Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Improving Enrollment In The Construction Management Graduate Program Through Students’ Perspectives, Mouloud Messaoudi

Master of Technology Management Plan II Graduate Projects

Low enrollment and the decrease in graduation and retention rates are challenges facing the growth of the Master’s in Technology Management – Construction Management (MTM-CM) program at BGSU. In addition, the competition between the universities to enroll and retain more in-state, out-of-state, and international students is aggressive. There is a need for a revaluation for the MTM-CM program in order to attract more students in the future. This study is a necessary step to know what the MTM-CM students think about the product delivered to them at BGSU. There was no prior study investigating the satisfaction level of the construction …

Wearing Different Hats: Micro Role Transitions In Two Contexts, Opal Man-Ching Leung

2014

Individuals make transitions between roles everyday as they move from home to work to other settings. This dissertation extends the work of Goffman (1959), Hall & Richer (1988), and Ashforth et al. (2000, 2001) on the topic of micro role transitions, which are the "frequent and usually recurring transitions, such as the commute between home and work" (Ashforth et al., 2000: 472). While the context of most of the research on micro role transitions has typically been focused on the work-home boundary (e.g. Rothbard et al., 2005; Nippert-Eng, 2008; Greenhaus & Powell, 2006; Hall & Richter, 1988), the three studies …

A Diachronic Overview Of Mobile Learning: A Shift Toward Student-Centered Pedagogies, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This chapter provides a brief historical overview of the technology contributing to mobile learning (mLearning) and the concomitant progression towards student-centred pedagogies. To begin, mLearning is defined. The theoretical, pedagogical and conceptual underpinnings of it are then explained, with a focus on the technologies and the pedagogies of each decade, from the 1970s and Kay’s futuristic vision of a mobile learning device, to today’s mobile learning technologies that have surpassed Kay’s vision.

To Complete Or Not Complete : Student Persistence In Post-Secondary Education Online Courses, Amy Christian

Graduate Research Papers

Many factors influence learners' decisions to complete or drop out of online learning courses in higher education where learners' persistence is considered critical to the success of the higher education institutions. This review examines recent literature on the relationship between learners' perceived Sense of Community (SOC), Social Presence, Satisfaction, and Participation and Interactions in distance education courses and learner persistence. Over 30 peer-reviewed studies published in academic journals within the past ten years were selected for critical analysis. Results are mixed and while many studies imply relationships between various learner and institution characteristics and student persistence, significant correlations are often …

The Effects Of Interactive Videoconferencing On Elementary Literacy : Collaborative Learning Environment, Heather A. Klenke

Graduate Research Papers

The purpose of this literature review is to examine the effectiveness of videoconferencing on elementary students' literacy learning process. Over thirty peer-reviewed journal articles published within the last ten years are critically analyzed and evaluated. The findings suggest that videoconferencing can embrace elementary students' literacy learning by motivating them to learn, engaging them in diverse activities for collaboration, and enhancing their communication skills development and academic achievement, if appropriate and meaningful learning and teaching strategies are adopted. This review also identifies benefits of using videoconferencing for teacher professional development.

The Effects Of Web 2.0 Pedagogy On Student Engagement, Collaboration, And Achievement, Kelsey Lage

Graduate Research Papers

This review explores various studies and articles on the effects of Web 2.0 pedagogy on student engagement, collaboration, and achievement in a K-undergraduate setting. A critical review of purposefully selected peer-reviewed journal articles highlight the relationship between Web 2.0 pedagogy and student engagement, collaboration, and achievement. This literature review provides an analysis for administrators and teachers when implementing Web 2.0 pedagogy. This review suggests that the implementation of Web 2.0 pedagogy increases student engagement, collaboration, and achievement.

Exploring Faculty Adoption And Utilization Of Blackboard At A Community College In The Kentucky Community And Technical College System, Brent A. Eldridge

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The study explored the faculty adoption and use of a Blackboard at a community college in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. A cross-sectional survey design was constructed through the lens of Rogers’s Perceived Attributes of Innovations and Chickering and Ehrman’s Implementing Seven Principles: Technology as a Lever to investigate perceptions and opinions on faculty members’ use of Blackboard in their courses. The survey was piloted, modified and deployed to a population of 932 central Kentucky community college faculty who were recruited to participate in the online survey. Descriptive demographic items (gender, age, highest degree attained, years of teaching …

Issues Of Today's Online Education: Psychological Portrait Of The Problem Student, Anna Toom

Graduate School of Education Publications and Research

The online problem student is one who fails to benefit from the modern learning environment based on the information technologies. The purpose of this work was to find out whether psychological characteristics helpful for identifying problem students in a traditional classroom are the same in a new learning environment. The study was conducted with 123 graduate students, who took Dr. Toom’s online psychology courses within three consecutive semesters of 2013. The research methodology included an analysis of the students’ coursework and academic performance within the semester and mathematical analysis of the collected data. According to the results, four psychological characteristics …

Exploring The Attitudes Of Criminal Justice And Homeland Security Students Regarding Assessment Techniques In Online Courses, Terry Allen Taylor

Online Theses and Dissertations

Substantial increases in online education since the start of the 21st century requires investigation in to how online courses differ from traditional face-to-face courses. It is particularly important to discover how online students learn and which assessment methods they prefer and see as most beneficial to online learning. Using online assessment techniques that correspond with those rated highly my online students can lead to better student experiences in online courses and improved persistence rates in online courses, which have traditionally be lower compared to face-to-face courses.

The participants for the study sample included online students majoring in Bachelor of Science …

Enhancing Critical Thinking In Clinical Laboratory Students: A Multimodal Model, Denise Marie Juroske Short

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to improve critical thinking skills in clinical laboratory technologists through the development, implementation, and assessment of a multimodal model targeting critical thinking skills. Clinical laboratory technologists influence patient care through the testing of laboratory samples. Employers of these entry level professionals identified a need for improved critical thinking skills. This quasi-experimental study aimed to design a multimodal critical thinking model, implement the model into the clinical laboratory educational curriculum, and assesses this skill set for students in a pre-test / post-test format. The model was delivered and assessed for 47 clinical laboratory students at …

Delivery Of Hands-On Technical Courses Through Real-Time Distance Learning, Steve C. Hsiung, John M. Ritz, Ece Yaprak, Feng Jao

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

It is generally believed that it is too challenging to deliver technical laboratory courses using distance learning technologies. The focus of this research was to develop strategies that may be used to address these challenges. A research team composed of faculty from several universities and community colleges explored what might be needed to make these types of technical laboratory course instruction possible using distance learning technologies. The team explored delivering a microcontroller embedded systems design course through audio-visual distance learning technologies. The team's research and development activities are discussed. These include focuses on the technical training equipment that had to …

Teaching Laboratory Courses Using Distance Learning Technologies, Steve C. Hsiung, John Ritz

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Conducting laboratory activities is essential for teaching and learning in engineering and technology subjects. This article discusses explorations made by a research team to find solutions to enable the distance-learning delivery of laboratory courses on embedded microcontroller technology topics. In addition, this article includes a review of videoconferencing and course management tools, uniquely designed laboratory equipment and supporting curriculum materials, and statistical evidence showing students can learn technical laboratory content in distance-learning environments.

Failing The Failed: A Treatise On The Need For A Research Based Pedagogical Approach To Credit Recovery, Kelly Scott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation in practice is to address the problem of online credit recovery. Although online enrollments have skyrocketed in recent years and all preliminary research indicates a large percentage of those enrollments are from students seeking credit recovery, much of the curriculum currently being offered is not research-based. Following a literature review focused on the history of credit recovery as well as successful current methods, we designed CRIT (Credit Recovery Instructional Treatment), a research-based approach to curriculum design for credit recovery. CRIT is a standards based curriculum relying on criterion based assessments. This approach was then applied …

State Of The Nation: K-12 Online Learning In Canada, Michael K. Barbour, Randy Labonte

Education Faculty Publications

This is the seventh edition of the State of the Nation: K –12 Online Learning in Canada, written on behalf of the Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn). This year’s report is slightly abbreviated as we transition CANeLearn’s involvement and develop an active data set that will be launched live on our website upon publication of this report (http://canelearn.net)

The State of the Nation: K –12 Online Learning in Canada report provides critical information and insight into how Canadian educational authorities and governments are integrating technology-supported approaches to prepare students for today’s economy and a future society in which the use …

Importance Of Developing Community In Distance Education Courses, Robert L. Moore

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The separation of student and instructor is the core characteristic of distance education (Simonson et al., 2012, p. 28), contributing to one of the biggest challenges to distance education—attrition (Dueber & Misanchuk, 2001, p. 2). By the very nature of distance education, students are different locations from one another and their instructor. The instructor’s challenge is figuring out how to make students feel connected and able to succeed in this new learning environment. The development of a sense of community is an effective and efficient way to help ensure the success of the distance education program and can directly address …

Globalization, Culture, And Online Distance Learning, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Globalization, the Internet, and access to telecommunication networks have increased the demand for education and educational quality across the globe. The reasons for this demand explains Carnoy (2005) are two-fold: The first is economic, the rising payoffs to higher education in a global, science-based, knowledge intensive economy make university training more of a “necessity” to get “good” jobs, which in turn, changes the stakes at lower levels of schooling and the demand for high-quality secondary schools. The second reason is socio-political: Demographics and democratic ideals increase pressure on universities to provide access to groups that traditionally have not attended university. …

Student Motivations For Studying Online: A Qualitative Study, Melanie K. Henry, Julie Ann Pooley, Maryam Omari

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The availability of online courses has continued to grow over recent years with more students now turning to online offerings. The flexibility offered through online learning is attractive to prospective students with some of the benefits including reduced costs, and the potential to increase and diversify the student body. Online courses provide the advantage of reaching those who may be ‘too busy’ for traditional study, and offer flexibility through anywhere, anytime access. While these benefits may attract prospective learners to the online environment there remains little empirical evidence for the reasons students actually make the decision to study online over …

Efficacy Of Hybrid Coursework On Retention Rate In Online Higher Education, Kevin Struble

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Recent developments and technological advances in online education have provided the adult learner with new opportunities to obtain a college education. However, online coursework offers new challenges particularly for online student retention, as these rates are lower than traditional students on a college or university campus. The following research outlines a quantitative study for the perceived effect of social learning for adult online learners through hybrid coursework on undergraduate retention rates through two research questions using a causal-comparative design for research question one and a correlational design for research question two. This study examined retention theory in regards to social …

Analysis Of Student Perceptions Of The Psychosocial Learning Environment In Online And Face-To-Face Career And Technical Education Courses, Diane L. Carver

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Career and technical education (CTE) courses offered online are becoming more common in secondary schools. Recognizing the adaptability of CTE courses and designing curricula to offer online learners the same experience as face-to-face learners is challenging for education professionals and requires analyses of both environments. A lack of empirical studies makes it important to conduct research on online learning environments from the perspectives of high school students.

This study analyzes student perceptions of the psychosocial learning environment in online and face-to-face career and technical education courses. The research explores and compares how high school students perceive their learning environment and …

Online Identity And Interaction, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The increasing interest in developing online learning communities and communities of practice (COP) has generated the exploration into issues of identity that impact online communication.

Using Mobile Learning To Support Students’ Understanding In Geometry: A Design-Based Research Curriculum Study, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Mobile learning offers new affordances to teaching and learning, such as learning that is contextualized, personalized, and unrestricted by temporal and spatial constraints (Crompton, 2013a). In this study, the affordances of mobile learning were utilized as students learned about angles. Using a design-based research methodology a local instruction theory was developed on how students can learn about angle concepts through mobile learning activities. The local instruction theory is comprised of two components: (a) an exemplary mobile learning curriculum for 4th grade students to study angle concepts, and (b) additions to the scholarly theories in how students learning about angle using …

Educators’ Self-Identified Mobile Learning Training Needs: A Qualitative Study Involving Educators From 12 Diverse North American States, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Mobile learning (mlearning) is changing the pedagogical landscape of traditional teaching. The myriad of constantly evolving mobile devices are providing new affordances which are attracting the attention of educators around the globe. Many educators may be excited at these new affordances to learning, others are more apprehensive of this technological intrusion on traditional practices. In this paper, the researchers share the results of a self-report survey that provides evidence of what educators reported they would like to receive training on for mlearning initiatives. These data suggest current trends in mlearning and the technological abilities of educators implementing mlearning in their …

Supporting Diverse Online Learners, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Learner support is the critical link in online education. A learner support system is comprised of human and non-human resources that contribute to the learning process of an online course and should be designed as an integral part of the course. For example, if the online course requires students to access library resources to complete a research paper, then, easy access to library resources must be provided as part of the learner support system for that course. Learner support for online learners will differ based on the context, learner characteristics such as needs, expectations, prior learning experiences, etc., and the …