Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Implementing An Enterprise Information System To Reengineer And Streamline Administrative Processes In A Distance Learning Unit, M'Hammed Abdous, Wu He

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

During the past three years, we have developed and implemented an enterprise information system (EIS) to reengineer and facilitate the administrative process for preparing and teaching distance learning courses in a midsized-to-large university (with 23,000 students). The outcome of the implementation has been a streamlined and efficient process which has delivered higher faculty satisfaction at a substantial cost reduction. In this paper, we propose a new conceptual and operational framework for process reengineering (PR) in higher education institutions. We also share our practical experience gained while designing, developing, and integrating three subsystems into an EIS. We hope that our experience, …

Leadership Development Programs In Two-Year Colleges: Critical Components, Delivery Methods, And The Role Of Distance Learning Technology, Mary Clare Digiacomo

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Post-secondary education will face an impending shortage of leaders in the near future. Two-year colleges in particular are facing a dearth of leadership. Many administrators and faculty that were part of the great growth period in community colleges in the 1960's are near retirement. Therefore, developing or sustaining sufficient institutional leadership is a critical and urgent issue that must be addressed. Two-year colleges need to develop and implement leadership development programs in a timely manner to ensure a qualified pool of faculty and staff are ready to ascend to leadership positions.

The purpose of this study was to examine the …

A Comparison Of Instructional Delivery Methods Based On Student Evaluation Data, John Hackworth, Carol Considine, Vernon Lewis

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Distance Education is an increasingly common educational delivery method. At Old Dominion University, all junior and senior level engineering technology courses are offered via distance education at least once every two years. A majority of courses in the distance education system at this university have three simultaneous delivery methods: on-campus, televised (receiving the course at an off-campus site via satellite video/audio), and internet-based video-streamed.

This paper explores the results of student course evaluation surveys for trends, in particular those trends which can be a result of the mode of delivery. Results of these surveys for 23 courses over a 4-year …

A Framework For Process Reengineering In Higher Education: A Case Study Of Distance Learning Exam Scheduling And Distribution, M'Hammed Abdous, Wu He

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

In this paper, we propose a conceptual and operational framework for process reengineering (PR) in higher education (HE) institutions. Using a case study aimed at streamlining exam scheduling and distribution in a distance learning (DL) unit, we outline a sequential and non-linear four-step framework designed to reengineer processes. The first two steps of this framework – initiating and analyzing – are used to initiate, document, and flowchart the process targeted for reengineering, and the last two steps – reengineering/ implementing and evaluating – are intended to prototype, implement, and evaluate the reengineered process. Our early involvement of all stakeholders, and …

Online Social Presence: A Study Of Score Validity Of The Computer-Mediated Communication Questionnaire, Cherng-Jyh Yen, Chih-Hsiung Tu

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis of the Computer-Mediated Communication Questionnaire scores, using structural equation modeling, to assess the consistency between the empirical data and the hypothesized factor structure of the CMCQ in the proposed models, which is stipulated by the theoretical framework and previous research. Online social presence is a vital affective learning factor that influences online interaction. In this study, online social presence was defined as the degree of feeling, perception, reaction, and trustworthiness of being connected by computer-mediated communication to another intellectual entity through electronic media. Currently, valid instruments to determine …

Technology-Mediated Instruction In Distance Education And Teacher Preparation In Special Education, Lyndal M. Bullock, Robert A. Gable, J. Darrell Mohr

Communication Disorders & Special Education Faculty Publications

In this article, the authors examine the literature on distance education and offer a brief chronology of its past-to-present development, with special attention to the evolution of technology-mediated instruction. They document some of the major trends related to both theoretical and practical aspects of distance education. In particular, they look at the significance of the design of instruction and the importance of preserving faculty-student communication. Next, they look at the challenges as well as opportunities that distance education affords students, faculty, and institutions of higher education. Finally, the authors summarize what they believe to be major issues to be resolved …

Composing Identity In Online Instructional Contexts, Kevin Eric Depew

English Faculty Publications

As writing instruction moves from the defined spatial and temporal parameters of the traditional classroom to various degrees of online interaction—from explanatory e-mails to courseware mediated distance education—instructors have had to reconceptualize how they identify themselves to their student audience. While many instructors have tried to translate their face-to-face strategies to the digital medium with disparate degrees of success, others understand the different parameters digital media offer and see new opportunities for literally composing their instructional identity. This contribution will examine the strategies instructors have used to compose their identities with computer-mediated communications and propose suggestions for negotiating this process.

Design And Develop A Cost Effective Microcontroller Training System For Distance Learning Engineering Students, Steve Hsiung, John Ritz, James Eiland

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This is the review of a NSF funded project that addresses the hands-on distance learning needs in microprocessor/microcontroller related courses. A research team designed a low cost training system with supporting instructional materials to assist the teaching of these concepts. Individual laboratory activities are being developed to reinforce student learning and skill development in programming concepts. This basic system format eventually will support an array of technology courses. This project involves two community colleges, Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC), VA and Olympic College (OC), WA, and a four-year university, Old Dominion University (ODU), VA, in a collaborative research team to …

A General Engineering Technology Program In Motorsports Technology, Gary Crossman, Anthony Dean

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Southside Virginia, in particular the cities of Danville, Martinsville and the surrounding area, is the home of Virginia International Raceway and a rapidly growing motorsports industry. There is a strong need for educational opportunities to support manufacturing and related industries in this region. In the early 2000’s Patrick Henry Community College in Martinsville established an associate of applied science degree in Motorsports Technology to help meet the need for technical support personnel. As the industry has grown it has become evident that engineers and technologists are needed at the baccalaureate and masters levels. Old Dominion University (ODU), located in Norfolk, …

Managing A Distance-Learning Eet Laboratory Course Using Collaboration Software, Steve Hsiung, John Hackworth, Richard Jones, June Ritchie

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Methods of managing various distance learning EET laboratory courses using collaboration software are detailed. Particular emphasis is given to different types of collaboration software, advantages and disadvantages of each, and student and faculty feedback on the effectiveness of each.

Are You Ready To Provide Instruction Via Interactive Satellite Delivery Technology, John E. Turner, Philip A. Reed

STEMPS Faculty Publications

A difficulty for faculty new to teaching at a distance is being able to visualize the scope of needed skills and tasks that will be required of them. The purpose of this project was to provide an empirically-based, self-administered skill enhancement guide for new distance education faculty teaching via interactive satellite broadcast. A modified Delphi approach was used to survey 18 faculty members experienced in distance education from the 6 colleges at a major eastern university. Respondents created a validated task list in phase 1 and determined task criticality and sequencing of task learning in phase 2.

A Hybrid Course In Fundamentals Of Building Construction Using Combination Archived Video And Live Session Distance Learning, Vernon W. Lewis Jr., Carol L. Considine, June Ritchie

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

A course in the Fundamentals of Building Construction has been a curricular requirement of the Civil Engineering Technology Program (CET) since its inception. This course was taught traditionally as an on-campus class. Over the last ten years, the CET program has expanded to contain an extensive distance learning component, with at least half of the enrollment located off campus. The model for the typical distance-learning class is to meet for three hours, once a week, with a fully interactive (voice) live class. In consideration of the demand of a growing distance learning system, it was decided to restructure this class …

Creating The Online Learning Community For Distributed Education Doctoral Programs, Miguel Ramlatchan

Distance Learning Faculty & Staff Publications

Many colleges and universities now readily embrace the Internet as a viable distributed learning delivery model. As such, the Internet is a valuable tool to attract the highest quality students to an institution’s academic programs. However, while this may work well at the undergraduate or master’s level, many institutions maintain a required residential or internship requirement as part of a doctoral program. This interactive learning community is a vital aspect of a quality doctorate program. This paper presents a means to create an online learning community to replicate the residential graduate student experience. This goal is accomplished through the collaborative …

The Administration Of Senior Design Projects In A Distance Learning Environment, Isaac L. Flory Iv, John R. Hackworth

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

A method for administering a senior level capstone design course in Electrical Engineering Technology in a distance learning environment is described. Several avenues are explored that help the students successfully conceive, develop, and present their design projects from off- campus locations that are consistent with the requirements placed upon their on-campus peers. Several problems that are unique to offering a senior project course in a distance learning environment are explored and solutions are described.

Lessons Learned And Best Practices For Using An Analytic Strategy Approach For The Creation Of Virtual Laboratories For Distance Learning In Engineering Technology, Anthony W. Dean, Carol L. Considine, Gary R. Crossman

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

This paper describes the use of an Analytic Strategy Approach used in the development of a Virtual Automation and Controls Lab in the Mechanical Engineering Technology Program of the Engineering Technology Department at Old Dominion University. This paper looks at the three phases, as applied to the development of a virtual lab using an analytic strategy design:

(1) Formulation of the quantitative and qualitative approach to assist in decision process,

(2) Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the decision alternatives - within the decision context,

(3) Interpretation of the analysis results and implications for decision.

The Interactive Question Protocol: Examining The Relationship Between Feedback, Cognitive Development And Student Achievement, G. Simon Richmond

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

Feedback is an essential component of effective learning. The advent of the internet as a delivery mode for distance education has expanded the access many people have to higher learning. Despite many advantages that online courses provide for distance learning students, they often lack real time feedback. A software intervention called the Interactive Question Protocol was designed for this study to provide automated, real time feedback. That treatment was then contrasted against changes in student achievement, satisfaction and participation. Learners can be categorized by Perry's scheme of mental maturity according to how they understand and interpret the knowledge they acquire. …

Design Optimization Module For Hierarchical Research And Learning Environment, Oktay Baysal, Mehti Koklu, Ahmed K. Noor

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The present paper describes a learning module on design optimization courses within a hierarchical research and learning network (HRLN). In this environment a knowledge organization can be created as a hierarchical learning network to link diverse inter- and trans- disciplinary teams from a consortium of universities, industry, government agencies and the providers of learning technologies. It is an approach that builds on computer-based training, intelligent tutoring systems, interactive learning, collaborative-distributed learning, and learning networks. The present design optimization module has been developed and described herein, as a demonstrator of a learning module in this environment. This module allows for the …

Mapping Of Thermo-Fluids Laboratory Experiments Into Web-Based Experiments, Sushil Chaturvedi, Rick Mckenzie, O. A. Akan, A. Priyadershini

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

A methodology is being developed for transforming physical experiments from the undergraduate thermo-fluids laboratory into a web-based virtual experiments. Important characteristics of physical experiments are identified in order to preserve them in physical to virtual domain mapping. Several commercially available software are employed to incorporate in the web-based experiments characteristics such as recreation of physical phenomenon in the virtual domain, measurement of physical quantities on a computer screen, assembly of virtual probes and coupling of the virtual experiment with a data acquisition software. A virtual reality software has been incorporated to enable web-based students to navigate through the virtual laboratory, …

Choice And Support: An Individualized Approach To Student Empowerment And Involvement In Combating Procrastination In The Internet Learning Environment, Han Liu

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

This study was designed to explore effective approaches that could help online students overcome online academic procrastination, raise their satisfaction ratings, and improve their academic performance.

The research was conducted at Old Dominion University, Virginia, with a sample of 165 undergraduate and graduate students (mean age = 30.67, SD = 8.98; male = 33, 20%, female = 132, 80%; undergraduate 95, 58%, graduate 70, 42%). The participants were taking an online course, Social and Cultural Foundations of American Education, required for teacher licensure. The treatments included the Choice Package (choice of assignment due dates, choice of rewards and punishments, and …

Synchronous Text-Based Chat Vis-À-Vis Asynchronous Threaded Discussion: An Instructional Strategy For Providing An Option In Two Course Delivery Schemes, Shin Yi Lin

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether an instructional strategy of providing students an option of two types of online text-based discussion (chat vs. threaded discussion forum) had significant effects on student satisfaction, cognitive achievement, and self-efficacy. In an effort to identify any differential effects associated with student characteristics, students' age and learning preferences were used as blocking variables. The study sample was teacher education students. Statistical procedures employed were MANOVA; MANCOVA, regression analysis, chi-square, and correlation were employed. The findings show that such an instructional customization—providing the online discussion forum option—has positive impacts on student satisfaction and …

Istart: Interactive Strategy Training For Active Reading And Thinking, Danielle S. Mcnamara, Irwin B. Levinstein, Chutima Boonthum

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Interactive Strategy Training for Active Reading and Thinking (iSTART) is a Web-based application that provides young adolescent to college-age students with high-level reading strategy training to improve comprehension of science texts. iSTART is modeled after an effective, human-delivered intervention called self-explanation reading training (SERT), which trains readers to use active reading strategies to self-explain difficult texts more effectively. To make the training more widely available, the Web-based trainer has been developed. Transforming the training from a human-delivered application to a computer-based one has resulted in a highly interactive trainer that adapts its methods to the performance of the students. The …

Assessment Methods For Comparison Of On-Camps And Distance Learning Laboratory Courses In An Engineering Technology Program, John R. Hackworth, Richard L. Jones

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Assessment methodology and results for two Electrical Engineering Technology laboratory courses are shown. In these cases, courses are offered in both the traditional on- campus and non-traditional distance learning format, assessment methods are prescribed, assessment data are taken, and the results compiled and compared. Student comments are included which also support the assessment data. In addition, this paper describes ways in which the laboratory courses are structured in order to make the assessment process easier to manage. Pedagogical issues are addressed that were encountered when constructing the distance learning laboratory courses to assure that the learning experience could equal or …

Performing Interactively A Thermo-Fluids Laboratory Experiment In The Virtual Domain, Sushil K. Chaturvedi, Ali O. Akan, Tarek M. Abdel-Salam, A. Priyadershini

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper deals with the development of an experiment in the virtual domain for the undergraduate thermo-fluids laboratory in the mechanical engineering program. A physical experiment titled "Venturimeter as a Flow Measuring Device" is replicated as a computer-based experiment as part of the ongoing effort at Old Dominion University to develop web-based laboratories that would provide students hands-on experience in the virtual domain. A web-based module is developed that allows experimentation and data taking in a virtual setting much like in the physical experiment. This module incorporating the virtual venturimeter has been used by students to take data for several …

Active Learning In Distance Education, Carol Considine, Tony Dean

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Although there are many strategies for incorporating active learning exercises into the traditional classroom, incorporating active learning exercises in a distance education delivery format is more challenging. Active learning has been shown to enhance student performance and attitudes when used in conjunction with a traditional lecture format.¹ In order for students to be actively involved they must read, write, discuss, problem solve and engage higher-order thinking tasks such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.² The implementation of active learning exercises in distance education classes may help establish student rapport and enhance the feeling of community among the students in …

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.

Systemic Issues In Asynchronous Delivery Of Graduate Engineering Management Programs, Charles Keating, David Dryer, Andres Sousa-Poza, William Peterson, Robert Safford

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to examine systemic issues that impact the design, delivery, and maintenance of asynchronous engineering management educational products. Asynchronous education continues to rapidly evolve as an alternative to traditional classroom delivery. An asynchronous educational system requires the effective integration of technology, supporting processes, and infrastructure design to prepare, deliver, and maintain asynchronous educational products. Currently, the technological capabilities for delivery of asynchronous education have outstripped the ability to maximize those advanced technologies. To help understand this rift between technology and our ability to deploy that technology this paper examines three critical areas. First, the distinctions …

Distance Learning In Industrial Teacher Education Programs, Hassan B. Ndahi, John M. Ritz

STEMPS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Global Engineering In An Interconnected World: An Upper Division General Education Cluster At Old Dominion University, Sushil Chaturvedi, Gary Crossman, William Swart, Joseph Betit

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

The “Global Engineering in an Interconnected World” cluster of courses fosters among students an awareness and understanding of global technology, quality assurance standards, and differences in cultural, communication, and business practices and their impact on a global work environment. This cluster will prepare the growing numbers of students who will accept employment with global firms or find themselves part of a merger or strategic alliance involving multinational corporations. This newly approved cluster of five courses described in the paper has been approved by the University for satisfying University upper-division general education requirements. As a consequence, students choosing this route to …

The Validation Of A Detailed Strategic Planning Process Model For The Implementation Of Distance Education In Higher Education, Kenneth Phillip Pisel Jr.

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study was to develop, refine, and validate a model of the strategic planning process for distance education. To achieve this end, the informed opinion from a population of peer-nominated experts was solicited over three rounds of iterative Delphi questionnaires administered via electronic mail. Using descriptive statistics to analyze central tendency and variation, the straw model was refined into a validated model by the final Delphi round. In developing this model, the study answered specific questions about the following: (1) The impact of volatile technological change on a strategic distance education plan. (2) The optimum size and …

Implementation Theory And Determinants For Success: A Case Study Of Televised Distance Learning Implementation In An Urban University, Deanne Shuman

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Management

The purpose of this study is to explore the implementation process of a distance learning initiative using televised instruction in an urban university. The scope and complexity of problems faced by colleges and universities today are growing, and public institutions are being asked to do more with less. Despite limited budgets and stretched resources, institutions are expected to be responsive to the challenges of change. Distance learning using televised instruction, which brings the classroom to the learner, is an available technology that can be responsive to students' diverse needs.

This study explores factors that facilitated or served as barriers in …