Online and Distance Education Commons^™

The Use Of A Virtual Guest Speaker As A Catalyst For Deep Learning, Alcione N. Ostorga, Peter Farruggio

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

Teaching undergraduate students as they prepare to become bilingual teachers is often a challenge due to their maturational development and the logistical limitations of college courses. Nevertheless, teacher educators must foster preservice teachers’ understanding of factors that impact learning and academic success. This article analyses the use of a virtual guest speaker in an asynchronous discussion as a way to promote critical analysis of policy issues which superseded the memorization of concepts taught in the course. Analysis reveals that the virtual guest speaker served as a catalyst for critical thought about the course content.

Using Social Annotation Tools To Foster Collaborative Learning, Tian Luo, Fei Gao, Yanyan Sun

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Social annotation (SA) allows learners to highlight and comment on web pages and share annotations with each other online. Despite its potential in promoting collaborative learning, how to integrate it into educational settings has not been fully studied. This study aims at introducing and exploring three different ways of incorporating SA-based activities into an online course: (a) peer review; (b) annotated discussion; and (c) collaborative reading. Students participated all three SA- based activities and took a survey at the end reporting the effectiveness of these activities. In this proposal we reported the initial findings of student participation in the three …

The Benefits And Challenges Of Mobile Learning, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Quasi-Experimental Evaluation Of Undergraduate Learning In A Multidimensional Wellness Course, Kristi Leonard

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Introductory wellness courses are common among American institutions of higher education. These courses are typically of a unidimensional approach, focusing on just the physical component of wellness. Some wellness educators would argue that a multidimensional approach is a richer and more valuable learning experience. Furthermore, technology has played a larger role in wellness education, as it is being created, developed, and implemented into the field. Therefore, college wellness educators and curriculum designers need to determine the implications for both online and face-to-face instructional methods in their execution of teaching the holistic concept of wellness to their students.

The purpose of …

Late Registration And Student Success In On-Campus And Online Classes, Patrick Tompkins

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The study examined the effect of late registration into on-campus and online classes upon student performance when accounting for completion of a college success skills course and the demographic factors of sex, race/ethnicity, age, and full-time/part-time enrollment status. The data source was 2010-2013 ex post facto data from 23 colleges in a large community college system in the southeastern United States. The statistical method of binary logistic regression was applied to the data. The regression models failed to yield strong predictions of the association between registration timing and student success. Coupled with previous studies, this study demonstrated that the presumed …

Examining Student Participation In Three Learning Activities Supported By Social Annotation Tools, Tian Luo, Fei Gao, Kathryn S. Hoff

STEMPS Faculty Publications

Social annotation (SA) allows learners to highlight and comment on Web pages and share annotations with each other online. Despite its potential in promoting collaborative learning, examining how to integrate it into educational settings has not been fully studied. The purpose of the study is to examine student participation in three different SA-based online activities: (1) peer review, (2) annotated discussion, and (3) collaborative reading. Students participated in all three SA-based activities and took a survey at the end reporting the effectiveness of these activities. The analysis of students’ annotations and their survey responses suggested that although participants perceived the …

Virtual World Problem-Centered Challenge Evaluation, Jennifer A. Maddrell, Ginger S. Watson, Gary R. Morrison

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This paper describes the two-year implementation evaluation of a problem-based engineering design challenge held in a virtual world. The team-based challenge was designed and facilitated by an aerospace research and education institute for middle and high school student competitors in both classrooms and afterschool programs across the U.S. An independent evaluation team examined participant experiences to consider the strengths of the challenge, as well as recommendations to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of future challenges. Overall, the evaluation team found that the problem-centered design challenge offered the student competitors a unique and valuable opportunity to engage in real-life science and …

Designing Microblogging-Based Class Activities With Twiducate, Tian Luo, Fei Gao

STEMPS Faculty Publications

[First paragraph] Microblogging tools such as Twitter have been frequently adopted in educational setting to facilitate learning in recent years. Although the original purpose of microblogging tools is to connect with others in a wide network and instantly share what is happening to them with the rest of the world, educators have vigorously attempted to repurpose the utilization of the tool and integrate it into various educational settings to promote student learning.

Culture And Online Distance Learning, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Online distance learning (ODL) has become a global phenomenon transcending national, political, and geographical boundaries challenging distance educators to re-examine notions of teaching and learning and issues of culture inherent in cross-border delivery of online courses and programs. Rogers, Graham and Mayes (2007) note that the sheer amount of learning content being developed in the West (defined for this chapter as Eurocentric, North American, Australasian) and exported via the Internet to other countries, highlights the crucial need to explore questions of culture more thoroughly in our online course designs to provide a more equitable learning experience for all. Global universities …

Internet Accessible Remote Real-Time Laboratory For Computer Networking Curriculum, Oyindamola Idowu

Masters Theses

Despite the availability of equipment required to teach hands-on laboratory practices in a computer networking curriculum, educators are faced with the challenge of extending such practices to students in remote locations. Distance learning has become a substantial part of the current education system, requiring institutes of learning adjusting from traditional face-to-face courses to content that can be carried out over the internet so that students can complete part or all the requirements for certain courses in an online modality. Unfortunately, traditional networking laboratories were designed with the assumption students will be physically present. This research is aimed to provide at …

Exploring Theatre Of The Oppressed And Media Synchronicity To Supplement Virtual Learning Environments: Experiences With Mados, Pedro Silva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explored the application of Media Synchronicity Theory and its potential for translating Critical Pedagogy (specifically Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed) into a computersupported collaborative work (CSCW) environment. It introduces the Maquina dos Oprimidos (Mados) prototype, a CSCW supplement to traditional asynchronous learning networks. Mados operates as a role-playing debate game, in which students debate a pre-selected prompt while performing assigned character roles. The study explores the prototype's potential to affect student's identification with their assigned character and personal attitude toward the prompt, as well as examining the effect of presence on students' performances. The study was performed with …