Role & Constructivist Competencies Of An Online Instructor: Elements Of An Online Course

ABSTRACT ROLE AND CONSTRUCTIVIST COMPETENCIES FOR ONLINE INSTRUCTORS: ELEMENTS OF AN ONLINE COURSE by MARSHA L. PARKER May 2014 Advisor: Dr. Ingrid Guerra-Lopez Major: Instructional Technology Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Distance learning programs in higher education are evolving into the preferred model for how we educate learners in the 21st century. The traditional role of an instructor was focused on creating an effective learning environment based in a physical classroom setting. In this decade, institutions are educating and training online instructors to a virtual online asynchronous learning environment. Online programs based in higher education, specifically those focused on adult learners, are transforming how and why we educate our communities. This study will focus on online instructors who facilitate in an asynchronous learning environment populated by adult learners who attend higher-education institutions. Institutions are asking how we can transition instructors into the role of constructivist facilitators of knowledge while building their competencies as effective online instructors. This question is explored by defining the criteria for success based on core and functional (unique) competencies focused on creating a stimulating and engaging online learning environment. This research study will examine the role of an online instructor, explore current competency models, and define the unique (constructivist) competencies needed for success as an online instructor. Eventually, a certification program is needed that supports the competency development of an online instructor. This certification structure will also support how institutions (colleges as well as profit and nonprofit universities) hire, evaluate, and rank the performance of online instructors using the proposed constructivist competency model. As higher-education institutions focus on retention of the adult learner population, a shift must occur in the performance standards required of online instructors. These performance standards must be clearly defined and communicated by an institution if it is to remain competitive in the industry of delivering online courses. The proposed constructivist competency model in this study will establish the performance standards for measuring an effective online learning course. This constructivist competency model will also ensure that the next generation of online instructors has the tools and resources needed to create a vibrant and engaging online learning environment. As the online learning community expands to include profit institutions, business and industry, collaborative communities, online universities, local community colleges, local high schools, and government organizations, there is an increasing need to define how we create a quality online learning experience for our learners. The learner is demanding that we, as a learning community, provide them with the best tools, resources, and knowledge to prepare them for the real world. This learning community is challenged to inspire, develop, and cultivate the talents of our learners by ensuring they have the best online learning experience. Any shortcuts would hinder the development and ability of our future generation to compete within a global society. As (online) instructors, our purpose is to ensure that we prepare our learners with the opportunity to compete at the local, international, and global levels. Our desire should be to continue to improve our own skills through professional development opportunities, workshops, coaching, mentoring, and acknowledging the need for certification standards. These certification standards would give instructors the opportunity to invest in their own development by achieving recognized standards with financial incentives for creating a quality online learning experience. Accreditation in the field of online learning is needed to ensure that instructors are properly trained, are hired according to relevant standards and competencies, receive ongoing career development, practice consistent standards, and are held accountable for providing a quality online experience for learners. If we (i.e., organizations, institutions, universities) fail to implement a consistent set of standards, we provide a disservice to our learners by not ensuring that the same or higher standards required in a traditional classroom are applied in an online course. Keywords: constructivist, online learning, online instructor, competencie

Online Instruction in Higher Education: Promising, Research-based, and Evidence-based Practices

The purpose of this study was to review the research literature on online learning to identify effective instructional practices. We narrowed our scope to empirical studies published 2013-2019 given that studies earlier than 2013 had become quickly outdated because of changes in online pedagogies and technologies. We also limited our search to studies with undergraduate and graduate students, application of an empirical methodological design, and descriptions of methodology, data analysis, and results with sufficient detail to assure verifiability of data collection and analysis. Our analysis of the patterns and trends in the corpus of 104 research studies led to identification of five themes: course design factors, student support, faculty pedagogy, student engagement, and student success factors. Most of the strategies with promising effectiveness in the online environment are the same ones that are considered to be effective in face-to-face classrooms including the use of multiple pedagogies and learning resources to address different student learning needs, high instructor presence, quality of faculty-student interaction, academic support outside of class, and promotion of classroom cohesion and trust. Unique to the online environment are user-friendly technology tools, orientation to online instruction, opportunities for synchronous class sessions, and incorporation of social media. Given the few studies utilizing methodological designs from which claims of causality can be made or meta-analyses could be conducted, we identified only faculty feedback as an evidence-based practice and no specific intervention that we could identify as research-based in online instruction

Online Instruction in Higher Education: Promising, Research-based, and Evidence-based Practices

The purpose of this study was to review the research literature on online learning to identify effective instructional practices. We narrowed our scope to empirical studies published 2013-2019 given that studies earlier than 2013 had become quickly outdated because of changes in online pedagogies and technologies. We also limited our search to studies with undergraduate and graduate students, application of an empirical methodological design, and descriptions of methodology, data analysis, and results with sufficient detail to assure verifiability of data collection and analysis. Our analysis of the patterns and trends in the corpus of 104 research studies led to identification of five themes: course design factors, student support, faculty pedagogy, student engagement, and student success factors. Most of the strategies with promising effectiveness in the online environment are the same ones that are considered to be effective in face-to-face classrooms including the use of multiple pedagogies and learning resources to address different student learning needs, high instructor presence, quality of faculty-student interaction, academic support outside of class, and promotion of classroom cohesion and trust. Unique to the online environment are user-friendly technology tools, orientation to online instruction, opportunities for synchronous class sessions, and incorporation of social media. Given the few studies utilizing methodological designs from which claims of causality can be made or meta-analyses could be conducted, we identified only faculty feedback as an evidence-based practice and no specific intervention that we could identify as research-based in online instruction

Potentials of Chatbot Technologies for Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Chatbots are used in different areas such as customer service, healthcare and education. The potential for improving outcomes and processes in education is high but differs for different types of chatbots. As universities want to provide excellent teaching, it is important to find the chatbot technologies with the greatest possible benefit. This paper presents a systematic review of chatbot technologies in five application areas. For each application area, the ten most cited publications are analysed and a possible categorisation scheme for chatbot technologies is derived. Furthermore, it is investigated which chatbot technology types are used and their suitability for higher education is analysed. The results show that chatbots can be categorised using five categories derived from the 50 publications. A total of 14 different types of chatbot technologies are found in the five areas. Nine of them are suitable for use in higher education

Achieving interaction in listening and speaking within a Chinese cultural context

The purpose of this project is to develop heuristics and guidelines for English teachers to design appropriate courses. The exploration begins with a review of relevant literature in order to provide principles to comprise a pedagogical model. Based on that model, an instructional unit is presented that incorporates the model in a real-world context

Explicit Feedback Within Game-based Training: Examining The Influence Of Source Modality Effects On Interaction

This research aims to enhance Simulation-Based Training (SBT) applications to support training events in the absence of live instruction. The overarching purpose is to explore available tools for integrating intelligent tutoring communications in game-based learning platforms and to examine theory-based techniques for delivering explicit feedback in such environments. The primary tool influencing the design of this research was the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring (GIFT), a modular domain-independent architecture that provides the tools and methods to author, deliver, and evaluate intelligent tutoring technologies within any training platform. Influenced by research surrounding Social Cognitive Theory and Cognitive Load Theory, the resulting experiment tested varying approaches for utilizing an Embodied Pedagogical Agent (EPA) to function as a tutor during interaction in a game-based environment. Conditions were authored to assess the tradeoffs between embedding an EPA directly in a game, embedding an EPA in GIFT’s browser-based Tutor-User Interface (TUI), or using audio prompts alone with no social grounding. The resulting data supports the application of using an EPA embedded in GIFT’s TUI to provide explicit feedback during a game-based learning event. Analyses revealed conditions with an EPA situated in the TUI to be as effective as embedding the agent directly in the game environment. This inference is based on evidence showing reliable differences across conditions on the metrics of performance and self-reported mental demand and feedback usefulness items. This research provides source modality tradeoffs linked to tactics for relaying training relevant explicit information to a user based on real-time performance in a game

Formative Research on an Instructional Design Theory for Fostering Self-Efficacy Through Gamification

The merits of gamification as a learner-centered pedagogy that positively influences learner engagement and motivation are widely established in the literature; yet, few studies have ventured beyond motivation to consider the impact gamification has on self-efficacy. Moreover, guidance for the effective design and development of gamified instruction is lacking. This study describes formative research conducted on the Gamification for Enhancing Learner Self-Efficacy (GELSE) instructional design theory, which was developed to guide the design of gamification aimed at fostering self-efficacy. The goal of formative research is to identify improvements for an instructional design theory based on a designed instance of the theory. The GELSE theory was applied to an undergraduate community health nursing course in a fully online, accelerated degree program. The theory was evaluated by answering the following questions: 1) What methods of the GELSE instructional design theory were perceived to be more effective?, 2) What methods of the GELSE instructional design theory were perceived to be less effective?, and 3) What improvements can be made to the GELSE instructional design theory?. Data was collected in this qualitative study through open-ended questionnaires, focus group interviews, semi-structured one-on-one interviews, and observations of online learner activities and social interactions. The results show that the GELSE instructional design theory is effectual for guiding the design of gamified instruction intended to foster learner self-efficacy. Additionally, the findings from the research yielded a number of recommendations for improving the GELSE theory

Faculty integration of computer-mediated learning technologies into teaching praxis

The purpose of the study was to examine organizational structural, cultural, pedagogical, and economic (reward system) elements of a traditional research-oriented university for influences on faculty adoption of computer-mediated learning technologies (CMLTs). Emergent driving and restraining societal and organizational influences (Lewin, 1951) on faculty members’ adoption of CMLTs were examined. Faculty members’ perceptions of the extent to which university policies and practices were aligned to support the successful design, development, and implementation of CMLTs were explored. A case study of faculty members, who had led CMLT development teams in a provincially funded Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) initiative at one university between 2000 and 2005, was conducted in four stages. In the first stage of the study, focus groups and members’ checks were held with instructional designers in order to identify potentially information-rich CMLT projects. Findings from this included an examination of the social negotiation process among members of CMLT development teams, and provided the bases for selecting faculty members to invite to participate in the study. Stage Two was a pilot of the faculty interview protocol that resulted in protocol refinement. In Stage Three, seven faculty members and one graduate student participated in interviews and members’ checks of the results. Faculty members were asked to describe their motivations for adopting CMLTs into teaching praxis, any resultant changes to their scholarship of teaching, the compensation they received for time invested in pedagogical and technological innovation, and the extent to which institutional structures, cultures, and policies had supported or impeded their efforts. Stage Four involved an environmental scan of institutional and provincial documentation of the TEL initiative as an avenue to corroborating interview data.In this study, it was found that faculty motivations for CMLT adoption included individual responses to departmental initiatives, curricular renewal and standardization activities, personal-professional development, integrating research into teaching, enhancing student learning, increasing the flexibility of student access to learning opportunities, and improving communications with students. Participants reported a variety of resultant changes to their scholarship of teaching: (1) a shift away from traditional lectures and toward learner-focused tutorials, small group and peer-to-peer discussions, and independent learning opportunities for students accessing electronic learning resources; (2) a new or renewed interest in using innovative instructional strategies and learning environments; and (3) a new or heightened interest in researching educational effectiveness. Organizational support for CMLT projects included fiscal support from the TEL program, and in some cases, additional funding provided by departments or colleges; project management support from the institution; pedagogical support from instructional designers; technical and aesthetic support from information technologists, media developers, graphic artists, and a medical illustrator. Organizational and cultural impediments to successful completion of projects varied across college settings. Lack of sufficient time to devote to CMLT development projects, balancing competing research, teaching, and administrative responsibilities with project activities, and therefore, coping with a mismatch between tenure and promotion requirements and necessary time commitments to CMLT projects were pervasive. Difficulties in coordinating large development teams, the slow pace of acquiring approvals for new programs, problematic project management models, and colleagues’ skepticism about and fear of integrating technology into teaching were common themes. This study surfaced implications for organizational change that could better enable faculty efforts to adopt CMLTs. Expanding tenure and promotion criteria to include CMLT development work (Archer, Garrison, & Anderson, 1999; Hagner & Schneebeck, 2001) and revising intellectual property policies for CMLT artifacts to better acknowledge faculty efforts (Hilton & Neal, 2001; Tallman, 2000) could do much to encourage the integration of technology into teaching. Promoting educational effectiveness research studies (Chyung, 2001), and bringing CMLT efforts in from the margins to become a core activity in the scholarship of teaching (Bates, 2001) could erode current skepticism and fear about technologies displacing faculty members (Olcott & Schmidt, 2000). Finally, in this study, theoretical implications for organizational change were posited. Traditional centralized and bureaucratic management styles are not well suited to supporting CMLT initiatives in higher education (Bates, 2001). A more distributed approach to leadership (Knapper, 2006) could better support necessary efforts to innovate, experiment, prototype, evaluate in order to incrementally improve project outcomes (Suter, 2001), create synergies between teaching and research activities, and garner faculty commitment to integrating computer-mediated learning technologies into contemporary teaching praxis