Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Supporting Undergraduate Research For Globally Distributed Students And Mentors, Emily Faulconer, Brent Terwilliger, Robert Deters

Publications

Undergraduate research is widely viewed as a high-impact practice. However, participation in undergraduate research among students completing degree programs exclusively online may be impeded due to barriers such as access limitations, time poverty, and adequate institutional support. Through an NSF I-USE project (#2021221), we formed a framework of support, including a research independent study course and a mentoring program, where we deliberately separated and defined the roles of research supervisor and research mentor. In this session, we will discuss interview data on the experiences of faculty and students in both the credit-bearing active research as well as the non-credit-bearing research …

Evaluating The Way Forward In Online Student Engagement., Patricia Schmaltz, Julia Carpenter, Dan J. Petersen

Publications

Several factors make up the successful instructional experience in online higher education classes. With the advanced offerings in online learning, educational institutions are compelled to innovate all aspects of their online classes (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). The innovation can lead to a higher caliber learning environment. This paper advances a simple model for Instructors to follow, an Instructional Online Model (IOM), with the intent of improving student engagement, knowledge retention, leading to increased business profit. Instructors who model the discussed techniques may find increased student’s satisfaction with their courses, leading to the students pursuing further online education. Technological advancement …

A Review To Weigh The Pros And Cons Of Online, Remote, And Distance Science Laboratory Experiences, Emily Faulconer, Amy B. Gruss

Publications

The effectiveness of traditional face to face labs versus non-traditional online, remote, or distance labs is difficult to assess due to the lack of continuity in the literature between terminology, standard evaluation metrics, and the use of a wide variety non-traditional laboratory experience for online courses. This narrative review presents a representative view of the existing literature in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of non-traditional laboratories and to highlight the areas of opportunity for research. Non-traditional labs are increasingly utilized in higher education. The research indicates that these non-traditional approaches to a science laboratory experience are as effective …

A Comparison Of Online, Video Synchronous, And Traditional Learning Modes For An Introductory Undergraduate Physics Course, Emily K. Faulconer, John C. Griffith, Beverly Wood, Donna Roberts

Publications

While the equivalence between online and traditional classrooms has been well-researched, very little of this includes college-level introductory Physics. Only one study explored Physics at the whole-class level rather than specific course components such as a single lab or a homework platform. In this work, we compared the failure rate, grade distribution, and withdrawal rates in an introductory undergraduate Physics course across several learning modes including traditional face-to-face instruction, synchronous video instruction, and online classes. Statistically significant differences were found for student failure rates,grade distribution, and withdrawal rates but yielded small effect sizes. Post-hoc pair-wise test was run to determine …

Supporting English Learners In Your Online Courses, Cristina Cottom

Publications

Research shows that approximately a quarter of post-secondary students are enrolled in online courses (Smith, 2016). As online education continues to grow, so does the need for differentiated instruction in the online environment. Differentiating content, product, and/or processes can enable teachers to meet the language needs of English Learners (ELs) in their online course. ELs can vary from international study students to immigrant refugees students. In addition, the educational backgrounds and English proficiency can differ. Due to this variation of English skills, ELs often have increased needs in an online course because they are navigating two languages as well as …

Online Classroom Culture Best Practices, Lisa Martino

Publications

Overcome challenges - create an online classroom culture.

In 2013, over five million post-secondary students enrolled in online courses in America (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). Many universities strive to meet student demands for this online course modality. Challenges for online students continue to exist with (1) social isolation; (2) coursework confusion; and (3) lack of teacher presence (Milheim, 2012). Studies show that by creating an online classroom culture, faculty can overcome these challenges to foster and motivate online student engagement (Ladyshewsky, 2013; Milheim, 2014; Vesely, Bloom, Sherlock, 2007). In this conference presentation, the participants surveyed online classroom culture …

Faculty And Student Issues With Group Work: What Is Problematic With College Group Assignments And Why?, Joanne P. Labeouf, John C. Griffith, Donna L. Roberts

Publications

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University researchers analyzed 811 (118 faculty and 693 student) comments to determine perceptions of group work in the academic setting. The biggest issue noted by both groups was allocation of grades for group members. Students perceived that all students received the same grade in a group project, regardless of effort. Most faculties did not share that perception, but noted difficulties in assigning group grades as well. Faculty and students described difficulties encountered by students when working on group projects in online or distance learning settings due to limited interaction and time zone differences and/or different work schedules. Faculty …