency theory to create a sense of community for successfully engaging and preparing students in online graduate programs for their professional roles post-graduation.

The Role of Faculty Development in Online Universities

Faculty development continues to be an important topic in online education. As online program and course offerings are growing and adopted in popularity with many traditional brick and mortar universities, it is causing many institutions to look at how they are providing support, training, guidance, and professional development to the faculty who are teaching in these programs. This chapter will explore how one faculty development department has instituted several best practices to support their faculty at an online institution.

Effective Student-Advisor Engagement and Relationship Building in Online Graduate Programs

The goal of this chapter is to discuss the importance of advisor-student engagement as a critical component of student success. Much has been written about advising undergraduate students and strategies for working with first generation students and other challenges specific to undergraduate students, and this chapter will focus on working with online graduate students. Heisserer and Parette noted that contact with a significant person within an institution of higher education is a crucial factor in a student's decision to remain in college. The focus on this chapter is on how advisors can be the significant person within the institution for their graduate students, and how advisors can help students successfully integrate into the institution academically and socially to increase their likelihood of retention and success.

Graduate Online Pedagogy

Guided by research, thoughtfully designed online spaces can promote critical reflection of content among students. This chapter addresses the use of a purposefully designed academic website as a means to engage graduate students with each other, their advisor, and with their research. Using a mixed methods approach, student peer exchanges were evaluated on a collaborative website among students, and this study concluded that websites built with the specific purpose for academic peer deliberation create spaces where students can dialogue and learn from each other. Multiple levels of engagement were found in that students deliberate, challenge, clarify, and defend their positions while pushing their peers to do the same. This chapter provides evidentiary proof that online spaces using a peer interactive design can simulate a graduate seminar where content is academically deliberated while building relationships with peers, their advisor, and providing a space for vigorous research, each of these necessary components in graduate education.

Creating an Environment That Supports Online Faculty Engagement at All Levels

With a notable rise in the number of higher education institutions embracing online delivery models as a viable option for their programs and course offerings, there has been an increase in the need for a distributed, online faculty workforce. These faculty members not only deliver course content but also serve as representatives of the associated institution for students. They are the lifeline to the institution for students who are often equally distributed. Yet, many online educators engage very little with their associated institutions, enter the virtual teaching space as subject matter experts rather than trained educators, and do not have a viable means of connecting or engaging with their peers. All of these factors can be isolating for online faculty. In this chapter, the author explores strategies for holistic support of online educators to help facilitate engagement with students to connect with the institution and participate in meaningful dialogue with peers. Highly engaged and supported educators are best positioned to impact student success.