Vesely, P., Bloom, L., & Sherlock, J. (2007). Key elements of building online community: Comparing faculty and student perceptions. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 3(3), 234-246.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology

Subject and Citations:

Sometimes the abstract nails the paper perfectly:

"This paper describes survey research of fourteen online courses where instructors and students were asked their perceptions about the challenges and essential elements of community in online classes. Results show that both instructors and students believe
building community is very important. The majority of both students and instructors
perceived it to be harder to build community online than in traditional classes. Additionally, while the majority of students and instructors both identified the same
elements for building online community, there were significant ranking differences. Most
striking among the differences was that students ranked instructor modeling as the most
important element in building online community, while instructors ranked it fourth.
Implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations provided for how
instructors can model community behaviors in their online classes" (Vessely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007, p. 234).

The authors defined sense of community as having the following:
"1) A sense of shared purpose
"2) Establishment of boundaries defining who is a member and who is not
"3) Establishment and enforcement of rules/policies regarding community behavior
"4) Interaction among members, and
"5) A level of trust, respect and support among community members" (Vessely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007, p. 235).

The study supported/added these ideas from the students and instructors:
 "[1.] a sense of shared purpose, purposeful [2.] communication involving encouragement and support, [3.] collaborating to learn course material, [4.] working for an extended period of time on a common goal, and [5.] a comfortable exchange of ideas in an organized fashion"(Vessely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007, p. 239).

Like many other studies, instructor presence was found to be a massive indicator of positive student experiences online. They also found value in student immediacy. "LaRose & Whitten, (2000) recommend that instructors incorporate “immediacy features” (p. 32) into the design of online classes to build community. They identify three possible sources of immediacy in the virtual classrooms that may generate a sense of belonging and closeness among class participants: the interactions between teacher and students (teacher immediacy); interactions between students (student immediacy) and interactions with the commuter system that delivers the course (computer immediacy). Collectively, these sources constitute instructional immediacy. Incorporating these features into the online classroom serve as incentives for class members to both feel and act as members of a  community. Fostering student immediacy is important in building online community  because peer groups are valued associations. Student immediacy describes behaviors that create a feeling of closeness between learners (LaRose & Whitten, 2000). Caverly & MacDonald (2002) found that students need to make connections by finding similarities in background, motivation and commitment to have a sense of community. Course design should support community building through faculty presence and student immediacy. Examples include well-designed icebreaker activities, group assignments, and ongoing topical discussions that involve both faculty and the students" (Vessely, Bloom, & Sherlock, 2007, pp. 243-244).

Stewart, C., Bachman, C., & Johnson, R. (2010). Predictors of faculty acceptance of online education. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(3), 597-616.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology

Subject and Citations:

The authors expanded the technology acceptance model to predict intention to teach online. "The TAM has been used in IT research to explain user acceptance and a wide range of technology based behaviors (Lee, Cheung, & Chen, 2005). Despite the TAM’s proven capability of explaining technology acceptance, the model has not been broadly applied outside IT and business. The few studies that have extended the TAM beyond IT have found that the inclusion of additional variables is necessary to add explanatory power (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1992; Hsu & Lu, 2004; Kim, 2008). Several variables have been related to the TAM such as intrinsic motivation (Roca & Gagne, 2008; Venkatesh & Davis, 1996), facilitating conditions (Cheung, Chang, & Lai, 2000), and competence (Roca & Gagne, 2008; Venkatesh & Davis, 2000).

They sought to determine what factors led to faculty accepting or rejecting the opportunity to teach online. Their research prior to the student led them to conclude:

"Faculty also report a number of other factors related to their resistance to online education. Yang and Cornelius (2005) note that faculty were concerned that their traditional courses were not compatible with online education. Several studies suggest that the amount of time required to transition traditional courses to the online format may be a critical obstacle (Arbaugh, 2000; Hartman, Dzuiban, & Moskai, 2000; Shea, 2007b). Others have reported that faculty were concerned about compensation issues (Hartman et al., 2000; Shea, 2007b), inadequate training (Arbaugh, 2000; Pankowski, 2004), and lack of administrative support (Bower, 2001; Yang & Cornelius, 2005)" (Steward, Bachman, & Johnson, 2010, p. 598).

Their results using the test were generally inconclusive, but they did find that those who were intrinsically motivated to teach traditionally were resistant to online teaching opportunities. 

Dayley, C., & Hoffman, D. D. (2014, October). The work of education in the age of the digital classroom: Resurrecting Frankfurt school philosophies to examine online education. In Professional Communication Conference (IPCC), 2014 IEEE International (pp. 1-11). IEEE.

Categories: Theory & Rhetoric, Technology

Subject and Citations:

 What happens when two conservative scholars channel the Frankfurt school scholars to analyze online education? A fun romp through intellectual fields with a few surprising insights. After reviewing the beliefs of the Frankfurt school, its history, and the history of online education, the authors put on the lens of those philosophers and ask what they would say if they were around for the advent of online education.

Dayley and Hoffman concluded that fully-online education students do not experience traditional college life, the campus, the library, the culture, the social aspects of the institution; such students get the learning, the knowledge, and the degree without experiencing the aura of college with the social rites of passage, intangible benefits of growth, personal connections/relationships, and tactile/tangible experience the university provides. The beauty and grandure of the campus is replaced with the posters of the bedroom or the television in the living room.

They questioned the value of some MOOCs and other free (ie iTunes U, EDx, MIT) online courses that provide the learning but do not provide the accredited degrees or certifications of completion. They questioned the scrutiny of the tools used in distance education that could track, control, and manuplate students, and they explored the fiscal motivations for the massive shift to digital education.

Though not groundbreaking, this article raised serious questions about what is lost as online education continues to gain acceptance and momentum.

St. Clair, D. J. (2009). My experience with teaching online: Confessions and observations of a survivor. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 5(1), 166-175.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology


Summary and Citations:

St. Clair shared his experience as a first-time online teacher. His learnings:

• The first time teaching a course online takes a lot of preparation and ground work. 
• Grades were higher than his traditional classes. 
• He supports an idea of selective technology use. 
• Online students are different than traditional students.

The interesting aspect of his paper came from the insightful recommendations for online education policies:

"1. Add periods and Open University registration policies are often incompatible with online classes. For example, it often takes two weeks for students to successfully add a class. With ten-week quarters, this is a problem. Traditional class can compensate by allowing waiting students to “sit-in” in the interim, but this is not possible in online classes (e.g., Blackboard access requires enrollment in the class). As a consequence, newly-admitted student entering at the end of the add period will have effectively missed twenty percent of the course. ...
"2. Class scheduling needs to consider an online instructors mix of traditional and online classes. ... my managerial economics course was taught while simultaneously teaching other traditional classes. I found the mixed format very difficult. The schedule and rhythm of online classes are very different from traditional classes. ... [administration] needs to take this into account for instructors who would rather not mix the two.
3. University scheduling is also a problem when it comes to time slots for online classes. ...
4. The university’s technical support for online classes is often inadequate. Blackboard experiences numerous problems, shut-downs, slow-downs, and quirks that frustrate online students. They frustrate instructors as well. Worse, there seems to be no real back-up to Blackboard. The development of an alternative or back-up to Blackboard would be most welcome. Barring this development, better help with technical problems is needed. I was usually left to handle most real-time Blackboard problems on my own because Blackboard support was generally only available during traditional university hours. Worse, some help channels were virtually useless. ...
5. University and college policies that require posted weekly office hours for online classes should be changed. ...
6.My final recommendation seeks a fundamental clarification or refinement in the university’s attitude toward online classes. I think that, like me, university policies worry too much about online classes becoming havens for shirking students. And if truth be told, the university also worries too much about shirking online instructors. ...There should be no “onus” placed on online classes to conform to policies that have little relevance to online instruction" (St. Clair, 2009, pp. 174-175).

Stanford-Bowers, D. E. (2008). Persistence in online classes: A study of perceptions among community college stakeholders. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4(1), 37-50.

Categories:  Communication Design, Technology

Summary and Citations:

Bowers sought to determine the causes of persistence in online classes by asking those teachers and administrators deeply involved in the process about why they believe online courses suffer from high attrition rates.

Stanford-Bowers felt that one cause of the drop-rate came from "shifting the paradigm from the traditional teacher centered approaches which have dominated instructional practices of the past. Although the instructor is still the content expert in a virtual environment, students in an online community must assume responsibility for managing their own learning experiences (Bathe, 2001; Conrad & Donaldson, 2004). Many faculty, however, are reluctant  to give up their control in the courses they teach, and many learners are reluctant to take a more independent role in their learning (2008, p. 39).

Additionally, she felt that "all these ... factors can be categorized into one of four major barriers to student persistence:
1. Situational barriers are those which occur as the result of changes in the social, economic, or personal life of the student. They include such issues as transportation, age, time constraints, family support, or family responsibilities over which the institution has no control (Cross, 1981; Lorenzetti, 2004).
2. Conversely, institutional barriers result from difficulties with college programs, policies, and procedures; these include issues with admissions, registration, class schedules, financial aid, and other support services over which the institution does have some control (Cross, 1981; Lorenzetti, 2004). Institutional barriers emphasize the need for an institutional support system that can be accessed online (Dahl, 2004).
3. Dispositional barriers result from an individual’s personal background, and which include issues such as attitude, motivation, learning styles, and selfconfidence (Cross, 1981; Lorenzetti, 2004).
4. Epistemological barriers result from problems with academic or institutional matters such as course content, prerequisite knowledge, and expectations (Lorenzetti, 2004; Moore, et al, 2002).

She administered a survey to 39 educators, students, and administrators over a period of eight weeks. This resulted in many ideas, themes, and factors administrators believed played a key roll in student persistence. Then they rated the importance of the factors. The lists were narrowed down and prioritized.

She found the opinions of the groups generally matched. Here were her findings from the surveys:

• Computer access/Accessibility
• Clearly stated requirements 
• Time management
• Self discipline
• Responsiveness of Instructor/ Prompt feedback/Student teacher interaction
• Self motivation
• Basic computer skills 
• Convenience/Flexibility 
• User friendly format 
• Reading ability 
• Instructors 
• Outside assistance 
• Reliable server
• Independent learning/Responsibility
• Technical support 
• Course design 
• Personal contact

Ross, J., Sinclair, C., Knox, J., Bayne, S., & Macleod, H. (2014). Teacher experiences and academic identity: The missing components of MOOC pedagogy. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 10(1), 56-68.

Categories: Technology, Communication Design

Subject and Citations:

The authors wrote about the challenges of teaching a MOOC. Two approaches exist: the perception of a "rock star" lecturer with the lack of interaction and communication with students, or the well-prepared courses with self-led preparation of topics. Using blog(s) and Twitter, the authors collected information about teacher experiences and perceptions. They found that the current conversations about MOOCs do not address the complex feelings and ideas of the instructors. They are not used to the new style of teaching and learning. The paper spent more time exploring the idea of teaching than presenting solutions.

Ray, J. (2009). Faculty perspective: training and course development for the online classroom. J Online Learn Teach, 5(2), 263-276.

Category: Communication Design, Technology

Summary and Citations: 

Ray's "study investigates the perceptions of faculty currently facilitating instruction in the online environment. Although studies exist focusing on instructors’ satisfaction with instructing in the online format (Awalt, 2003; Conrad, 2004; Dolloph, 2004; Luck & McQuiggan, 2006; Wang, MacArthur, Crosby, 2003; Wilkes, Simon, Brooks, 2006), additional research focusing on faculty perspectives represents an important aspect of gaining a thorough understanding of the online format from a research standpoint. For example, current research fails to adequately scrutinize the difficulty associated with taking a face-to-face course and moving it to the online format, the perceived effects of technical and pedagogical training on the quality of instruction, the formats in which faculty prefer to be trained, and whether or not current online instructors believe training should be required prior to instructing online. Through this study the researcher attempts to address these issues by quantitatively assessing the beliefs of current online instructors" (Ray, 2009, p. 263).

The research questions she sought to answer all centered on the perceived training necessary during the transition to online teaching from traditional face-to-face courses, and  included:
"How difficult is it for faculty to convert a course from face-to-face to totally online? ...
"Would faculty like additional training opportunities (technical and/or pedagogical) pertaining to online instruction and in what format(s)? ...
Who is providing formal training to faculty currently instructing online? ...
Do current online instructors believe that technical and/or pedagogical training should be
required prior to instructing online? " (Ray, 2009, p. 263).

In her literature review, Hite noted, "Unlike teaching face-to-face where instructors may lack technical knowledge and still effectively teach students, in the arena of distance education, educators must possess a thorough understanding of technology as well as the subject matter expertise required in the traditional classroom (Darabi, Sikorski, & Harvey, 2006). Aside from the obvious technical challenges associated with developing a course in the online medium, researchers indicate a need for additional faculty training specifically focusing on the different methods of instruction and pedagogy necessary to facilitate and instruct a successful online course (Diaz & Bontenbal, 2000; Arabasz, Pirani, & Fawcett, 2003; Okojie, Olinzock, & Okojie-Boulder, 2006). Her literature review addressed many other issues surrounding online teaching perceptions and circumstances. 

111 instructors of 300 responded to the survey. Their opinions supported other studies of instructor perceptions about the difficulty of transferring courses from traditional to online formats, a desire for technological and pedagogical training, a significant lack of training, and even a desire to require such training before the instructors engage in the endeavor.


 

Welch, A. G., Napoleon, L., Hill, B., & Roumell, E. (2014). Virtual Teaching Dispositions Scale (VTDS): A Multi-dimensional Instrument to Assess Teaching Dispositions in Virtual Classrooms. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 10(3).

Category: Technology, Research Methods, Theory & Rhetoric, Communication Design

Summary:

The authors set out to create an instrument for measuring instructors to determine if they are predisposed on teaching online. Their resulting instrument contained four factors, and 25 criteria:

"Factor 1: Social Presence

• Social I am empathetic to the needs of my students.  
• I relate with students as people. 
• I am tactful with students in emotionally stressful situations.
• I am flexible in dealing with students' needs (due dates, absences,etc.).
• I try to establish a welcoming learning environment. 
• I understand the needs of my students.

"Factor 2: Virtual/TechnologicalPresence

• I adapt well in online delivery formats.
• I maintain genuine and meaningful contact in online formats.
• I project interpersonal skills in the online environment.
• I strive to continually improve performance in the online classroom.
• I maintain a highly visible presence in online formats.
• I am intrinsically motivated to master new information technology. 
• I utilize new technologies to enhance learning. 
• I communicate comfortably almost entirely through writing. 

"Factor 3: Pedagogical Presence

• I respond to student inquiries in a timely manner. 
• I return work to students promptly. 
• I create a schedule and stick to it. Pedagogical I am organized. I communicate clearly and effectively in writing. 

"Factor 4: Expert/Cognitive Presence

•  I demonstrate commitment to academic expertise. 
• I have a passion for education.
  I make content meaningful for the learner. 
• I anchor learning strategies in the context of my subject matter.
  I adapt learning strategies within the context of my subject matter. 
• I am very knowledgeable in my content area" (Welch, Napoleon, Hill, & Roumell, 2014, p. 457).

This document could help instructors determine if they are well-suited for online education. 

Lloyd, S. A., Byrne, M. M., & McCoy, T. S. (2012). Faculty-perceived barriers of online education. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 8(1), 1-12.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology

Summary and Citations:

"This study sought to identify the most prevalent barriers to online instruction for the faculty" (Lloyd, Byrne, & McCoy, 2012, p. 1) at a southeastern university in the United States. The results came from a survey group of 75 faculty members. They found that those with experience in online education were less resistant to teaching online courses.

The insights from their literature review are particularly helpful for those researching this field:

"The fact that experience with and the degree of experience with online education breaks down barriers to education is not thoroughly addressed elsewhere in the literature (Lloyd, Byrne, & McCoy, 2012, p. 8).

"Of the eight conditions that facilitate faculty involvement in online education identified by Ely (1999), the three conditions that are perceived by faculty to have the greatest impact on the implementation of new online programs include adequate institutional resources, appropriate knowledge and skills, and a general dissatisfaction with the status quo  (Ensminger & Surry, 2002). Instructors' willingness to participate in distance education is positively impacted by increased training, an expectation of high student evaluation scores, and comfort with the technology, while negatively impacted by communication issues such as lack of visual cues and other forms of social contact (Lee & Busch, 2005). However, faculty-perceived barriers to teaching online also include: a lack of compensation for time  and class sizes; added responsibilities; inability to grasp visual cues from students; concerns about the quality of the content; concerns about the ownership of courses developed;  inadequate training and resources; increased workload; the value toward promotion and tenure; a lack of administrative and technical support; a lack of experience with online teaching; and a change in the faculty's institutional role (Bower, 2001; Haber & Mills, 2008; Johnson, 2008; Lyons, 2004; Panda & Mishra, 2007; Ryan, Hodson-Carlton, & Ali, 2004, 2005; Schifter, 2002; Seaman, 2009; Shea, 2007; Singh & Pan, 2004). Maguire (2005) identified additional barriers, which include: increased workload that deterred from research time; lack of recognition in both the area of tenure and promotion and equality in regards to  face-to-face instruction; and a lack of monetary compensation for developing or teaching online courses. Faculty were also concerned about lack of standards in online education, the  impact that the online atmosphere would have on job security, and the quality of  instruction" (Lloyd, Byrne, & McCoy, 2012, p. 2).

"In an attempt to reconcile the broad-based literature that identifies various individual barriers to online education, Muilenburg and Berge (2001, 2005) developed a comprehensive framework of barrier categories through factor analysis. They identified 10 constructs that incorporate barriers to online education and which form the basis for their framework.  While this framework proves useful in reducing and combining variables into meaningful constructs so as to test individual differences, it was written to be inclusive of the perspective of distance education institutions, users, developers, policymakers, trainers, and instructors, and has been used to this end (see Cho & Berge, 2002; Muilenberg & Berge, 2005). However, it is not clear whether perceived barriers to online teaching vary among faculty groups and what role previous experience with online education might have on faculty perceptions, which has obvious implications on training and implementation strategies at institutions of higher learning (Lloyd, Byrne, & McCoy, 2012, pp. 2-3).

This study directly reflects teacher perceptions, but the focus is primarily on getting instructors to overcome their hesitations about online learning.

Hartman, S. J., & DeMatteis, M. J. (2008). An Investigation of Faculty and Student Experiences and the Move to Online Learning Following Hurricane Katrina. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4(1), 1-13.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology

Summary and Citations:

In addition to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, this natural disaster created an educational crisis for the University of New Orleans. This paper study presented online education as a method of dealing with institutional crisis. The University officials relocated to Baton Rouge following the disaster and decided to use online education as a means for meeting the school's needs in the wake of the disaster. This paper shared the ancidotal experiences of teachers and students from UNO's business school during an immediate, emergency shift to online education using the Blackboard learning management software.

Though offering online courses helped student continue their schooling, regain some normalcy in their life, and move past the disaster, the shift created stress for instructors and administrators. Those involved had never created an online course, and faced many of the difficulties those who embark in such an endeavor experience without training or knowledge of best practices. The commercial course management software facilitated this possibility, without it, they would not have been able to move forward with their courses. They were highly complimentary of the Blackboard LMS and the administration's choice to immediately shift to online education.

Hall Jr, O. P. (2013). Assessing faculty attitudes toward technological change in graduate management education. Journal of Online Learning & Teaching, 9(1), 39-51.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology

Summary and Citations:

 Hall's paper shared the results of a survey of 61 faculty member's perceptions about the learning technologies used in graduate management education. The study spent a significant amount of time promoting a "two-stage variable classification methodology based on neural nets and CART" (Hall, 2013, p. 48).

The results of the instructor perceptions survey boils down to recognizing that some faculty
adapted with the instructional shift, adopting the new technologies, and other resisted the change. The results supported theories and speculation about this in other literature.

Goldman, Z. (2012). Online MBA Asynchronous Discussion Workload and Value Perceptions for Instructors and Learners: Working Toward an Integrated Educational Model for Professional Adults. Journal of Online Teaching and Learning, 8(3), 174-188.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology

Subject and Citations:

How much value does an asynchronous discussion bring when considering time requirements? Goldman's study sought for perceptions of both teachers and students in his study of 72 instructors and 280 learners in an MBA program at Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut. "Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and covariance/correlation analysis were employed to explore the load and value perceptions of learners and instructors as well as to present the results" (Goldman, 2012, p. 175). The results were presented in well-designed correlation matrices, charts and graphs. 

The quantitative study's resulted by affirming two hypotheses, and rejecting one:
"1) Discussion did become the major engagement conduit for learners and instructors, consuming 55% and 65% of their total course hours, respectively. This was affirmed across all course levels throughout the program with the exception of the Capstone Writing course in which learners focused on developing and writing their projects.
"2) For both learners and instructors, discussion load perceptions were centered around "medium" (on a scale of "no load" to "very heavy" load) and value perceptions of learners and instructors were centered around "high" (on a scale of "no value" to "very high" value). This was affirmed for learners and instructors across all course levels throughout the program.
"3) The hypothesis that the value perception for discussion could be gauged and predicted by measuring the hours spent on discussion could not be affirmed and was rejected. No substantive associations were found for learners or instructors between hours spent and value perception for either course or discussion" (Goldman, 2012, p. 182).

The study seemed to support the idea that the value of the time necessary for asynchronous discussions was worth the engagement. The results focused on the perceptions about the time requirements and value, not the emotions and concerns of the faculty, which still appears to be a significant gap in the research.

De Gagne, J. C., & Walters, K. J. (2010). The lived experience of online educators: Hermeneutic phenomenology. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 6(2), 357-366.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology

Summary and Citations:

De Gagne and Walters surveyed eleven online educators throughout the United States to learn more about their experiences with online education. They asked the following questions:

"RQ1. What concepts do online educators think are important in teaching online?
RQ2. What knowledge, skills, and attitudes do they perceive as essential in teaching online?
RQ3. What differences in terms of faculty role do they perceive between face-to-face instruction
and online teaching?
RQ4. What strategies do they use to facilitate active learning?
RQ5. What ethical and legal issues do they face in online teaching?
RQ6. What do they think academic leaders can do to help them achieve successful online
teaching?" (De Gagne & Walters, 2010, p. 358).

They then used rhetorical analysis, specifically the hermeneutic approach, to understand the instructor's perspective from the recorded interviews. By examining the the interviews, "five key themes emerged from11 respondents’ narrative accounts, including: (a) flexibility and convenience, (b) time- and labor-intensiveness, (c) communication skills, (d) learner-centeredness, and (e) continuing education and training. These identified themes were important in illustrating online educators’ experiences, which provided new perspectives and recommendations for the development and promotion of successful communities of online learning" (De Gagne & Walters, 2010, p. 357). Part of these insights included a perceived shift in power in the online teaching experience where instructors noticed the need for students to fulfill greater rolls and responsibilities.


This well-crafted study shared the perspectives of 12 online teachers, and helped us understand their beliefs about online education and best practices. It also revealed some opportunities for future research, specifically, "(1) This study suggests that faculty’s knowledge level about legal issues related to online teaching appears to be narrow or limited. Interviews with a larger population about specific legal-related questions should be conducted to fully explore the degree of the knowledge gap. (2) This study determined what knowledge, skills, and attitudes are considered important to online teaching, but it did not specifically address how important these aspects are for teachers who make the transition to online learning. 3. Similar research should be conducted with online students as the target population to determine if their perceptions are aligned with the areas identified in this study by the online educators" (De Gagne & Walters, 2010, p. 365).
 

Batts, D. (2008). Comparison of student and instructor perceptions of best practices in online technology courses. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 4(4), 477-489.

Categories: Technology, Communication Design

Summary and Citations:


Batts' study investigated student and instructor perceptions of Chickering & Gamson's (1987) principles of good practice in undergraduate education.

"The Seven Principles assert that good practice in undergraduate education (a) encourages student faculty contact, (b) encourages cooperation among students, (c) encourages active learning, (d) gives prompt feedback, (e) emphasizes time on task, (f) communicates high expectations, and (g) respects diverse talents and ways of learning (Chickering & Gamson, 1987)" (Batts, 2008, p. 477).

Batts modifed the Online Teaching Practices survey developed by Taylor (2002) and administered to six instructors and 93 students. Both students and instructors felt that two of the seven were successfully employed in the classroom, with the other five being partially employed.

Batts succeeded in measuring and reporting the results of this quantitative study, yet the scope of the study did aim to truly measure teacher perceptions about online teaching, it measured perceptions of how well best practices in online teaching were employed.




  

McCartney, R., Weiner, B., & Wurst, K. R. (1997, November). Delivering a lab course in a web-based learning environment. In Frontiers in Education Conference, 1997. 27th Annual Conference. Teaching and Learning in an Era of Change. Proceedings. (Vol. 2, pp. 849-855). IEEE.

Categories: Technology, Communication Design


Summary:

McCartney, Weiner, and Wurst provided a snapshot of some of the concerns about web-based instruction in its formative years. Their questions help us recognize the evolution of HTML instruction. Modern technology and course delivery systems changed and have addressed each of the concerns listed below.

Citations:

"Using the Web for presentation of material has some significant disadvantages relative to the more standard approach...

• Working without access to an instructor means there is no one there to answer questions or provide feedback on student's work.
• It is easy to get 'lost' in hypertext: the no-sequential structure can make it hard to find information, and hard to tell if one has read sufficient information.
• There is a lack of the social interaction with peers that normall occurs in a laboratory, espectially hard if teamwork is one of the instructional goals.
• There is significant overhead in preparing the lab materials for presentation on the Web..." (McCartney, Weiner, & Wurst, 1997, p. 849). 

Martindale, M. J. (1993). Mental Models and Text Schemas: Why Computer Based Tutorials Should Be Considered a Communication Medium. Journal of Computer-Based Instruction, 20(4), 107-12.

Categories: Communication Design, Theory & Rhetoric, Technology

 
Summary & Citation: 

Martindale's dissertation, of which this article was based on the first chapter, made the contribution of questioning the importance of the medium over the text in computer-based tutorials. Twenty-two years later, related problems with the importance of design over content still plague the internet, distance education, and digital learning.

"This argument suggests that designers and researchers of computer-based tutorials (CBTs) should pay less attention to computers and more to communication. That is, while HCI research has its place, understanding how to communicate information in ways that students can understand is more important to the design of effective instruction" (Martindale, 1993, p. 110).

Hawley III, J. A., & Crynes, B. L. (1997, November). Stimulating development of technology based teaching/learning modules through a technical elective. In Frontiers in Education Conference, 1997. 27th Annual Conference. Teaching and Learning in an Era of Change. Proceedings. (Vol. 3, pp. 1399-1401). IEEE.

Categories: Technology, Communication Design

Summary and Citation:

The University of Oklahoma took a unique approach to help faculty use technology to deliver better tradition, online, and distance education courses. They "created a special three-credit hour elective technical elective called 'Design and Engineering Interactive Presentations' (ENGR 4510)" (Hawley & Crynes, 1997, p. 1399). in this course, student helped faculty improve curricula for other courses. Students would find and work with a faculty member to create a technology-mediated learning modules and/or presentations.

The faculty found this approach highly effective and the student responses from the first years of the program were positive. It is surprising this has not become more commonplace throughout education. Perhaps our current tools are so effective that the time element of creation is not enough to merit a course, or perhaps teaching and research assistants have and can fulfill this role without the challenges of creating and managing an accredited course.

Hailey, C. E., & Hailey, D. E. (2003). How genre choices effect learning in a digital environment. Journal of Engineering Education, 92(4), 287-294.

Categories: Theory & Rhetoric, Communication Design, Technology

Summary:

Hailey and Hailey were among the first to notice the contradiction of studies indicating that media "had no influence" on learning, and the anecdotal and experiential indicators from instructors that working with technology actually created many differences. They identified the problem being one stemming from genre, not from the media. By separating the definitions of media (the manner the content is delivered) and genre (the module that houses structured content, the authors furthered the discussion of some of the difficulties of online and distance learning.

This article demonstrated an small, but significant evolution of Genre theory in distance education, that would later continue to the most recent understandings available in Hailey's 2014 book ReaderCentric writing for digital media: Theory and practice.  (See review here.)

Montgomery, S., & Fogler, H. S. (1996). Selecting Computer‐Aided Instructional Software. Journal of Engineering Education, 85(1), 53-60.

Categories: Technology, Communication Design


Summary and Citations:

Montgomery and Fogler provide a heuristic for selecting instructional software. They recommended asking:

1. What are the intended roles of the software?
2. What thinking skills is the software designed to challenge?
3. What student learning styles does the software accommodate? (p. 53).

Interestingly, their entire focus is on the student's experience, with no thought to the workload, difficulties, or needs of the instructor. This may be more telling about the general attitudes and perspectives of distance education with technology than their actual findings. Even in the section on assessment, the emphasis is entirely on the student's actions and experiences, not the effort required by the teacher to assess. Their conclusion evidences this gap further, "Much educational software is currently being developed. When evaluating software for possible course use, it is important to focus on the pedagogical roles, educational objectives, and learning styles addressed by the software" (Montgomery & Fogler, 1996, p. 59).

Flori, R. E. (1997). Perspectives on the role of educational technologies. Journal of Engineering Education, 86(3), 269-272.

Categories: Communication Design, Technology, Theory & Rhetoric

Summary:

Flori summarized and analyzed educational technologies using Perkins' five facets of learning environments. The five facets are:

1. Information Banks - sources  that allow access to information. 
2. Symbol Pads - a surface for the transmission of texts.
3. Phenomenaria/Mircroworlds - "context which allows students to make connections between abstract representations and real-life phenomena" (p. 270). 
4. Construction Kits - activities involving kinesthetic (or in the case of distance education, simulated model) learning.
5. Task Managers - an individual who facilitates learning and assessment. 

Flori determined that educational technologies and tools met the requirements of Perkins' learning environments. From this study, Flori concluded that communication between students and task managers is essential (p. 270). He referenced Collins, Brown, and Newman's characterizations of expert teaching: modeling, coaching, inquiry, articulation, reflection, and exploration (p. 271) and discussed his views of what actually impacts student learning.