Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Collaboration Factors, Teamwork Satisfaction, And Student Attitudes Toward Online Collaborative Learning, Heng-Yu Ku, Hungwei Tseng, Chatchada Akarasriworn

Research, Publications & Creative Work

This study examined online courses with collaborative learning components from 197 graduate students across three consecutive academic years. A student attitude survey containing 20 items and a student teamwork satisfaction scale containing 10 items on a 5-point Likert-type scale with three open-ended questions regarding their online collaborating experiences were collected during the final week of each semester. Results revealed that the three extracted online collaboration factors (Team Dynamics, Team Acquaintance, and Instructor Support) from the student attitude survey had moderate to high degrees of correlation with teamwork satisfaction. Results also revealed that the three collaboration factors accounted for 53% of …

2013 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Visualizing Interaction: Pilot Investigation Of A Discourse Analytics Tool For Online Discussion, John Mccormick

Staff Scholarship

Discussion boards are perhaps the most commonly used collaboration tool in online courses. However, native discussion tools in learning management systems are limited in their ability to show interaction patterns among learners. Tools that provide more robust visual representations of discussions can improve instructors’ understanding of how students are interacting and, as a result, their ability to intervene when identifying suboptimal interaction patterns. This paper presents an exploratory investigation of one such tool, Social Networks Adapting Pedagogical Practice (SNAPP), examining its potential to help faculty understand and react to discussion patterns. Emerging learning analytics tools such as SNAPP can enhance …

Team Members’ Perceptions Of Online Teamwork Learning Experiences And Building Teamwork Trust: A Qualitative Study, Hungwei Tseng, Hsin-Te Yeh

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Teamwork factors can facilitate team members, committing themselves to the purposes of maximizing their own and others' contributions and successes. It is important for online instructors to comprehend students' expectations on learning collaboratively. The aims of this study were to investigate online collaborative learning experiences and to identify important factors that were crucial for building teamwork trust. A qualitative research method was utilized in the study. Data were collected from students' responses of three open-ended questions and interviews. The results indicated that students who enjoyed working in the group setting had a good relationship with their team members and they …

Seeking Solutions To Geographic Injustice: The Impact Of Distance On Rural Secondary School Students, Charles Douglas Ward

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by C. Doug Ward on March 26, 2013.

Changing Their Idea Of “Studying ” Into Our Idea Of “Learning ” - The Efficacy Of Interactive Online Programs, Leslie S. Jones

Interdisciplinary STEM Teaching & Learning Conference (2012-2019) (Archived)

One of the most frustrating aspects of college teaching is facing a lecture hall full of students who sit in class trying to figure out the easiest ways to pass rather than the best way to actually learn. New online platforms provided by publishers are an effective way to beat these passive learners at their own game. Picture the joy of walking into your class knowing that students have read the text before your lecture. Imagine how you can teach if you do not have to assume you start with one big tabula rasa. Building assignments into course requirements will …

Teaching The Presidential Debates: Helping Students To Understand And Overcome Biases During Presidential Election Campaigns David J. Lanoue Columbus State University Gregory Domin Columbus State University Abstract, David Lanoue

Perspectives In Learning

In this paper, we propose ideas for teaching presidential debates within the university classroom setting. In particular, we explore methods for helping students to break through partisan and ideological barriers that might inhibit their understanding of and ability to analyze candidates’ messages. If debates are to fulfill their original purpose of creating a more informed and responsible electorate, it is first essential that viewers give each nominee a full and fair hearing. We begin our discussion with a brief history of presidential debates, emphasizing both the presentations of the candidates and how those presentations have been distorted by media analysis, …

Improving Online Teaching Effectiveness Through Reflection And Collaboration, Dee Fabry, Donna Elder

Perspectives In Learning

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of active reflection and collaboration as a method to improve teacher effectiveness in the online environment in higher education. While there is no universally accepted definition of effective teaching for higher education, there is research that supports effective online teaching. These principles, paired with research on active reflection and collaboration, provided a foundation for this case study that resulted in determining that active reflection during teaching improved practice.

“Opening” A New Kind Of School: The Story Of The Open High School Of Utah, Delaina Tonks, Sarah Weston, David Wiley, Michael K. Barbour

Entrepreneurship Faculty Research

The use of online learning at the primary and secondary school level is growing exponentially in the United States. Much of this growth is with full-time online schools, most of which are operated by for-profit companies that use proprietary online course content. In this article we trace the development of, and philosophy behind, a full-time online school that uses open access software and open educational resources for course content. As more nations begin to put in place plans for primary and secondary education in the event of natural disasters (e.g., the Christchurch earthquakes) or pandemics (e.g., avian flu or H1N1), …

Influence Of Different Teaching Strategies On Physical Activity Levels In A Collegiate Swim Class, Derrick Bass, Ellen Martin

Perspectives In Learning

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of the number of teaching strategies used during instruction on the physical activity levels of students. Observations were conducted during a collegiate intermediate swimming class taught by an assistant professor at a university in the southeast United States. The class consisted of 16 undergraduate students from varying backgrounds and major fields of study. The professor was observed for the use of Graham’s (2001) 16 teaching strategies. Teaching behaviors were observed using a simple event recording sheet to allow for the occurrence or lack of occurrence of certain teaching strategies to …

Book Reviews

Perspectives In Learning

Book Reviews

Facebook As A Learning Tool, Rebecca Toland

Perspectives In Learning

Facebook is a social network that has been used by hundreds of people around the world. The network started as a technologically infused meeting place for college students to communicate socially. Since the inception, the network has blossomed into a global sensation. Such growth has spurred many uses for the site including the opportunity to add to the learning experiences for college students. Facebook is a tool in a learning revolution that incorporates the ease of technology and communication efforts between students and between teachers and students. This essay focuses on how Facebook can be used as a learning tool …

Reviewers For Volume 14

Perspectives In Learning

Reviewers for Volume 14

The Effect Of Peer Leader Instruction On Introductory University Science And Mathematics Course Performance: Preliminary Results, Kimberly Shaw, Cindy Ticknor, Timothy Howard

Perspectives In Learning

The Peer Instruction Leader (PIL) program at Columbus State University pairs courses having historically low success rates with dedicated peer helpers in an attempt to boost student learning and success. PILs are selected from undergraduate students who have demonstrated success in the targeted subject. They attend classes, meet with the assigned instructor periodically, participate in PIL training, and manage course focused discussion groups. The authors analyze data collected in the early stages of the program, which shows that students who attended the discussion groups fared better than those who did not.

Welcome To Volume 14

Perspectives In Learning

Welcome to Volume 14 of Perspectives in Learning

Information - Access: Denied, Riccardo M. Purita

SURGE

I have been privileged during my lifetime to always have the opportunity to learn about something if I wanted to. When I became interested in music and psychology—or even when I was learning how to apply for college—I googled it. The resources to obtain information have always been there for me: access to computers, the internet, books, journals. It is hard to imagine my life without a computer or access to books to learn about the world, and even harder to imagine if I did not know how to read or write. For this, I can thank my education and …

Searching Mindfully: Are Libraries Up To The Challenge Of Competing With Google Books?, Amrita Dhawan

Publications and Research

Traditional research tools used by libraries, such as encyclopedias and catalogs (OPACs) were created in an age of print and information scarcity. They have not kept up with changes in the information world which assume an abundance of online information in different formats and interdisciplinary topics which attempt to solve ‘real world’ messy problems and not traditional theoretical questions. The traditional tools rest on an unwieldy and somewhat outdated collaboration between OCLC, LOC, private aggregators, librarians and faculty. The search results they deliver offer excessive information with very little guidance on how to systematically sift through them. This makes the …

A Hub Website Of Online German Learning And Teaching: Resources For The Development Of 21st Century Skills, Carrie Christensen

All Graduate Projects

Rapid technological developments and relaxed international trade agreements have created increased global competition in the job market (Committee for Economic, 2006). In this global society and economy, a new set of skills will be required of the United States workforce. These 21st century skills include autonomous learning skills, communication skills, and technological literacy (Partnership, 2008). In order to support the development and instruction of these skills in the high school German classroom, a hub website of online resources for German teachers and students has been created. The resources available on the hub website include teacher resources, reference resources, instructional websites, …

Security Risks And Protection In Online Learning: A Survey, Yong Chen, Wu He

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

This paper describes a survey of online learning which attempts to determine online learning providers' awareness of potential security risks and the protection measures that will diminish them. The authors use a combination of two methods: blog mining and a traditional literature search. The findings indicate that, while scholars have identified diverse security risks and have proposed solutions to mitigate the security threats in online learning, bloggers have not discussed security in online learning with great frequency. The differences shown in the survey results generated by the two different methods confirm that online learning providers and practitioners have not considered …

Concurrent Mixed Methods In Online Higher Education Evaluation: A Pilot Course Evaluation Case Study, Alice A. Walters

2010-2016 Archived Posters

The research is a multiple case study evaluation of two online pilot graduate writing courses using a concurrent mixed methods design. Concurrent mixed methods provides an approach to capturing the complexity of multiple stakeholder perspectives. Qualitative interviews and surveys with open and closed-ended questions are used with stakeholders for a comprehensive evaluation strategy.