Thoughts to share? The Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration is a peer-reviewed electronic journal offered free each quarter over the World Wide Web. The journal welcomes manuscripts based on original work of practitioners and researchers with specific focus or implications for the management of distance education programs. Click here to access our readership stats.
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Synergy Plus Inc.
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Dr. Dwight Laws
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Dr. George E. Marsh II
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Mr. Bob Reese
Reese Consulting Associates, Inc.
Mr. Timothy W. Seid
Earlham School of Religion
Dr. Barbara L. Watkins
University of Kansas
Current Issue
A Longitudinal Study of Online Learners: Shoppers, Swirlers, Stoppers, and Succeeders as a Function of Demographic Characteristics
Wallace Boston, Phil Ice, Melissa Layne
by Melissa Layne Phil Ice Wallace E. Boston
During the past decade, the convenience of online learning has afforded postsecondary students of all ages the opportunity to attend and complete online programs—especially to those students who have full and/or part-time employment, dependents, and those maintaining busy schedules. The benefits of taking online courses include flexibility, convenience, and cost-effective educational opportunities anywhere and anytime. Despite these well-known affordances, postsecondary institutions offering online courses are also fully aware of the challenges concomitant with this learning environment—most notably, student retention. Numerous studies have approached the retention, progression, and completion issue from a variety of angles attempting to predict, classify, identify, and increase opportunities for students to reach their personal academic goals. Rather than repositioning and assuming a new angle, the authors of this study chose to fuse these well established--yet isolated angles. Therefore, the purpose of this study was (1) to identify significant student demographic predictors among students who dis-enroll (“stoppers”), reenroll (“swirlers” and/or “shoppers”), and/or complete their online program of study (“succeeders”), and (2) to calculate the variance among the significant predictors.
Examining Christian College Students' Summer School Choices
Rebecca Hoey
by Rebecca Hoey Faculty and administrators use anecdotal evidence to assume the reasons full-time traditional students at private Christian colleges choose to take online summer courses at community colleges instead of their own online offerings. The purpose of this research was to provide empirical evidence necessary to make informed decisions regarding strategic planning for enrollment efforts at private Christian colleges. Students in the research sample placed the highest priority on summer courses they perceived to be cheaper and easier. Implications for distance learning administrators are presented.
Supporting the General Education Program for Distance and Adult Students
Kathleen Ingram, Jody DeKorte, Jon Proctor
by Jodene DeKorte Kathleen Ingram Jon Proctor
How do you blend General Education competencies (i.e. communication, ethical/ logical/ mathematical reasoning) across an institution and curriculum? Kaplan University’s General Education program integrates and assesses student proficiency in General Education disciplines across all undergraduate programs. The data is used to inform curricular improvements in a continuous process for maximizing student learning.
Relationship Between Personality Characteristics of Online Instructors and Student Evaluations
Tina G. Allen, Robert Lockwood, David Starnes
by Tina G. Allen David B. Starnes Robert E. Lockwood
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between each of the five personality factors in the Big Five Inventory (BFI) and online faculty student evaluations. Faculty members from the School of Criminal Justice (CJ) and the School of Information Technology (IT) from an online university were asked to complete the BFI (44 item personality inventory). There were 179 valid BFI surveys returned with matched student evaluation data. There were small correlations between some of the five factors and student evaluations for all subjects. However, when separated by school, there were no statistically significant correlations for faculty in IT but there were significant correlations with moderate effect sizes for faculty in CJ.
Keywords: Big Five Inventory, Student Evaluations, Online Instructors
A Faculty Observation Model for Online Instructors: Observing Faculty Members in the Online Classroom
Hank Roehrich
Michael Eskey
by Michael T. Eskey Henry “Hank” Roehrich
Maintaining academic standards, retention of quality online instructors and establishing a measure for instruction can be enhanced through faculty observation and evaluation. As Park University entered the online market, the increased course offerings involved an increased number of adjunct faculty members. In order to ensure that these faculty members used best practices and maintain high standards of teaching that are important to student satisfaction, Park University developed an evaluation process for online adjunct faculty that was similar to in-class observation of full-time faculty, but focused on unique factors of online course facilitation. The focus of this paper is on the evolution and current usage of the Faculty Online Observation (FOO) method which is a model for evaluation developed from utilizing the original evaluation system used in annual observations for online adjunct faculty. The FOO process that is used by a team of evaluators ensures that Best Practices in online teaching are addressed continuously in the online delivery program. The focus on Best Practices, specific institutional policies of online teaching, and technology plays a significant role in the growth of online degree programs and the success of the Park University online program.
Factors in High Quality Distance Learning Courses
Joseph McClary
by Joseph McClary
The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that contribute to high quality distance learning courses and how to overcome barriers to offering them. For the purposes of this report, high quality equates to courses that receive high scores on student satisfaction surveys and other benchmarks that measure student performance.
Corry (2008) suggests there are several major components to consider when evaluating the quality of a distance learning course which are: "(1) course design, (2) content, (3) the instructor and (4) support systems" (p. 1). Corry's (2008) framework provides an excellent means by which to begin evaluating the research because most any component of a distance learning course falls into one of these four categories. In a separate report by Husson (2002) on quality measures in distance learning, we find a similar framework which suggests course development, faculty, assessment, support services, and technology (p. 253-259). When issues of quality are raised regarding Internet-based distance learning, the answers continuously come back to recognizing the needs of students and finding effective ways to facilitate the learning process" (Husson, 2002, p. 260).
The research by Corry (2008) and Husson (2002) generally qualify the areas that deserve focus when evaluating online courses and provide a framework on which this paper is based.
Teaching Writing in Online Distance Education: Supporting Student Success
Julie Stella
Michael Corry
by Julie Stella Michael Corry
An intervention is a counseling action an instructor may use to support a student who struggles to work productively in an online writing instruction (OWI) course. Interventions may increase retention and graduation rates at institutions as well as increase student and teacher satisfaction (Allen, Bourhis, Burrell, and Mabry, 2002; Archambault and Crippen, 2009; McCombs, Ufnar, and Shepherd, 2007; O’Dwyer, Carey, and Kleiman, 2007; Stein, Wanstreet, Calvin, Overtoom, and Wheaton, 2005; Sun, Tsai, Finger, Chen, and Yeh, 2008). In Moore’s (1993) Theory of Transaction Distance, interventions are called “advice and counsel,” and they are a crucial component of the program structure element in the theory. Many researchers recommend early identification and intervention for struggling students (Archambault et al., 2010; Simpson, 2004). For example, Simpson (2004) found that early interventions following Keller’s (1987) ARCS model (Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction) were effective in helping students complete a course. In addition, Simpson found that such interventions could be cost effective; however, there are many open variables when calculating cost. As researchers and online instructors, the authors recommend early intervention activities performed by email and text messaging at many opportunistic intervention points during the course of the instruction. As well, developing an intervention strategy prior to course beginning to assist in planning and preparation is advocated and recommended.
Assessing Students' Competency and Practical Learning Ability in a Distance Learning Environment*
Dorothy Ofoha
by Dorothy Ofoha
The National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) operates an exclusively open and distance learning (ODL) mode of education whereby students study mostly by reading printed course materials. Practical activities including tasks, exercises, experiments and other activities that involve doing things practically are integrated in the course materials to support student learning. Because distance learners are physically separated from their tutors, we do not know whether or not they actually carry out these practical activities they are expected to complete. This study was conducted to ascertain the competency level of NOUN students in terms of the extent to which they have attained mastery of practical activities embedded in their course modules. We adopted descriptive survey design and employed multi-stage stratified sampling technique to select 283 third-year undergraduate students to perform practical tasks. In addition, 43 copies of printed course materials in which the practical tasks were extracted, together with 43 subject specialists who assessed students’ performance, formed sample for the study. Students’ performance was assessed against a set of 9 pre-determined criteria all of which were rated on a 4-point scale (1=poor to 4= excellent). Data collected were analyzed using basic descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that students generally demonstrated low level of competency in the performance of their tasks. However, of the 9 criteria, students demonstrated highest mastery in accuracy and logical reasoning followed by clarity, application and sequence of ideas in that order. The least attained competency was self-learning followed by coverage and problem solving. Further findings revealed that 84 (29.7%) of sampled students appeared not to have mastered the practical skills prescribed in their course modules as opposed to 199 (70.3%) who appeared to have acquired some level of practical skills. The findings of the study suggest the need to focus support services aimed at helping learners to engage actively in the learning process.
A Comparison of Instructor Evaluations for Online Courses
Karyn W. Tunks
by Karyn W. Tunks
Mary F. Hibberts
Online learning is growing at a rapid rate across the United States (Durrington, Berryhill & Swafford, 2006; Tabatabaei, Schrottner, & Reichgelt, 2006). However, course evaluation systems have not kept up with these changes and are often inadequate for evaluating the unique expectations and demands faced by online instructors. Typically, online instructors are evaluated using instruments designed for face-to-face classroom instruction (Mandernach, Donnelli, Dailey, Schulte, (2005). As a result, important indicators of effective teaching in an online format are not evaluated by students. Key competencies for online instruction can include instructor response rate and availability, frequency and quality of instructor presence, community building, assessment, and overall management of the course (Luck, 2001; Firch & Montambeau, 2000). Evaluation specific to online instructors is beneficial in informing online instructors of how their specific behaviors are viewed by students, providing data to administrators for faculty evaluation purposes (Tobin, 2004), and useful for planning and providing professional development opportunities (Mandernach, Donnelli, Dailey, Schulte, (2005).
This study describes the comparison of two faculty evaluations. The traditional evaluation required by the university in all classes regardless of the type of delivery (face-to-face, hybrid, online) is compared to an evaluation (Online Instructor Evaluation) designed specifically to evaluate online teaching competencies. Subjects identified the Online Instructor Evaluation as providing the most useful and relevant feedback for evaluating online instructors.
From the Editor
Hello Readers:
Our summer issue brings our Best Papers from our recent Distance Learning Administration Conference in Jekyll Island. Among the articles is compelling research on the "Relationship Between Personality Characteristics of Online Instructors and Student Evaluations" (Allen, Starnes, and Lockwood).
Not coincidentally, many of our conference conversations focused on MOOCs and what it means to be an educated person (and whether or not MOOCs can enable true education). If there is indeed a relationship between instructor personality and student satisfaction and success, can MOOCs really provide an experience that enables an instructor's personality to be revealed in a meaningful way?
We are already seeing a rapid adaptation of MOOCs, where they are becoming smaller, less attached to elite institutions, and with a price tag attached. This will become more pronounced as the need for personal interaction and costly student support becomes crystal clear.
In the end, the new breed of MOOCs will begin to look very much like what we've already been doing in online education for several years. Sometimes taking a step forward means taking a step back.
Best wishes for a peaceful and glorious summer.
Melanie N. Clay, Ph.D.
June 15, 2013
A special thanks to Thinking Cap for being the premiere sponsor of DLA2012!
Hello Readers: