Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Social Networking Systems As A Vehicle To Promote Sense Of Community And Performance In Online Classes, Jonathan Mark Woodward

Dissertations

Academicians are navigating through the intersection of information technology and social change. The path that educators choose will help determine the future of higher education in traditional and online settings. The journey of teachers is clouded by the abundance and rapid creation of emerging technologies, but the trends of Net Generation students offer direction. Among Web 2.0 applications, social networking systems (SNSs) offer students a new approach to communicating, learning, and collaborating.

The sociocentric view of knowledge and learning and the theories of Vygotsky and Dewey are helping to drive educators to look for a solution to a missing link …

The Invisible Woman And The Silent University, Elizabeth Robinson Cole

Dissertations

Anna Eliot Ticknor (1823 – 1896) founded the first correspondence school in the United States, the Society to Encourage Studies at Home. In the fall of 1873 an educational movement was quietly initiated from her home in Boston, Massachusetts. A politically and socially sophisticated leader, she recognized the need that women felt for continuing education and understood how to offer the opportunity within the parameters afforded women of nineteenth century America. With a carefully chosen group of women and one man, Ticknor built a learning society that extended advanced educational opportunities to all women regardless of financial ability, educational background, …

Review Of Overcoming The Governance Challenge In K-12 Online Learning, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

Review by Michael K. Barbour.

Chubb, John E. Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning. Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 2012.

This fifth and final paper in the Fordham Institute’s series examining digital learning policy is Overcoming the Governance Challenge in K-12 Online Learning. The purpose of this report is to outline the steps required to move the governance of K-12 online learning from the local district level to the less restrictive state level and to create a free market for corporate innovation in K-12 online learning. Unfortunately, the report is based on an unsupported premise …

Narratives From The Online Frontier: A K-12 Student’S Experience In An Online Learning Environment, Michael K. Barbour, Jason Paul Siko, Jacinda Sumara, Kaye Simuel-Everage

Education Faculty Publications

Despite a large increase in the number of students enrolled in online courses, published research on student experiences in these environments is minimal. This article reports the narrative analysis of a series of interviews conducted with a female student at a brick-and-mortar school enrolled in a single virtual school course. Her narratives describe a student who often struggled with the content in her online course and was reluctant to interact with her online teacher. When she interacted with people online, it was using text, because she was shy and the hardware often did not work. Darlene’s experiences, likely typical of …

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 …

Odyssey Of The Mind: Social Networking In Cyberschool, Michael Barbour, Cory Plough

Education Faculty Publications

K-12 online learning and cyber charter schools have grown at a tremendous rate over the past decade. At the same time, these online programs have struggled to provide the social spaces where students can interact that K-12 schools are traditionally able to provide. Social networking presents a unique opportunity to provide these kinds of social interactions in an online environment. In this article, we trace the development and use of social networking at one cyber charter school to extend the space for online instruction and provide opportunities for social interaction that online schools are often unable to provide.

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

Education Faculty Publications

A variety of initiatives are driving online and blended learning in each of Canada’s provinces and territories. From teachers’ unions in Nova Scotia fighting to ensure online learning is an accepted method of educational delivery, to Ontario’s College of Teachers creating an e-learning endorsement for teachers or the British Columbia government creating policies to expand the growth and opportunities online learning provides, there are multiple, isolated initiatives happening across the country.

State of the Nation: K-12 Online Learning in Canada is now in its fourth year of publication and can be seen as a national guide for understanding the field …

Faculty Compensation For Developing And Delivering Online Courses, Jeffrey Allen Burleson

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The intent of this dissertation was to determine the most common compensation practices higher education institutions provided faculty for developing and delivering online courses. Many higher education institutions provided compensation as motivational tools to elicit faculty participation in new online learning initiatives; however, limited research was available on equitable compensation for these services. The population consisted of 263 small, medium, and large baccalaureate and masters level private and state-funded not-for-profit United States higher education institutions. This population was selected using the maximum number of institutions identified by the Carnegie Classification system that met these criteria.

Data for this study were …

Considerations Regarding The Future Of Andragogy, John A. Henschke Edd

Adult Education Faculty Works

Andragogy has a long and rich history that has shaped understanding of adult learning and continues to be a strong force in guiding the way adults learn. While adult educators in the U.S. are familiar with andragogy through the work of Dr. Malcolm Knowles, the theory of andragogy reaches a worldwide audience of practitioners striving to improve learning through its respectful and engaging method focused on the learner.

The Complex And Motivating Factors That Affect Faculty Adoption Of Online Teaching, Scott Ragsdale Ph.D.

Faculty Research and Publications

Online program administrators in higher education face a difficult task in convincing faculty to adopt the role of an online teacher. Studies have discovered several issues within the realm of online teaching that are discouraging to potential adopters and prevent many of them from desiring to be involved in online education. On a positive note, research has uncovered several encouraging factors that could motivate faculty to participate. Administrators need to be informed of the negative and positive aspects that cause faculty to either “buy-in” or “opt-out.” Becoming aware of these issues enables online program leaders to develop better faculty recruitment …

A Glance At Institutional Support For Faculty Teaching In The Online Learning Environment, Gary Stark, Rob Lion

Journal Articles

• A survey of higher education institutions in a 12-state region investigated how they support faculty with the design and development of web-based classes.
• The literature on best practices guided the creation of the web-based survey questions, which targeted the chief academic affairs officers on each campus or the appropriate delegate.
• The study found that institutions offer a variety of support services to online faculty, such as requiring training prior to teaching online and including web-based learning in institutional goals and strategic plans.
• The next step implied by the study findings is for institutions to look at strategies that influence the …

The Relative Value Of Online Learning Environments As Perceived By High School Teachers, Daryl Joe Scoggin

Dissertations

Online learning environments have become more popular for use in education from year to year. This medium for teaching and learning has been successfully used in higher education for years. Only within the past decade has this instructional platform made its way into the P-12 arena. With the expansion of online learning environments becoming more popular, this type of lesson delivery may eventually make its way to the building or site level. As in a face-to-face classroom, teachers have an effect on the success of the students. The perceptions of teachers regarding dimensions of implementation and use of online learning …

A Capsule Of The International History And Philosophy Of Andragogy To 2010, John A. Henschke Edd

Adult Education Faculty Works

This capsule on the International History and Philosophy of Andragogy is mainly limited (with a few exceptions) to a chronological history and the accompanying philosophy of andragogy, in line with when the English language documents were published and personal descriptions of events were written down. Some of these documents, however, presents aspect of the events and ideas which recount the years and contexts prior to the time in which they appeared in published form. To date, more than 330 documents have been discovered, but space limitation in this chapter allowed the inclusion of only a fraction of that number. Each …

Today’S Student And Virtual Schooling: The Reality, The Challenges, The Promise, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

Introduction:

In 2008 I was approached to deliver a keynote address at the biennial conference of the Distance Education Association of New Zealand (DEANZ) in Wellington on the topic of today’s student and K–12 distance education. Several months ago, Mark Nichols asked me if I would be interested in putting some of the ideas that I discussed as a part of that August 2008 presentation into a manuscript for the Journal of Distance Learning. This paper represents my best efforts to summarise and expand on those ideas.

As in my 2008 keynote, I want to discuss three main themes …

Evaluation Of An Adult Education Technology Program, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the adult education technology program at a chartered alternative adult education center in Florida. The adult education center had a low rate of students passing the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). This study examined the impact of the use of computer technology in an effort to improve student learning in mathematics, reading, and science. Computers at the institution were used by all students for tutorials to prepare them for the FCAT and to obtain a high school diploma. The research questions for this study were as follows: 1. Is the education technology …

Portrait Of Rural Virtual Schooling, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

Over the past two decades, distance education has become a reality of rural schooling in Newfoundland and Labrador. In this article, I provide historical background into the challenges facing rural schools in the province and how distance education was introduced to address that challenge. I also describe how that system of distance education evolved from a system that used the telephone lines and bridging technology to one that uses a combination synchronous and asynchronous system delivered over the Internet. Finally, I examine recent literature concerning the nature of today’s secondary students that would need to avail of this system and …

From The Co-Editors

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

'Divertual' Learning In Education Leadership: Implications Of Teaching Cultural Diversity Online Vs. Face To Face, Carolyn Ridenour, A. Llewellyn Simmons, Timothy J. Ilg, A. William Place

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

What are the consequences of this teaching-learning situation when graduate students in a Department of Educational Leadership are enrolled in a course on cultural diversity? Might the words on the computer screen be completely unrelated to the humanity, personality, style, interpersonal behaviors, and dispositions of the student writing them, as Menand suggests? Or, might the detachment provide a security in which the most honest and unadulterated discourse can be shared between teacher and students, as some proponents hope? In this chapter we explore responses to this dilemma. We attempt to capture this situation in our label: "divertual learning," a neologism …

Qualitative Analysis Of Aaup Principles And Ihep Benchmarks And The Policies Of The Six U.S. Regional Accrediting Bodies On Distance Education, Julia Ann Hypes

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study strives to identify the differences and similarities among the accrediting policies on distance education of the six regional accrediting agencies for two-year and four-year institutions. Levels of incorporation of the American Association of University Professor (AAUP) principles and the Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) benchmarks regarding distance education are identified and listed as either detailed, partial, or none. The growth of distance education programs in higher education must have direction and focus and the distance education policies of the accrediting agencies provide that guidance. The method employed in the gathering of data was a qualitative document analysis. …

Administrator Perceptions Of Internet-Based Distance Education In Adventist Colleges And Universities : A Mixed-Method Study, Pamela K. Cress

Dissertations

Problem . The quality of Internet-based distance education (IBDE) will increasingly become the standard by which students choose a program as higher educational options multiply due to the dramatic growth in distance education. A system-wide examination of perceptions of IBDE in Adventist highereducation is important to administrators for future institutional strategic planning purposes, systemic adoption of policies and practices that promote excellence, and identifying collaborative efforts.

Method . This was a sequential exploratory mixed-method study of the perceptions of administrators on IBDE. It was conducted collaboratively with Susan Smith who examined teacher perceptions. Data were collected for both studies from …

Recent Trends In Higher Education: Accountability, Efficiency, Technology, And Governance, John L. Lahey, Janice C. Griffith

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Variables Associated With A Sense Of Classroom Community And Academic Persistence In An Urban Community College Online Setting, Cynthia P. Cadieux

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

No abstract provided.

Ua3/9/2 1997-2002 The Beginning Of A Transformation, Wku President's Office

WKU Administration Documents

A review of the first five years of the Gary Ransdell administration of Western Kentucky University. The booklet contains information regarding academic reputation, enrollment, private support, Sponsored Programs, budget, physical infrastructure, extended campus, distance education, economic development, athletics and a strategic plan for 2002-2007.

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 77, No. 24, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Hall, Rex. Fewer Get Student Insurance
• Moore, Brian. Access Denied – Football
• Holm, Hollan. Student Government Association Dissenters Spark New Discussions
• Hoang, Mai. City Gets Unexpected Boost
• Phi Kappa Phi to Hold Open House Tomorrow
• Group for Non-Traditional Students Holds Seminar – Women in Transition
• Five Students Compete in Math Contest
• Play Closes Tonight – Caucasian Chalk Circle
• Stay Healthy Until Health Center Fixed
• Grady, Brian. Editorial Cartoon re: Health Services
• Plugging In, Looking Ahead & Moving UP – Virtual Education
• Brown, Steve. College Heights Herald Gets a Red …

Ua12/2/1 College Heights Herald, Vol. 77, No. 23, Wku Student Affairs

WKU Administration Documents

WKU campus newspaper reporting campus, athletic and Bowling Green, Kentucky news.

• Warren, Brandy. Virtual Enrollment Explodes
• Corbin, Brett. DUIs Decrease While Drug Arrests Climb
• Hall, Rex. Western Gets Replies to Lawsuit – Collegiate Health Care
• Hall, Rex. Additional Funding Devoted to Health Center
• More Winners Joining the Hill – Soccer
• Grady, Brian. Editorial Cartoon re: Soccer
• Saber, Mary. Thank You, Boys – Sigma Alpha Epsilon
• Miller, Patricia. Let’s Be Friends – Disabled Persons
• Woodring, Judy. College Heights Herald Gets a Bottom
• Corbin, Brett. Founding Dean of Potter College of Arts & Letters Dies – Paul Hatcher
• Lord, Joseph. Laptops Could …

Attitudes, Perceptions, Behaviors And Responses Of Elementary Teachers With Varying Computer Proficiencies Toward A Technology Learning Model, Matthew S. Shoemaker

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to assess the attitudes, perceptions, behaviors, and responses of teachers with varying computer skills after exposure to the Technology Learning Model (TLM), as well as to assess the overall impact of the staff development experiences. The TLM was comprised of a researcher-designed, 10-session, 15- hour training implementation over 8 weeks. The two research questions of the study were: How will participants with varying computer skill levels respond to the TLM? How does the TLM affect participants' attitudes toward integration of computer technology into professional responsibilities?

The purposeful sample was drawn from teachers at …

Ua35/5 Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 3, Wku Center For Teaching & Learning

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by and about WKU Center for Teaching & Learning.

Ua35/5 Newsletter, Vol. 1, No. 1, Wku Center For Teaching & Learning

WKU Administration Documents

Newsletter created by and about WKU Center for Teaching & Learning.

Planning For Changes: A Study Of Satellite Distance Learning Administrative Policy Development In Higher Education, H. Keith Spears

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The problem investigated was the process by which policy is formulated for satellite distance learning systems in higher education. Effects of reporting levels, areas of origination, political pressure, discipline interest administrator characteristics, and type of positions were measured on the methods used by institutions create policies for satellite delivery of courses. The influences that other variables have on the decision makers were part of the study.

The population studied was made up of all administrators of higher education satellite distance learning systems in the United States. The population was the sample. The research instrument was a nominal survey developed by …

The Search For Nova University: An Essay On Its First Twenty-Five Years 1964-1989, Stephen L. Goldstein

NSU Books and Book Chapters

Acknowledgement

Twenty-five years in the life of a university is a short period of time. Yet, in its first twenty-five years, Nova University has been able to respond to major changes in American society. After Sputnik was launched in 1957, our government and our educational system placed a high priority on science and technology. President Kennedy declared that we would place a man on the moon within a decade.

Nova University of Advanced Technology was conceived in response to the national agenda. In the mid-1960s, President Johnson launched the Great Society, which began to take effect in the late 1960s …