Education Commons^™

Fundraising Managers’ Perceptions Of Online Education’S Influence On Fundraising Practices And Giving, Peter J. Szucs

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The influence of online education on higher education fundraising practices and giving patterns is not well understood. This qualitative case study explored how fundraising managers perceived the impact of online education on higher education fundraising. To explore this phenomenon, the researcher interviewed fundraising managers at private, nonprofit colleges and universities in the western United States, and reviewed publicly available documents on the participant schools fundraising and financial information. The interviews demonstrated that study participants were concerned about connecting with graduates of online programs, and perceived that online students may have less affinity for their alma mater than on-ground alumni. The …

The Organizational Structures Of Instructional Design Teams In Higher Education: A Multiple Case Study, Jason Drysdale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated how organizational structures influence leadership over online learning initiatives for dedicated instructional designers in higher education. A qualitative research method was used for within-case analyses for 3 individual universities and a comparative case analysis of all 3 studied institutions. Purposive sampling was used to identify each university that participated and operated within 1 of 3 organizational structure profiles. Data were collected through document analysis and semistructured interviews with participants in 3 key roles at each institution: dedicated instructional designer, online faculty member, and online learning administrator. The organizational structure that most positively influenced the ability for dedicated …

The Administration Of Online Programs In Statewide Systems: A Case Study Of The University System Of New Hampshire, Christopher Lynn Labelle

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Enrollments in postsecondary online programs have grown over the years. As enrollments have grown, postsecondary institutions have experimented with different ways to administer their online programs. In many cases, institutions have shifted to a more centralized business model that consolidates the governance of their online programs under a single high-level institutional officer (Legon & Garrett, 2017). However, even as more colleges and universities prioritize the administration of online programming and dedicate staffing and resources to administer those programs, there is very little research focused on the best way to administer online programs in four-year public statewide systems.

Given this gap …

Student Perceptions Of Instructor Immediacy In Online Program Courses, Anthony Charles Saba

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The first online course was taught over 30 years ago. Over that time, instructors have primarily used text-based asynchronous communication in the online courses they teach. However, advances in technology over the last ten years have given rise to more opportunities to use new synchronous and semi-synchronous communication technologies (e.g., video, mobile and social networking technologies) in online courses. These advances in technology are likely to not only influence how instructors today communicate in the online courses they teach but ultimately influence their instructor immediacy. Instructor immediacy is the degree of psychological closeness students perceive there to be with their …

Perceptions Of E-Learning By Management Trainees In A Small, Fast Food Restaurant, Anthony A. Longo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Small businesses account for a majority of U.S. jobs and play a vital role in the economy. However, the survival rate for small businesses is disconcerting. Only half of the small businesses will survive five years or more and one-third ten or more years. Fast food restaurants are part of the food and drinking industry. It is the second largest industry in the United States and the most vulnerable to business failure. Research has shown the capabilities of small business managers can play a significant role in the success or failure of a small business, but little research has been …

Exploring Perceptions Of Advanced Online Faculty Professional Development Needs: A Case Study, Keisha Kidan

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Over the last 10 years, funding for higher education has steadily declined. Illinois public institutions had to make many adjustments, particularly because higher education funds were cut by 50% in some cases, and on-campus enrollments declined by as much as 25%. Despite these issues, institutions with online enrollments sustained steady enrollment. The goal of this qualitative, descriptive, single case study was to examine the types of training participated in by online faculty, what training they perceive they need, and to inquire if they perceive their feedback is incorporated into PD offerings. Data collection consisted of a PD observation, survey, and/or …

Course Design…Online: Helping Students Perform In The Digital Age, Joseph W. Harris

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The current study sought to test the relationship between course design, as described by the rubric produced by Quality Matters, and online university student performance. Due to the link between student motivation and active learning behaviors, and thus performance, it was predicted that the better-designed courses would facilitate student motivation. It was also predicted that goal orientation would moderate this relationship. While a significant relationship was observed between student motivation and course performance, no relationship was observed between course quality, as measured by the QM Rubric, and motivation, or performance. Only slight evidence was found for a moderating effect of …

Adjunct Faculty: The Silent Majority, Erin M. Hillstead Walton

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The increase in use of part-time faculty, commonly referred to as “adjunct,” has shifted the academic workforce. Utilization of this populace has increased steadily over the past several years and is anticipated to continue this growth as colleges and universities seek cost-cutting measures in balancing their annual budgets. With this increase, however, comes unexpected consequences for the educators who fill these roles; often they are underpaid, overworked, and employed tenuously from term-to-term with no security in employment. This dissertation examines the adjunct faculty role; including what adjunct faculty need to be successful, versus what they have been provided to succeed …

Online Learners: A Study Of Their Advising Attitudes, Experiences, And Learning, Stephen Philip Jenkins

Dissertations and Theses

Academic advising for online learners has been identified in prior research as an important student service. However, little research exists to assist advisers in knowing how best to serve this growing group. The purpose of this study is to close that research gap by determining if and how online and on-campus learners differ in how they rate the importance of various functions of academic advising as well as determining if their frequency of access to academic advising and source of advising information differed. Additionally, the research examines if the types and levels of learning for online learners varied by frequency …

Influencing A Swift Trust For Elevating Communications Of A Virtual Learning Community, Edward Fitch, Edward S. Fitch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The reduced range of online communication means that less information is available for the parties in a communication to acquire an accurate meaning of words, phrases, or concepts in an exchange process. In online communication, encoded emotional information is often subtle and difficult to interpret with any degree of accuracy; this interpretation is even more difficult in academic discussions that are lacking in emotion. The resulting misunderstandings contribute to a degree of uncertainty and confusion with some students, and to full-blown conflict with others. Uncertainty is problematic because it can inhibit or altogether collapse a conventional trust perception. The most …

School Shouldn’T End When The Bell Rings: An Exploratory Homeschooling Study, Mackenzie Dukelow

MA Research Paper

Homeschooling has experienced significant growth over the last several decades, yet little to no research has explored the relationship between homeschoolers and the public education system. Being the first to explore this relationship, the current study collected and examined data from 3 semi-structured interviews and 15 online homeschooling blogs in order to understand the growth of homeschooling in Ontario and the relationship between homeschooling and the public education system. The results of this study reveal the relationship between homeschoolers and the public education system varies significantly over time and locale, the challenges within each system and the difficulty of transitioning …

Action To Awareness: Surfacing Dysconscious Racism Through Focused Professional Development, Dorry Altman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing critical race theory (Ladson-Billings and Tate, 1995) and King’s (1991) theory of dysconscious racism, this dissertation aims to explore the beliefs and actions of teachers operating within an inherently racist society. Teachers struggle with many disadvantages from inadequate funding to lacking support structures. Yet these teachers continue to work hard to support their students. One external disadvantage these teachers may face and not even be aware of is dysconscious racism. Through a qualitative pilot study of journals and discussions of two middle school English Language Arts teachers, this research intends to explore how intentional classroom changes to encourage and …

Understanding Disinterest: How Online Undergraduate Students Perceive And Respond To Disengaged Faculty Members, Blake Clifford

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretative, qualitative study was to discover reasons students participating in asynchronous online undergraduate courses perceive faculty as disinterested, the significance of this perception, and how students respond to disinterested faculty. Online education continues to evolve and change how students learn and how online undergraduate students perceive and respond to faculty members. With these changes, understanding which elements influence and impact the success of online undergraduate students becomes more complex. The distinctive social context of virtual learning environments often contributes to online students characterizing faculty as disengaged. Online students often have limited opportunities to interact directly with …

The Effects Of Formative And Summative Assessment On Student's Connectedness, Satisfaction, Learning And Academic Performance Within An Online Healthcare Course, Thomas J. Wing

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The quantitative study presented here evaluates the effects of formative and summative assessment on student’s connectedness, satisfaction, learning and academic performance within a university three-credit 400 level online healthcare course. Literature exploring the role that formative assessment plays within an online environment is currently lacking. Additionally, understanding how assessment practices can help support the goals of online healthcare education is vitally important given the rise in popularity of this delivery format.

This study investigated student outcomes in the form of connectedness, satisfaction, learning and academic performance. Four cohorts of students were included in this study. Two cohorts were provided with …

Synchronous Online Peer Tutoring Via Video Conferencing Technology: An Exploratory Case Study, Christopher David Smith

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to analyze the lived experiences of peer tutors who provide synchronous online tutoring services, at a large, accredited, public, four-year university located in the Middle Atlantic Region of the United States. An exploratory qualitative case study approach was used to conduct this study. The case chosen for this study consisted of a single holistic case that was both descriptive and intrinsic. Participants of the study consisted of students who were hired by the chosen university to serve as peer tutors as well as students that utilize the online peer tutoring service. Data collection and …

Examining The Meaning Of Course Evaluation, Tyesha Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teaching evaluations significantly influence faculty members’ annual evaluations and progress toward tenure and promotion within academic programs in higher education. Those with consistently strong, positive, teaching evaluations have been deemed effective instructors and often validated with increases in salary, teaching awards, and promotion and tenure. This is especially the case when strong course evaluations are received in addition to documented scholarship and research activities and positively evaluated professional service. However, questions are being raised about the meaningfulness of students' ratings of course instruction. Do these measures effectively assess competence as instructors or do they measure other unknown processes in the …

Comparison Of Learning Outcomes From Online And Face-To-Face Accounting Courses, Joel Faidley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Online education continues to evolve and grow dramatically at colleges and universities across the globe. Today’s society is comprised of people who are increasingly busy with work and family obligations and who are looking for more flexible and expedited avenues for higher education. Institutions seek to meet these new demands by offering online distance educational opportunities while increasing cash flow for their college. Unfortunately the pitfalls to this rush to meet online demand results in what some researchers assert are inadequate quality content and curriculum. Others indicate there are not significant differences in the outcomes from online learning compared with …

Analyzing Social Construction Of Knowledge And Social Networks In Online Discussion Forums In Spanish, David R. Gomez

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

This mixed methods research project examined social construction of knowledge and social networks in three non-structured student centered online discussion forums, which were part of a graduate online course on web conferencing in Spanish within the Mexican sociocultural context. The purpose of the study was to identify interaction patterns among twenty-one graduate students by analyzing discussion forum posts, measuring student centrality, and generating social network diagrams in order to explain the characteristics of posts and social networks that may contribute to social construction of knowledge.

The researcher used a sequential approach, starting with the application of an interaction analysis model …

Examining Online Delivered Orientation To Online Learning Association With Community College Student Success, Kelly White

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to discover if there is an association between student completion of an online delivered orientation (OLO) to online learning and the student success factors of end of course grades and course completion. This study was conducted because course completion rates in online courses are unacceptably low. Educational institution administration, state and federal agencies have all taken an interest in student completion and retention rates. Discovering ways to improve the situation is gaining support. There are many factors which may influence student grades and completion rates. This study focused on the factor of an online …

Perception Of The Online Degree By Accounting Hiring Gatekeepers Of Mid-Size Firms In The Northwestern U.S., Domanic Thomas

Dissertations and Theses

The latest research shows over 2.8 million higher education students or one-in-seven are enrolled in fully online programs. In fields such as accounting, students are able to complete their degree, pass a standardized exam, and enter the workforce with little to no work experience. Accounting firm human resources managers are primarily responsible for the recruitment and selection of candidates. Prior studies conducted show that these hiring gatekeepers prefer candidates with earned degrees in a traditional classroom environment when holding constant for all other factors. While many students invest in online degrees as an ideal pathway to employment, career advancement, and …

The Experiential Journey Of Teacher-Scholars: “If You’Re Not A Teacher, You Just Don’T Get It”, Ashleigh L. Pelafigue

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Center of Graduate Schools (2015) published a report detailing applications, enrollment, and trends in graduate schools across the nation showing that approximately one third of all first-time graduate school applicants in master’s degree programs utilizing the GRE assessment identify their career path in either business or teacher education. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of classroom teachers who concurrently pursued graduate studies to earn a master’s degree in education and to understand how adult learning provided opportunities for personal growth and the attainment of professional goals. Individual interviews and two focus groups were conducted …

The Implementation Of The Individuals With Disabilities Education Act In A Virtual Public Charter School, Sarah E. Clifford

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) guarantees certain rights and protections to students with disabilities enrolled in public schools, and to their families. Even though virtual schools are one of the fastest growing trends in public k-12 education, there is evidence that these schools may not be fully implementing IDEA for enrolled students with disabilities. There has been some concern regarding the appropriateness of virtual education for student with disabilities, as well as some concern for the spectrum of services being offered in virtual schools. This case study examined the implementation of special education supports and services in one …

Empowering Students To Develop L2 Identity - Supplemental Online Lessons, Laura Espino

Master's Projects and Capstones

As an immigrant, learning English is part of acculturating to the new culture. From this process, a new identity emerges in the context of the new language and culture. Currently, identity issues and intercultural competence are explicit objectives in language learning. The implications of neglecting identity formation in second language acquisition include vulnerability to culture shock, mental health issues, and the inability to thrive. The unique set of needs, motivations, and strengths of immigrant English language learners should inform language instruction design in order to achieve sustainable and equitable successful language learning and acculturation. Explicitly designing instruction that incorporates issues …

A Multiple Case Study Of Secondary School Teachers' Understanding Of Learning Relationships In Virtual Schools: Implications For Teacher Identity, Linda M. Fuller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is now a strong presence of virtual schools in the United States serving K-12 students, along with increased opportunities for brick-and-mortar students to take virtual courses (Ash, 2011; Luo, Hibbard, Franklin, & Moore, 2017). Research into the human impact of virtual education is not keeping pace (Gulosino & Miron, 2017; Rice et al., 2014). This study focused on the experiences and insights of virtual teachers in terms of their relationships with learners as well as on potential changes in their sense of professional identity as they moved from one setting to the other. During a series of three individual, …

The Effect Of Motivation On Student Persistence In Online Higher Education: A Phenomenological Study Of How Adult Learners Experience Motivation In A Web-Based Distance Learning Environment, Kevin Lucey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of motivation in the persistence of adults enrolled in online higher education. Since the 1990’s, online courses and programs have proliferated across higher education, with adults (ages 25 and over) currently making up the largest portion of online enrollments. Online courses, however, suffer from a higher rate of student attrition than their hybrid and face-to-face counterparts. Although it is difficult to attribute the high rate of attrition in online education to any one factor, research has identified a lack of motivation as a primary cause of student dropout. Likewise, studies …

Transfer Student Internal Consulting Project, Cory John Petinga, Jennifer Lynn Helenek, Ryan William Wimble

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The transfer process that students are facing when transferring into both James Madison University (JMU) and the College of Business (COB) is not an ideal transition. The problem will be analyzed from both a national and a local perspective through both quantitative and qualitative research. Nationally, these problems include the inability for transfers to be both socially and academically involved, the cultural differences between community colleges and four-year universities, and the strained relationships between community colleges and four-year universities. Each of these national problems are apparent at JMU to some degree. These national problems are put into perspective by analyzing …

Success Rates Of Second Semester Anatomy Students In Online And On-Ground Classes At A Community College In East Tennessee, William Sproat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Educators expect the number of institutions offering online courses and the number of students enrolling in these courses to increase as many students, particularly nontraditional students, discover the advantages of online content delivery. Online courses require new methods of communication between students and faculty as well as discovering new ways to build relationships, earn student trust, conduct appropriate assessment, and deliver useful course content. Many institutions—public, private, and for-profit—offer a wide variety of online coursework but faculty, employers, and the public have expressed concerns about the quality of online course content. In particular, online delivery of coursework in the natural …

Creative Collaboration In Higher Education: A Guide For Distance Learning Technologies, Christopher D. Howes

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 Christopher D. Howes on April 13, 2018.

Incorporating Collaborative Online International Learning (Coil) Into Study Abroad Courses: A Training Design, Michelle Esche

Capstone Collection

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is known as an innovative, cost-effective instructional method that promotes intercultural learning through online collaboration between faculty and students residing in different countries or locations within the context of a course. Two international faculty teaching courses in different locations typically partner to co-facilitate online collaborative activities, such as assignments, projects, presentations and discussions, between their students. COIL continues to grow as an important intercultural instruction tool in higher education as U.S. universities, and universities around the world, work to internationalize their campuses and curricula, as well as increase access to intercultural learning. At the same …

The Relationship Of Self-Regulated Learning And Academic Risk Factors To Academic Performance In Community College Online Mathematics Courses, Jim E. Dunnigan Dr.

Education Dissertations

Completion of required mathematics courses in a community college program of study can be a critical factor in a student’s academic success and degree completion. Underprepared, nontraditional students who take mathematics courses online in a community college face barriers to success that are different from those found in traditional face-to-face courses in four-year universities. Research suggests that motivation and self-regulated learning skills are potentially related to student success in online learning. The preponderance of research on student academic success in online courses is predominantly conducted with traditional, better-prepared students in four-year universities. Yet, there is little research on the effectiveness …