Improving the Quality of Online Learning Environments

In spite of the numerous changes in technology in the past decades, designers continue to utilize traditional instructional design models as a foundation for designing teaching and learning materials, which may not be suited for the design and development of online learning environments. A study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of an online-specific design model called Proactive Design for Learning (PD4L) (Sims, 2012; Sims & Jones, 2003) and its ability to address limitations of traditional design models. The study was conducted to examine in what ways the PD4L model would contribute to enhance the quality of online learning. Based on this research, this chapter will be able to provide readers with ideas on the ways the elements of an online specific model can serve as design guidelines, a framework or “a set of guiding principles” (Sims, 2011) for designers and developers to create quality teaching and learning environments.

Ensuring Quality

A varied set of major stakeholders in higher education results in diverse perspectives on what entails quality in online higher education. Learners, employers, accreditation agencies, funding and regulatory authorities, and higher education institutions exist for different purposes. Yet, all have a common interest in the success of the learners' education. Examining the faculty role in ensuring quality in online higher education, developing a working definition of that role, and identifying considerations for faculty practice that are essential to achieving that end is the purpose of this chapter. The chapter conveys and explains the results of a thematic analysis of the requirements and expectations of the major stakeholders, their contribution toward the formulation of the working definition of the faculty role, their contribution toward the identification of significant considerations for faculty in exercising their role, and makes recommendations for further investigation.

Improving U.S. College Graduation Rates with Quality Online and Blended Degree Completion Programs

The Lumina Foundation estimates the number of American adults possessing some college education, but no degree, to hover at about 47 million. CAEL approximates this number to be about 100 million when including adults without any previous college study. This chapter questions whether there are sufficient degree completion programs available in the U.S. to meet current demand. With the U.S. a dismal 19th in the 2015 OECD rankings of college graduation rates, this chapter makes the case that there is more work for American colleges and universities to do to address the gaping disparity between the number of Americans holding four-year degrees and those needed to provide the innovation required to maintain future American economic vitality. Finally, the chapter reviews the blended classroom approach as a highly effective model for serving the adult degree completion population and describes a successful program that was recently created at Long Island University.

Designing Blended Learning Strategies for Rich Content

Today, an immense amount of photorealistic and high quality medical information circulates over the Internet, whether copyright protected and distributed under license from learning portals or simply freely available. Certified textual data along with audiovisual material that has been gathered from medical professional practices may be used for the production of learning objects for multimedia learning. The use of Content Management Systems (CMS) and Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) allow a vast array of images, videos, animations and sounds to be offered through e-Learning. In many professions, e-Learning is the norm. Accordingly, in medicine there is a tendency to blend in the first years of study more and more online material that leads to extensive multimedia learning. However, not all clinical courses within hospitals and examinations can be replaced by media rich content.

A New Model of Online Student Service in the Digital Age

During the fall 2011 semester, 1,089 students dropped an online course at Wilmington University. This loss totaled 11.8% of the initial online enrollment for the fall semester. This number is in staggering contrast to the drop rate for an on-campus course at the university: 6.6%. This chapter uses Wilmington University as a case study to explore why this problem exists and how to solve it: using student survey and administrative data to look at student expectations and satisfaction with current academic and co-curricular services; technical and service needs associated with online learning factors that facilitate course completion and recommend interventions to help keep students on track to complete courses.

Moving e-Learning Forward

The purpose of the chapter is to incorporate current research into a review of the administration of an e-Learning program at a traditional university. The study reviews the background for a strategic online administrator, reviews the challenges of integrating e-Learning in a traditional institution, and review models for developing the e-Learning program of the future. The research review demonstrates the need for a strong, strategic e-Learning administrator to champion e-Learning within the institution. Literature supports the need for enrollment growth, providing services to faculty and students, to deal with internal and external constituents and the need for continuous quality improvement. Models are provided to the readers.

Arranging and Rearranging Practice in Digital Spaces

The study that formed the basis of this chapter aimed to understand the practices mediating the quality of an online learning program from the perspective of educators in transition from face-to-face to online learning and teaching. A narrative community of enquiry was established for the period of the study, and seven academics from a single institution volunteered to participate in a six-month conversation about the sites for practice, challenges and curriculum decisions made while teaching online. A “practice architectures” perspective was adopted. The study found that “designing and redesigning” was not limited as supposed to a single transformation from face-to-face teaching to an online learning space. Rather, it was an ongoing professional practice, regardless of how novice or experienced and “tech savvy” the academic. The digital space is rapidly evolving, as are the professional learning demands of teacher educators. “Ambitious teacher practices” are permanently required.

Exploration of Faculty's Perceptions on Technology Change

This chapter conveys the results of an original research study conducted in 2013-2014 to analyze the perceptions of faculty during a learning management system transition (frequent technology change or adoption). The purpose of the study is to determine if faculty perceptions of adopting new technology have an effect on their stress levels; thereby, affecting faculty preparedness. The literature indicates that higher Technological Self-Efficacy (TSE) should result in lower stress levels. Data analysis reveals faculty who indicated having moderate proficiency of TSE (45%) and possessing moderate stress levels (45%); having somewhat proficiency of TSE (27%) and possessing minor stress levels (32%); and having extreme proficiency of TSE (20%), yet possessing serious stress levels (14%). While these findings differ from other current literature findings, the literature does support the notion that higher stress levels have implications on faculty perceptions, behaviors, and preparedness (Iqbal & Kokash, 2011).

The Relationship between Individual Student Attributes and Online Course Completion

This study was designed to investigate the existence of a relationship between scores on the Individual Attributes subscales of the SmarterMeasure™ online learning readiness indicator and successful course completion in a first semester, undergraduate, online history, psychology, sociology, or English course. Archival data consisting of 433 records of student scores on the Individual Attributes subscale of the SmarterMeasure™ was used in this non-experimental, explanatory correlational research design. Controlling for the effect of course content and instructor, data were analyzed using partial correlation analysis. Results of the study suggested negligible to extremely weak, positive relationships between the individual subscales and passing grades in the designated courses. Although weak relationships were demonstrated in this study, community college administrators should strategically implement a best practices approach that utilizes an online readiness assessment within all online courses, to be completed within the first two weeks of the semester.

DELES Analysis of E-Learning Environments

As online education expands, more data is needed on how to optimize its effectiveness in higher education settings. This chapter highlights a quantitative study that utilized the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES), to test the effects of student-centered learning constructs on student satisfaction in online courses. The sample population consisted of 306 students taking masters-level online courses in education or nursing at a university in Southeast Texas. Descriptive statistics and data were analyzed by correlation analysis and stepwise regression. Results of analyses showed personal relevance and authentic learning had the strongest correlations with student satisfaction, whereas the strongest predictors of student satisfaction were personal relevance and instructor support. The findings of the study described herein can provide beneficial insight regarding the design of effective online learning environments in higher education and improving the quality of the student experience.