Online and Distance Education Commons^™

Topr Turns 10! Celebrating 10 Years Of Curating Ucf’S Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository, Aimee Denoyelles, Sue Bauer, Shelly Wyatt

FDLA Journal

In this paper, the editors of the Teaching Online Pedagogical Repository (TOPR) will share global insights derived from the last ten years of pedagogical entries. What technologies and techniques of online teaching and learning were “hot” a decade ago, and what is currently trending? What are the most visited entries? TOPR’s value in relation to the COVID-19 crisis will be explored, as many educators were forced to teach in remote and online learning environments for the first time. Finally, readers will learn about the process of submitting their own strategies to TOPR, along with an update on the peer-review process …

Practicing What They Preach: A Case Study Exploring The Experiences Of Instructional Designers As Educators Of An Online Teaching Certificate Program, David Uibelhoer

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The rapid integration of online education has led to faculty challenges in teaching online. Research shows that faculty online professional development that focuses on pedagogical inquiry can lead to better teaching of online courses. This qualitative case study was conducted to explore the experiences of a team of eight instructional designers who developed a four-course online teaching certificate program at a large public research university. In addition, this study sought to better understand how instructional designers describe university support for leading this faculty online professional development initiative and determine whether their expertise in online pedagogy can lead to improved online …

The Year Of Covid-19: Personal Reflections On How Traditional Pedagogy Can Be Informed By Online Teaching Methods (Aka How I Changed My Mind About Online Teaching), Ee-Ing Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Reflections on lessons learnt during online teaching during COVID-19. Despite the difficulties of the term, I realized that online teaching had certain strengths that traditional face-to-face teaching formats lacked. This started me on the path to adapting online teaching practices to improve our current modes of teaching, such as using online tools to improve interactivity, and reduce bias in interacting with students. I also started reconsidering whether our traditional classroom structures are indeed the best way to teach. While my experiences are based on teaching law, I believe that these points are also applicable to teaching in other disciplines.

The Year Of Covid-19: Personal Reflections On How Traditional Pedagogy Can Be Informed By Online Teaching Methods (Aka How I Changed My Mind About Online Teaching), Ee-Ing Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Reflections on lessons learnt during online teaching during COVID-19. Despite the difficulties of the term, I realized that online teaching had certain strengths that traditional face-to-face teaching formats lacked. This started me on the path to adapting online teaching practices to improve our current modes of teaching, such as using online tools to improve interactivity, and reduce bias in interacting with students. I also started reconsidering whether our traditional classroom structures are indeed the best way to teach. While my experiences are based on teaching law, I believe that these points are also applicable to teaching in other disciplines.

Evaluating The State Of The Adjunct Faculty Relationship To The College Of Aeronautics, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide, Narcrisha Norman, Federica Robinson-Bryant

Publications

More than half of all faculty in the United States are adjunct faculty (Edmonds, 2015). As of 10/22/2015, the College of Aeronautics (COA) at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide (ERAU-WW) included 684 adjunct faculty. This fact creates a necessity to conduct comprehensive research into the value of these faculty, the quality of the adjuncts who are teaching ERAU-WW courses, their affinity for the College, etc. Additionally, it is imperative to evaluate adjunct faculty performance, effectively communicate with adjuncts, at some level predict the commitment of adjunct faculty to the University and communicate the University’s commitment to the adjunct faculty. The …

Embracing Digital Learning In The Covid-19 Era, Ashok Kumar Pandey

Teacher India

The COVID-19 outbreak has led to school closures across the globe. Dr Ashok Kumar Pandey writes about ways in which school leaders can respond to this emergency.

Interview: Schools Coping With Covid-19, Vishal Varia

Teacher India

Some schools have taken rapid measures to prevent learning loss due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Vishal Varia shares the experience of the Rosary Group of Schools in a conversation that includes some useful tips for schools and teachers.

Trifecta Of Student Engagement: A Framework For Engaging Students In Online Courses, Heather J. Leslie Phd

Learning Design Center: Staff Scholarship

This chapter describes a framework adapted from Michael Moore's three essential areas: student-content interaction, student-student interaction, and student-instructor interaction for engaging students in online courses. To be fully engaged in an online course, students need to be engaged with the course curriculum content, with their peers, and with their instructor. When students are engaged in all three areas, it is referred to as the Trifecta of Student Engagement. This chapter incorporates literature on each area of the Trifecta of Student Engagement: student-to-content engagement, student-to-student engagement, and student-to-instructor engagement as well as some suggested synchronous and asynchronous digital tools.

Best Practices For New Online Management Education Instructors To Overcome Resistance To Online Teaching: New Insights, Lorianne D. Mitchell

ETSU Faculty Works

Enrollment in online courses has increased rapidly in the last two decades, and exponentially in the last few years (Seaman, Allen, & Allen, 2018) as part of an e-revolution, especially in business schools (Kumar, Kumar, Palvia, & Verma, 2019), in which access to and use of information technology has become widespread. Instructors are one of the most important variables in online teaching as they function as the source of content for, and facilitators of, the online course. Some faculty, however, are ambivalent about teaching online for a variety of reasons (Mitchell, Parlamis, & Claiborne, 2015), and this ambivalence can be …

Faculty Perceptions Of Online Teaching At A Mid-Sized Liberal Arts University In The Pacific Northwest: A Mixed Methods Study, Dana Shreaves

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Faculty resistance to online teaching is a problem that can affect institutions looking to increase online learning options for students. Prior research has identified a number of encouraging and discouraging factors that may affect faculty motivation to teach online. Given limited institutional resources, it would be difficult for an institution to address all of the factors identified in prior research. Furthermore, faculty at liberal arts colleges have not been studied as a specific population of interest in prior research. Therefore, to increase acceptance and participation in online teaching at Pacific Lutheran University (PLU), this study employed a convergent, parallel mixed-methods …

Does Class Size Matter?: An Exploration Into Faculty Perceptions Of Teaching High-Enrollment Online Courses, Patrick R. Lowenthal, Rob Nyland, Eulho Jung, Joanna C. Dunlap, Jennifer Kepka

Educational Technology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Class size has been a popular topic for decades. There is renewed interest in this topic now with the growth of online learning. Online courses can accommodate hundreds, if not thousands, of students in a single course. Very little research, though, has been conducted recently on class size in online courses and the research that has been conducted is mixed. As the demand for online courses increases, so likely will class size. In this exploratory study, we investigated the perceptions and experiences of 37 faculty teaching high-enrollment online courses. In the following article, we report the results of our inquiry, …

Faculty Development For Online Teaching, Karen R. Johnson, Gertrude I. Hewapathirana, Mauvalyn M. Bowen

Business Faculty Publications

Despite dramatic increase in online education and the benefits associated with this instructional pedagogy, many challenges exist with the design and delivery of online learning. Faculty play a critical role in the process of quality online education. Yet, development opportunities for faculty are too few, often lacking a comprehensive approach needed for faculty to function optimally in the online learning environment. The interconnection among pedagogy, technology, context, students, faculty, key decision makers, and administrators in higher education complicates the online teaching and learning processes. The purpose of this chapter is to address development issues related to faculty who teach online …

The Relative Influence Of Instructor Training On Student Perceptions Of Online Courses And Instruction, Mary Bowne, Melissa Wuellner, Lisa Madsen, Jessica R. Meendering, John Howard

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Online learning opportunities have greatly increased in past years. Various studies have examined online courses and instructor practices but have not examined students’ perceptions of their online courses and online instructors who were offered a voluntary online certification program. Students who took online courses at a Midwestern university completed a survey related to their perceptions of their individual online course and instructor. Results showed that instructors who were certified received higher, positive ratings than instructors who were not certified. The certification program utilizes a “faculty as student’ model, where faculty take courses from a student learner perspective, to provide experiential …

Making Online Group-Work Work: Scripts, Group Awareness And Facilitation, Peter Reimann

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

Even though group work for learning is a well-established and extensively researched pedagogy, teachers find it still challenging to engage students in productive collaborative learning that extends over time (e.g. weeks – in the context of project-based learning) and is computer-mediated in addition to being classroom-based. I introduce three practices that have been shown to foster collaborative knowledge production and learning: first, group scripts; second, knowledge building and knowledge awareness; and third, group facilitation. I discuss how teachers can integrate these into their teaching practices to address three challenges to productive group learning: unequal participation, lack of awareness, and stratified …

Exploring Strategies For Teaching Creatively Online, Conny Van Der Wouw

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

The way we learn and teach is changing. There is more emphasis on collaboration and personalization of the learning. Teaching online is becoming common. For my Master’s project I have developed a product that will help designing and delivering teaching programs creatively through the use of online learning opportunities. The product discusses the opportunities and challenges of a creative climate when teaching online and provides strategies to develop creativity during the online learning process. It is developed with the use of the Torrance Incubation Model of Teaching and Learning (TIM) and Ekvall’s ten dimensions of a creative climate. This paper …

Meeting The Distance Education Challenge: A Guide For Designing Online Classrooms, Patrick Allen Bungard

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The emphasis on education fluctuates with the economy. When education is encouraged, many individuals flock to colleges and universities to increase earning potential or achieve goals. Thanks to advancements in technology, distance education in the 21^st century can be similar to face-to-face education. Students spend many hours sitting in front of a computer completing course work. Although still in infancy stages, online education has vastly improved. Perspectives like teaching adults (andragogy), transformative learning, and teacher immediacy all address teaching individuals from afar. In consultation with these three perspectives, several qualitative measures have been developed aid with online course design. …

Designing Authentic Learning Activities To Train Pre-Service Teachers About Teaching Online, Tian Luo, Alexander Murray, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Online learning is increasingly being used in K-12 learning environments. A concomitant trend is found towards learning becoming authentic as students learn with tasks that are connected to real-world occupations. In this study, 48 pre-service teachers use an online environment to engage in authentic practice as they developed online learning experiences for their future students. Using a design-based research methodology, the researchers were involved in planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating the higher education class across two macro cycles. An authentic learning framework was utilized in the development of the class. Findings explicate the design of the course and how it …

Creating A Positive Atmosphere In Online Courses: Student Ratings Of Affective Variables In Teacher Education Courses, Sarah Hamsher, Cynthia A. Dieterich

Education Faculty Publications

Instructors in higher education have to work to create a positive atmosphere. Yet, the behaviors instructors must exhibit to create such an atmosphere are different for online courses than face-toface (F2F) courses. The current study surveyed graduate and undergraduate students in a teacher education program to identify which affective variables identified in academic literature for creating a positive online atmosphere are most and least important. The results of this study suggest undergraduate and graduate students rank logistical behaviors (e.g., clearly described directions and expectations, constructive feedback) as most important and emotional-relational behaviors (e.g., interpersonal relationships, humor related to content) as …

Strategies For Teaching Online: Perspectives From Across Disciplines, Kimarie Whetstone, Kim Brazzell, Thomas Cornelius, Jill Stout

Winthrop Conference on Teaching and Learning

With the growth of online learning on the horizon at Winthrop University, faculty members can be best served in learning strategies for teaching online by participating in a dialogue with colleagues who are currently teaching in this modality.

This panel session will provide strategies for teaching online from the perspective of Winthrop University faculty currently teaching online across a variety of disciplines. Panelists will share their experiences with respect to common pitfalls and lessons learned; skills needed to be a successful online facilitator; roles and responsibilities; cognitive, social, and teaching presence; engagement; accessible online content; and providing the Winthrop experience. …

Faculty Development Initiative For Converting F2f Courses Into Online Courses, Maria Lizano-Dimare, Antoinette P. Bruciati

Education Faculty Publications

With faculty development changes in practice from traditional face-to-face to online delivery modalities, this paper describes an initiative for faculty at a College of Education whereby pre-existing courses are converted for online delivery. Opportunities and challenges are examined and used in the development of best practices for faculty development that embrace the use of online modalities. What strategies can Online Learning Mentors use to achieve the expected outcomes when mentees differ in technology competencies, pedagogical skills and have minimal online experience? Implications for faculty preparation, professional growth, and considerations for online conversion are discussed.

The Trifecta Approach And More: Student Perspectives On Strategies For Successful Online Lectures, Laura Jacobi

Communication Studies Department Publications

The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of students regarding what was effective about the way in which the online lectures were structured in an upper level online organizational communication course. Student evaluations from 27 students were used, with questions focused upon the structure of lectures in the online course as compared to other online courses and to traditional classrooms. Qualitative analyses reveal the use of the trifecta approach, the use of audio voice-overs with PowerPoint slides, the concise nature of lectures, the ability to review them, and the use of key points as significant to student …

Effective Teaching Practices In Online Higher Education, Kim Mcmurtry

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

In the context of continuing growth in online higher education in the United States, students are struggling to succeed, as evidenced by lower course outcomes and lower retention rates in online courses in comparison with face-to-face courses. The problem identified for investigation is how university instructors can ensure that effective teaching and learning is happening in their online courses. The research questions were:

1. What are the best practices of effective online teaching in higher education according to current research?
2. How do exemplary online instructors enact teaching presence in higher education?
3. What are the best practices of effective online teaching in …

Faculty And Student Perceptions Of Effective Online Learning Environments, Kayla L. Westra

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This quantitative and qualitative study was designed to review alignment of student and faculty perceptions of effective online learning environments. The purpose of this study was to review statistical survey data to determine if alignment of perceptions existed. The student research sample included data from three years of archival survey data at Minnesota West Community and Technical College. Over 10,000 survey results were part of this sample. Additionally, Minnesota West Community and Technical College faculty who taught during this timeframe were surveyed. Qualitative data from one year of student responses was analyzed to add depth to the results. The results …

Faculty Experiences From Teaching And Learning Online, Kelly Heckaman, Aaron R. Deris, Cathie Koss

Special Education Department Publications

No abstract provided.

Adapting To A Virtual Learning Environment, Winston H. Maddox

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This participatory action research (PAR) dissertation examines the experiences of five experienced faculty transitioning from teaching in a traditional classroom to a virtual learning environment. The research participants used technology to deliver course material and reflected on the changes in their pedagogical practice. Data were collected using four phased sessions, including the completion of interview questions, individual interview video sessions, and group video sessions and the review of participant video validation postings. Research participants used journaling to reflect on their values, beliefs, assumptions, and experiences associated with teaching and learning. Research participants teaching in virtual learning environments were provided an …

Strategies For Overcoming Common Obstacles In The Online Environment: Issues In Virtual School Teaching, Michael K. Barbour, Kelly L. Unger

Education Faculty Publications

K-12 online learning or virtual schooling has seen substantial growth in the United States over the past two decades. While the practice of virtual schooling has exploded, the availability of research-based best practices to guide teachers working in these environments is lacking. This chapter presents four cases from Michigan Virtual School (MVS) teachers that examine a variety of issues that virtual school teachers face when facilitating K-12 student learning in the online environment, including strategies to provide substantive feedback in English Language Arts, methods for addressing the demonstration of mathematical computations, using Web 2.0 tools to increase interaction in an …

A Qualitative Study Exploring Faculty Perception And Adaptation Of Social Presence In The Online Classroom, Kathleen J. Marino

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Strictly Business: Teacher Perceptions Of Interaction In Virtual Schooling, Abigail Hawkins, Michael K. Barbour, Charles R. Graham

Education Faculty Publications

This study explored the nature of teacher-student interaction from the perspective of eight virtual school teachers in an asynchronous, self-paced, statewide, supplemental virtual high school. Teacher interviews revealed the majority of interactions were student-initiated and instructional in nature. The main procedural interactions focused on notifications sent to inactive students. Social interactions were minimal and viewed as having little pedagogical value. Institutional barriers such as class size and an absence of effective tracking mechanisms limited the amount and types of interaction teachers engaged in. Study implications and future research are discussed.

Best Practices In Online Teaching, Geoff Cain

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Teaching Courses Online: A Review Of The Research, Mary K. Tallent-Runnels, Julie A. Thomas, William Y. Lan, Sandi Cooper, Terence C. Ahern, Shana M. Shaw, Xiaoming Liu

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

This literature review summarizes research on online teaching and learning. It is organized into four topics: course environment, learners’ outcomes, learners’ characteristics, and institutional and administrative factors. The authors found little consistency of terminology, discovered some conclusive guidelines, and identified developing lines of inquiry. The conclusions overall suggest that most of the studies reviewed were descriptive and exploratory, that most online students are nontraditional and Anglo American, and that few universities have written policies, guidelines, or technical support for faculty members or students. Asynchronous communication seemed to facilitate in-depth communication (but not more than in traditional classes), students liked to …