Education Commons^™

Southern Educator, Georgia Southern University

Southern Educator (2003-2023)

• Online Learning Research Earns Top Award for COE Faculty
• NCATE Seeks Comments
• Honors Students Share Research
• Graduate Center Staff Present at Conference
• COE Faculty Brings More Than $1 Million to Middle Georgia Mathematics Teacher Development
• STEM Institute Names Affiliates, Includes 13 COE Faculty
• Around COE
• COE Alums Named Teacher of the Year

State Of The Nation: K-12 Online Learning In Canada, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

This is the 5th edition of the State of the Nation: K–12 Online Learning in Canada report. The purpose of this annual investigation is to describe the policies and regulations that govern K–12 distance education in each of the thirteen Canadian provinces and territories. The study is also designed to survey the level of K–12 distance education activity across the country.

Mobile Microblogging: Using Twitter And Mobile Devices In An Online Course To Promote Learning In Authentic Contexts, Yu-Chang Hsu, Yu-Hui Ching

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

This research applied a mixed-method design to explore how best to promote learning in authentic contexts in an online graduate course in instructional message design. The students used Twitter apps on their mobile devices to collect, share, and comment on authentic design examples found in their daily lives. The data sources included tweets (i.e., postings on Twitter), students' perceptions about mobile microblogging activities, and self-reported Twitter usage. Based on the tweet analysis, we found that the students appropriately applied the design principles and design terms in their critique of design examples. While the students were mainly engaged in assignment-relevant activities, …

It's Not That Tough: Students Speak About Their Online Learning Experiences, Michael Barbour, Angelene Mclaren, Lin Zhang

Education Faculty Publications

K-12 online learning is growing in Canada and elsewhere in the world. However, the vast majority of literature is focused on practitioners and not on systematic inquiry. Even the limited published research has largely excluded the perspectives of students engaged in virtual schooling. This study examines secondary student perceptions of components of virtual schooling that were beneficial and challenging. Students largely enjoyed their virtual school courses and found the synchronous classes, the technology, and the ability to control their own learning as positive aspects of their experience. Students also found the lack of a sense of community, working during their …

Tracing International Differences In Online Learning Development: An Examination Of Government Policies In New Zealand, Allison Powell, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

In this article, we briefly define and operationalise the term e-learning as online learning. Then we provide a lengthy discussion of a series of reports from New Zealand that set an ambitious goal for developing secondary online learning. The examples and the policies pursued by New Zealand provide interesting models of how to develop primary and secondary online learning.

Social Networks In Higher Education: A Study Of The Relationship Of Social Structural And Proximity Factors To Teacher Credibility And Perceived Quality Of Academic Life, Gordon R. Haley

Publications

As Berge (1998) tells us, learning is a lifelong process that is important to effective participation in cultural and economic life in a democratic society. In their research on cultural issues in distance education, Enoch and Soker (2006) note one of the major concerns of modern societies today is to ensure increased access to higher education, and to include members of formerly under-represented social groups and categories, such as ethnic and racial minorities, women and people who live in distant rural or disadvantaged areas or who have to combine their studies with full-time or part-time jobs. Building on the work …

Designing Wise Communities That Engage In Creative Problem Solving: An Analysis Of An Online Design Model, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Ludmila Layne, Casey Frechette

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Addressing the conference theme of “design thinking,” this paper discusses an instructional design model, WisCom (Wisdom Communities) that we developed to build a wise learning community online, to solve open-ended, ill-structured problems such as solving a health crisis or an environmental disaster, which requires the exchange of multiple perspectives, inter-disciplinary thinking, creative problem solving, and social construction of knowledge. Based on socio-constructivist, sociocultural theories of learning and mediated cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), distributed cognition (Hutchins, 1995; Pea, 1993), group cognition (Stahl, 2006), research on how people learn (Bransford, Vye, Bateman, Brophy, & Roselli, 2004), and distance education design principles (Moore & …

Transforming A Rn To Bsn Program To An On-Line Delivery Format, Cathy H. Abell, Deborah Williams, M. Susan Jones

Nursing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Academic Development Perspectives Of Blended Learning, Roisin Donnelly, Claire Macavinney

Books/Book Chapters

Technological advances in every aspect of today’s higher education environment create a forum for academic developers to re-examine existing delivery methods for professional development. Within the context of this case study, the term ‘academic developer’ is taken to encompass the role of learning technologist. In order to be responsive and accommodate the changes, traditional instruction methods are being extended to encompass the range of Web 2.0 tools available. Debate is ongoing in the area of blended learning as to the ultimate effectiveness of technology integration. Through exploration of the experiences of two academic developers involved in the design and delivery …

Online Learning: Exploring The Landscape, Jonathan D. Becker, Jesse Senechal, Charol Shakeshaft

MERC Publications

The Policy and Planning Council of the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) rightfully identified online learning as an area ripe for study. This report summarizes findings from both phases of the research is the first report of the study that was ultimately commissioned. After a brief review of the literature, this report includes a description of the survey research portion of the study as well as findings from the statewide survey that was undertaken and then phase 2, which consisted of case studies of four Virginia school divisions. The report concludes with a brief summary …

Sense Of Community In Graduate Online Education: Contribution Of Learner To Learner Interaction, Jo Lita Shackelford, Margaret G. Maxwell

Communication Sciences & Disorders Faculty Publications

Distance learning technologies offer a multitude of ways to build interaction into online courses to support learning. Based on social constructivism theory, this study explored which types of interaction are most predictive of students’ sense of community in online graduate courses at a regional comprehensive university. Surveys were used to measure sense of community and the frequency and importance of nine learner–learner interactions.

Interactions that were most predictive of sense of community were introductions, collaborative group projects, sharing personal experiences, entire class discussions, and exchanging resources. The interaction that offered the highest payoff to instructors was exchanging resources. The article …

Online Learning, Michael K. Barbour, Richard E. Ferdig

Education Faculty Publications

K-12 Online Learning has exponentially grown in the last 15 years. An estimated 1.2 million K-12 students took online classes last year; 45 states currently have some form of online learning at the state-level; and some states mandate some sort of online experience prior to high school graduation. Given its dramatic growth and ubiquity in K-12 schooling, it is critical that administrators learn more about K-12 schooling and the role it may play in their district or building. Unfortunately, there is not one single model of K-12 online schooling. Therefore, there is not one suggested set of recommendations, learnings, or …

Cross-Cultural Probing: An Examination Of University Student Ict Ownership And Use Of E-Learning Materials In Thai And Australian Contexts, Jeremy Pagram, Martin Cooper

Research outputs 2012

This paper reports on the second phase of an ongoing project being carried out at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australia examining ECU Education students’ ownership and use of information and communication technologies (ICT). It is critical that modern universities understand their students’ ICT capabilities in terms of hardware ownership, software facility, and preferences in order that online course and content delivery may be tailored to deliver effective, usable and engaging learning resources (Smith & Caruso, 2010). In addition, with universities placing greater focus upon attracting students from beyond the borders of any one country though e‐learning, it is …

Training Teachers For A Virtual School System: A Call To Action, Michael Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

Online learning at the K-12 level is growing exponentially. Students learning in supplemental virtual schools and full-time cyber schools, using a variety of delivery models that include and sometimes combine independent, asynchronous, and synchronous instruction, in almost every state in the US. In some instances the knowledge, skills, and abilities required by teachers in this technology-mediated environment is consistent with what they learned about face-to-face teaching in their teacher education programs, while in many instances, the two are quite different. Presently the lack of empirical research into effective K-12 online teaching limits teacher education programs. However, teacher education programs still …

The Farnet Journey: Perceptions Of Māori Students Engaged In Secondary Online Learning, Carolyn Bennett, Michael Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

This case study investigated the perceptions of Māori students in the Virtual Learning Network of what constituted effective strategies for engaging them in online learning. In the FarNet cluster, about 63 students from the four secondary and five area schools access the VLN, and approximately 80 percent of those students are of Māori descent. Data collection included online surveys, semi-structured interviews, and observation of online classrooms. The data suggested there was a variety of delivery models experienced by students, most supported by the learning management system. Students identified a range of Web 2.0 strategies currently used by their e-teachers, and …

Student Interaction With Online Course Content: Build It And They Might Come, Meg C. Murray, Jorge Pérez, Debra B. Geist, Alison Hedrick

Faculty and Research Publications

Online learning continues to expand at educational institutions around the globe. Educators must better understand how interaction with online course content impacts student engagement and learning. Advances in technology amplify the imperative to gain further insights into how delivery of course materials can enhance and support the learning process. This study investigates student patterns of access to instructional resources provided in an asynchronous online digital literacy course offered at a regional university in the United States. Frequency counts and access rates collected from a learning management system were used to assess patterns of student retrieval of course materials in four …