Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Teachers’ Experience Of Blended English Language Learning, Raed Ali Alhemairi, Sarah Bond, Danielle Karine Montes

International Journal for Research in Education

Abstracts:

To address current Emiratization goals for teachers who teach English Medium Subjects, the Abu Dhabi Education Council partnered with a for-profit English language professional development provider to conduct a 6-week trial of a blended English language learning program for Emirati teachers. The current qualitative narrative study was undertaken to learn more about the lived experiences of 11 participants in the program. Participants had access to an online training program and spent 60 to 70% of the training program time in self-paced online learning, and attended face to face sessions with an English trainer for 30-40% percent of the training …

Arghhh! My Computer Screen Froze: A “Glitch” In K-12 Blended Learning Classrooms, Tricia P.A. Herbert

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Our life-world occupies spaces drawn to new and emerging technologies that mediate our experiences to self, others, and the world. The presence of old and new technologies, the blackboard to the computer, in classrooms play a prominent role in shaping America’s education system. Schools today evolved from the technologies we design and use as individuals and as a society. Also, private and public K-12 education stakeholders believe blended learning, the meeting of traditional, face-to-face schooling with online learning at or from a school building, will transform schools. However, blended learning as a field lacks inquiry focused on K-12 school settings …

Analyzing The Online Environment: How Are More Effective Teachers Spending Their Time?, Scott Davis Barrentine

Dissertations and Theses

Teaching at an online school is so different from classroom teaching that traditional training includes few of the skills necessary to be a successful online teacher. New teachers to an online environment face a steep learning curve in how they'll use the instructional technology, prioritize their time, and establish relationships with their students. The literature has advice for these teachers about effective online practices, but there has been little research to establish which strategies are most effective in motivating students. This pre-experimental study, conducted at an online 6th-12th grade hybrid school, investigated the practices used more often by the most …

Site Joint Sig Symposia: A Collaboration Between The K-12 Online Learning Sig And Distance Learning Sig: How Higher Education And K-12 Online Learning Research Can Impact Each Other, Rick Ferdig, Leanna Archambault, Kerry Rice, Margaret Niess, Trisha Litz, Amy Garrett-Dikkers, Aimee Whiteside, Michael Barbour, David Marcovitz, Antoinette Davis

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Facilitated by Rick Ferdig of Kent State University and editor of JTATE, this Symposia brings together the work of the K-12 Online Learning SIG and the Distance Learning SIG communities and focuses on presentations from scholars in the field whose work has implications for both higher education and K-12 online learning. This Symposia will have nine panelists who will each present their work and then talk specifically about how their work can inform both K-12 and HE. Included in the list of Higher Education-focused panelists are Trisha Litz of Regis University, Maggie Niess of Oregon State University, Antoinette Davis of …

Creating Meaningful Learning Opportunities Online, Hafdís Guðjónsdóttir, Svanborg R. Jónsdóttir, Karen Rut Gísladóttir

Occasional Paper Series

This paper describe the ways in which the authors have used digital pedagogy to address the loneliness of the distance learner by making their online course more inclusive and interactive.

Activating Emotional & Analytic Engagement In Blended Learning: A Multicultural Teacher Education Example, Ramona Maile Cutri, Erin Feinauer Whiting, Stefinee E. Pinnegar

Occasional Paper Series

The authors share their experience in designing a blended multicultural education course that they hoped would increase the likelihood that the teachers they were educating would take up socially just dispositions. They examined their own learning using a critical friend relationship with a colleague experienced in developing technological responses that honor relational aspects of teacher education within a framework of sociocultural theory.

Preparing Teachers As Literacy Leaders In A Hybrid Classroom, Tamara Spencer

Occasional Paper Series

The author describes and analyzes how she developed a course (Literacy in the Elementary Grades) in hybrid format—50% online and 50% face-to-face teaching. First, she draws upon two overlapping frameworks in literacy studies—sociocultural theory and new literacy studies to describe the broader theoretical framework that grounds both the course design and the approach to literacy taken with the course. From there, the author provides a detailed analysis of the course, the objectives, overall content and assignments, and how she modified the course to be hybrid.

Front Matter And Editors' Notes, Helen Freidus, Mollie Welsh Kruger, Steven Goss

Occasional Paper Series

Cover page, table of contents, editors' notes.

Virtual Education: Not Yet Ready For Prime Time?, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

The field of K–12 online and blended learning is varied and growing. Regardless of whether a student is enrolled in a brick-and-mortar school and taking one or two courses online, or if they are completing all of their education from a cyber school, more and more students are enrolled in online and blended learning opportunities each school year. Over the past decade, there have been successive legislative and regulatory changes in jurisdiction after jurisdiction designed to encourage this growth in K–12 online and blended learning. Many of these changes have been spurred by proponent claims that K–12 online and blended …

Negotiating Cultural Spaces In An International Mobile And Blended Learning Project, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Agnieszka Palalas, Nicole Berezin, Caitlin Legere, Gretchen Kramer, Godwin Amo-Kwao

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

This paper explores the cultural spaces that had to be negotiated by a team of North American and Ghanaian partners when designing, developing and implementing a mobile and blended learning solution to train physician assistants in Ghana. In addition, it examines how these cultural spaces correspond to five mobile and blended learning spaces: temporal, physical, transactional, technological and pedagogical. Employing qualitative narrative inquiry and paradigmatic analysis procedures, we analyzed six types of data to determine the cultural spaces that emerged. Results indicate that cultural spaces were most often negotiated in the transactional mobile and blended learning space and included: identity …

Examining Implementations Of Blended Learning In A K-12 Mathematics Classroom, Kelsey Waynick

Honors Projects

In this research project, I investigated the effects on eighth grade students’ performances and perceptions throughout a blended learning experience by implementing a combination of face-to-face and online instructional strategies in an Algebra classroom. This blended experience was segmented into two units – a face-to-face unit and a blended unit – to allow for comparison within the participant group of high-achieving mathematics students. Edmodo, an online educational platform, was utilized to provide students with access to online resources at home during the blended unit. Students completed a series of three identical tests to quantitatively measure learning growth at designated checkpoints …

Flipped Classrooms, Sapna Bakshi

Teacher India

Flipping your teaching is the latest pedagogical model, but what exactly are we flipping, and what are the benefits? The author has some answers.

Highjacking The Mooc: Reflections On Creating/Teaching An Art History Mooc, Parme Giuntini, Jean-Marie Venturini

Current Issues in Emerging eLearning

This article reflects on the experience of creating and launching a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) at Otis College of Art and Design. The authors will discuss the development process from content, goals and production to curriculum design and pedagogy. Lessons learned and best practices will be shared as well as assessment of the MOOC’s success. Suggestions will be offered for faculty who are interested in adapting and adopting (hijacking) MOOCs in conjunction with credit courses in their own institutions, and addresses the very practical faculty concerns that MOOCs pose.

Virtual Instructor-Student Interaction: A New Method For Stimulating Class Participation In An Asynchronous Learning Network, Christopher Donoghue

The Emerging Learning Design Journal

The goal of this paper is to describe a new virtual form of instructor-student interaction that can enable students to interact with their instructors without the pressures inherent in a traditional setting where they must face other students. Virtual instructor-student interaction (VISI) is a new pedagogical technique, developed by the author, which involves the transformation of an online survey into a medium that can simultaneously present course material, ask questions, obtain feedback and deliver responses. The interaction takes place asynchronously in a private space between the student and the instructor. By using this method instructors can enable students to grow …

Promoting Online Students’ Engagement And Learning In Science And Sustainability Preservice Teacher Education, Louisa Tomas, Michelle Lasen, Ellen Field, Keith Skamp

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

At James Cook University, a core first-year subject within the Bachelor of Education, Foundations of Sustainability in Education (FSE), sees students investigate the underlying science and complexity of socioecological challenges through inquiry, place-based learning, experimentation and consideration of classroom practice. Given that this subject is delivered across modes, a blended learning approach that encompasses an innovative use of learning technologies and careful consideration of pedagogy provides opportunity for both on-campus and online students to engage in active, learner-centred, collaborative, experiential and praxis-oriented learning experiences (Wals & Jickling, 2002). In this paper, we draw upon Pittaway’s (2012) engagement framework and Herrington, …

A History Of International K-12 Online And Blended Instruction, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

Many involved with the practice or study of K-12 online and blended learning are familiar with the American context. It surrounds us in the media and published research. However, online and blended learning is occurring in meaningful ways to address specific K-12 student needs all around the globe. There are several areas where the international practice is consistent with what we know about the United States (e.g., similar evolutions, early initiatives were government-funded, many of the labels are similar). At the same time, there are some key differences internationally (e.g., the prevalence of legacy forms of distance education, a lack …

Preparing For And Thriving In K-12 Online/Blended Teaching Contexts, Leanna Archambault, Keryn Pratt, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

This panel will bring together leading experts to explore the research related to teaching roles in K-12 online and blended learning and the policies influencing teacher preparation for online environments. Currently, there is a dire need for teacher education programs to provide training in online pedagogy and instructional design so all teachers are prepared to teach in breakthrough learning environments. Keryn Pratt will present her work on OtagoNet: One region’s model for virtual schooling in New Zealand and the knowledge and skills teachers need to be successful in this environment. Michael Barbour will focus on roles of online and blended …

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 …

A Case Study Of Applying Blended Learning In An Accelerated Post-Baccalaureate Teacher Education Program, Ying Wang Shen, Thomas H. Reynolds, Curtis J. Bonk, Thomas A. Brush

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

Blended learning has potential to improve teacher education in terms of accessibility and quality. This paper reports findings from a case study with mixed methods data collection analysis to examine the application of blended learning in accelerated post-baccalaureate teacher education at the program level. One hundred and sixty-seven recent graduates from a chosen teacher education program participated in the study by completing an online survey. Eight of the survey participants and six faculty members were interviewed. Findings from this study support the viability and benefits of applying blended learning in teacher education at the program level. On the other hand, …

K–12 Online Distance Education: Issues And Frameworks, Michael K. Barbour, Leanna Archambault, Meredith Dipietro

Education Faculty Publications

With increasing popularity and accessibility of the Internet and Internet-based technologies, coupled with the need for a diverse group of students to have various means to complete their education, the prevalence of K-12 online and blended programs continues to increase.

Using Podcasting For Blended Learning, Sherry Robinson, Hans-Anton Stubberud, Carsten Blom-Ruud

International Journal for Business Education

Blended learning is a hybrid learning format combining some of the best features of distance learning and traditional face-to-face classes. Through the use of online course management sites and other media, students can access material at their convenience and attend a reduced number of classes that then emphasize interaction. This educational opportunity is especially valuable for working adults who cannot attend traditional classes. However, the lack of lectures can be a challenge for students who learn best by hearing. Podcasting, which involves the creation and distribution of audio and/or video files, is one tool that can help students to learn …

Environmental And Psychological Factors Contributing To Student Achievement In A High School Online Mediated Credit Recovery Program, Sheila B. Huckabee

Education Dissertations and Projects

School districts around the country have sought to mitigate students' reasons for dropping out through a variety of approaches. A repeated theme in the dropout research is student course failure in key academic subjects needed for on-time promotion with grade-level peers. The crux of the problem is that within the traditional classroom environment, a significant number of students do not demonstrate the required level of academic skills and knowledge needed to pass specific state and district mandated courses, which ultimately decreases their ability to advance to the next grade and graduate in 4 years.

The purpose of this dissertation study …

Pedagogical Re-Mediation In Hybrid Courses: A Case Study Of Five First-Year Composition Instructors, Rebecca Middlebrook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As the move to increase availability of composition courses in the online environment continues, it is important to understand the ways in which composition instructors have taken on the challenges associated with moving their teaching online and how they modify, or re-mediate, their pedagogy for the this new teaching and learning environment. This study takes on the task of examining re-mediation as it occurs in the pedagogical practices used by instructors to facilitate peer review activities in hybrid, first-year composition courses. At the same time, it is important to understand the varying factors that may influence the degree to which …