Education Commons^™

Graduate Student Perceptions Of An Effective Online Class, Steve M. Bounds

Administrative Issues Journal

Online learning is a growing trend within the higher education community. As more universities offer more graduate programs totally online for the convenience of the older student who often has a family and full-time job it is imperative that instructors give attention to what students believe constitutes an effective online class. This paper surveyed 36 graduate students to determine what they considered important in an online course. Students want a professor who uses multimedia effectively, who establishes social interaction among students, who has a well-designed online format, who has an online presence, and who is available to students.

Saved By The (Alexander Graham) Bell: An Analysis Of Synchronous Communication And Student Satisfaction / Retention Rates In The First Year Online Composition Classroom, Jennifer Jane Lynch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Online first-year writing courses, with all of their promise, still maintain alarmingly low retention and student satisfaction rates, driving online curriculum designers to take another look at ways to increase both retention and satisfaction. To replicate the high rates of face-to-face classes, we must revisit and revise our approach to communication in the first-year writing online classroom. Think about it: The online classroom has abandoned a mainstay in education for thousands of years - synchronous communication. Why have we been so quick to dispose of it? Are we now paying the price?

This research will provide additional value to the …