Online and Offline Friendship Among Italian Adolescent Girls

Background: There is still a question of whether online friendship predicts changes in face-to-face friendship (Reduction Hypothesis) or face-to-face friendship predicts changes in online friendship (Compensation Hypothesis) during adolescence.Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare these two hypotheses to determine which comes first: online friendship or offline friendship.Method: Eighty adolescent girls between the ages of 14 and 19 years (mean, 16.07 years; standard deviation, 1.28 years) on a non-traditional school track completed self-report questionnaires. Two wave longitudinal models were tested with the use of cross-lagged analysis to compare the hypotheses.Results: Analysis showed that negative face-to-face friendship quality predicted online friendship but that the opposite was not true.Conclusions: The study’s findings underlined the compensation role of online friendship for girls with poor or unsatisfactory offline social worlds. The implications of this information and suggestions for clinicians and professionals to use to enhance adolescent social skills and to promote appropriate use of the Internet will be discussed

Learning Effectiveness Using Different Teaching Modalities

There is much discussion about whether online instruction is as effective as face-to-face instruction.  To address this question, a comparative study was made of two sections of an MBA  organizational theory course, one taught online and the other face-to-face. The content covered by both sections was the same with similar assignments and a common final examination. There was little difference between the sections on the results of the final examination or the student course evaluations. This study suggests that neither modality is more effective than the other with regard to student achievement or their perceptions of course effectiveness.&nbsp

Everyday Diplomacy:dealing with controversy online and face-to-face

Discussions about controversial topics, such as immigration, seem to get out of hand more easily when they take place online than when they are conducted face-to-face. It is often assumed that this is because people express themselves less clearly or more ambiguously online due to missing non-verbal signals, or because people become disinhibited online due to feeling anonymous. In this dissertation, we call these assumptions into question by studying what happens within online and face-to-face discussions. We closely examined behavior and social perceptions in conversations: How do interaction partners interact and how does this affect their relationship? We asked groups of unacquainted students to discuss about politically controversial topics via a text-based chat and face-to-face. We found that people express their opinions more clearly or less ambiguously in text-based chats than in face-to-face conversations. We also found that people respond less to each other online. This is due to the way the textual and asynchronous medium limits behavior, but people don't seem to acknowledge this. They do not feel heard because they get the idea that their interlocutors are mainly concerned with venting their own opinion. As a result, people think that they disagree more than they actually do and experience more conflict. This offers a new perspective on online polarization and disinhibition: people can feel polarized and get the idea that their interlocutor is disinhibited without that being the case, purely because of the way the online medium steers behavior

A Comparison of Student Final Grades in College Algebra Based on Face-to-Face and Online Course Modalities

As community colleges emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic there may be a tendency to rely on technology to facilitate more online coursework. Online education has been a fixture of higher education since the mid-1990s, but there’s always been a question as to whether it is effective as traditional, face-to-face coursework. This is especially important in College Algebra, already viewed as a barrier course for many students. If more students take College Algebra online, will the results be as good as students taking the course in a classroom? The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study is to identify the relationship between course modality and final grade percentage, after accounting for instructor and curriculum effects for college algebra courses taught both online and face-to-face. Previous research studied this question, but a consensus about the efficacy of online education was mixed. Some studies found that online students perform worse than face-to-face students in college algebra (Amro, 2014; Amro et al., 2015; Driscoll, 2012). Other studies found no difference between the modalities (Araeipour, 2013; Harrington et al., 2016; Huang, 2016). Research by Burch and Kuo (2010) and Graham and Lazari (2018) discovered online students perform better than face-to-face students. This study considered the question through the lens of Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance, which examines the distance between the learner and instructor, course content, interface, and other learners as a psychological distance rather than a spatial distance. Using one instructor teaching both online and face-to-face courses using the same materials was an attempt to keep transactional distance as a constant, mitigating instructor and curriculum effects that could impact a study comparing modalities. Previous research that accounted for the instructor and course materials found no significant difference in outcomes based on modality. This study looked at final grade percentages in College Algebra courses taught by one instructor with both online and face-to-face sections over the course of the 2017-2018 school year. Data were supplied by a two-year institution located in rural Arkansas. In addition to looking for the relationship between modality and final grade percentages, the study looked for relationships between gender and final grades, a student’s age and final grades, as well as an interaction between online students and their age or gender on final grade percentages. Findings indicated there was no significant relationship between the course modality and final grade percentages. Additionally, there was no relationship between gender or age and final grades based on modality. However, one significant relationship the study found was that when women took online algebra, they scored over 15 points lower than men taking online algebra. There was no interaction between a student’s age and taking an online college algebra course. Further research should expand on the notion of accounting for Transactional Distance while looking at the relationship between course modality and final grade percentages and expand the study to disciplines outside of college algebra. Finally, research should investigate whether the relationship changed after the COVID-19 pandemic altered perceptions and implementation of online courses

A Comparison of Student Final Grades in College Algebra Based on Face-to-Face and Online Course Modalities

As community colleges emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic there may be a tendency to rely on technology to facilitate more online coursework. Online education has been a fixture of higher education since the mid-1990s, but there’s always been a question as to whether it is effective as traditional, face-to-face coursework. This is especially important in College Algebra, already viewed as a barrier course for many students. If more students take College Algebra online, will the results be as good as students taking the course in a classroom? The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study is to identify the relationship between course modality and final grade percentage, after accounting for instructor and curriculum effects for college algebra courses taught both online and face-to-face. Previous research studied this question, but a consensus about the efficacy of online education was mixed. Some studies found that online students perform worse than face-to-face students in college algebra (Amro, 2014; Amro et al., 2015; Driscoll, 2012). Other studies found no difference between the modalities (Araeipour, 2013; Harrington et al., 2016; Huang, 2016). Research by Burch and Kuo (2010) and Graham and Lazari (2018) discovered online students perform better than face-to-face students. This study considered the question through the lens of Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance, which examines the distance between the learner and instructor, course content, interface, and other learners as a psychological distance rather than a spatial distance. Using one instructor teaching both online and face-to-face courses using the same materials was an attempt to keep transactional distance as a constant, mitigating instructor and curriculum effects that could impact a study comparing modalities. Previous research that accounted for the instructor and course materials found no significant difference in outcomes based on modality. This study looked at final grade percentages in College Algebra courses taught by one instructor with both online and face-to-face sections over the course of the 2017-2018 school year. Data were supplied by a two-year institution located in rural Arkansas. In addition to looking for the relationship between modality and final grade percentages, the study looked for relationships between gender and final grades, a student’s age and final grades, as well as an interaction between online students and their age or gender on final grade percentages. Findings indicated there was no significant relationship between the course modality and final grade percentages. Additionally, there was no relationship between gender or age and final grades based on modality. However, one significant relationship the study found was that when women took online algebra, they scored over 15 points lower than men taking online algebra. There was no interaction between a student’s age and taking an online college algebra course. Further research should expand on the notion of accounting for Transactional Distance while looking at the relationship between course modality and final grade percentages and expand the study to disciplines outside of college algebra. Finally, research should investigate whether the relationship changed after the COVID-19 pandemic altered perceptions and implementation of online courses

MOOCs, Learning Analytics and Learning Advisors

The advent of Massive Open Online Courses has been variously described as heralding the end of the modern university or alternatively, an over-hyped re-badging of existing online content whose advantages have already been realised. Appeals to ideology however, have typically characterised coverage of both polarities rather than hard evidence; in particular, there has been much less analysis on just how learning outcomes are impacted by either “face-to-face” interaction or online/digital environment. Less dichotomously and even more rarely addressed is perhaps a more pertinent question: What blending of the two learning modes works best and in what circumstances? In this paper we argue that the emerging field of learning analytics applied to “educational big data” contains the tools for answering such a question provided a university’s data linkage problem can be solved. The authors, Learning Advisors in ECU’s Faculty of Engineering, Health and Science, describe the initiation of a framework incorporating data on content usage in online learning systems, together with establishing a new system for collecting data on individual consultations and workshops (a “face-to-face” mode, for which data is less-commonly collected). These data are presented and even in isolation contain interesting features on ECU’s current learning landscape; it is in their combination, however, that we argue the real potential lies and we conclude by covering the necessary steps needed for such a realisation

Blending on-campus and online experiences through the use of virtually immersive technologies

Recently, there has been a great deal of attention put toward efforts to integrate teaching methodologies and strategies between face to face and online classrooms looking to maximize learning by combining delivery modalities. Studies point to students not only learning more when online capabilities were added to traditional courses, but also increasing their level of interaction thereby improving the students’ sense of satisfaction with the courses taken. However, these studies tend to isolate deliveries to either all online deliveries or to all on-campus classes and students, without taking into account the more recent movement of blending teaching methods that look to cross over the barriers between online and face to face students. To meet some of the collaborative requirements for blending instruction, virtually immersive environments are beginning to show promise as an interactive communication media that can facilitate the needs of several communities including e-learning, distance education and corporate training. So the question was posed - what happens when online students are given the opportunity, through the use of virtually immersive technologies, to engage with students attending traditional on-campus sessions? Thus, the purpose of this case study is to evaluate the use of virtually immersive technologies as a platform for the conduct of synchronous and asynchronous classroom activities. This article also presents the framework for conducting an undergraduate level ‘Technology Project Management’ course that includes delivery approaches to students from both online (Distance Education) class offerings and on-campus (Face-to-face) class offerings

Online Ultrasound Programs: Program Directors’ Perspective

This study focused on opinions of diagnostic medical sonography program directors concerning online education within an allied health field that is clinically based. Although the study is centered around sonography, the findings can be applied to many online programs with clinical aspects. There was limited information concerning online education within a clinically based healthcare field, therefore the literature review focused on distance or online education in general. The participating program directors used online/distance learning terms interchangeably. The objective of this study was to identify factors that attributed to or hindered the progress of an online program in diagnostic medical sonography. The question that guided this research was: What are the program directors’ perception of face-to-face versus online program delivery in a clinically based subject? Individual interviews were conducted with three directors of online sonography programs. The responses showed that these directors saw improved overall outcomes in their online programs. This was ultimately attributed to a supportive staff and ease of access to resources. Resources and communication are easily accessed due to the improved technology seen in today’s online classroom

Blended and online learning : student perceptions and performance

Purpose &ndash; The purpose of this paper is to improve educator knowledge of the antecedents and consequences of blended learning in higher education. Design/methodology/approach &ndash; A longitudinal case study approach is adopted. Three case studies each involve tracking a student evaluations of teaching (SET) measure (willingness to recommend) and grade point average for three subjects from the same business discipline over six years. The cases involve comparison of: a business subject taught solely online; a business subject where experimentation in the blend of face-to-face teaching and learning is involved; and a business subject where face-to-face teaching is primarily used, and where in the most recent iteration online content supplements the learners\u27 experiences. Findings &ndash; The findings suggest that there are situations where integrated use of blended learning involving face-to-face teaching, digital media and digital communication with simple navigation between the content items leads to positive student perceptions. This is in contrast to negative student perceptions in the situation where learners must navigate in online learning, and where there is little or no face-to-face instruction. While not examined in detail, nor part of the research question, it is not surprising to find no relationship between learning mode and grade point averages is evidenced. Research limitations/implications &ndash; The effects of prior computer literacy and language proficiency across the students used in this study, and potential demographic and experiential differences between on-campus and off-campus students are not controlled for. Additionally, only three business subjects are investigated and it is recognised that there is a need for a broader study. Finally, with response levels to the university-controlled SET that typically range between 20-43 per cent for these large subjects, there is possible non-response bias that it was not possible to counter over the six years involved. Practical implications &ndash; The findings in this study suggest that while blended learning offers many benefits to higher education institutions and learners alike, care needs to be taken in the manner in which such approaches are implemented in light of possible negative learner perceptions where a less traditional approach is taken. Originality/value &ndash; A major contribution of this study is the fact that experimentation has taken place in terms of the degree of face-to-face and online learning that have been blended in at least one subject (case study two), and the fact that the SET for this subject are compared, longitudinally, with two other subjects which lie on either side of this subject in terms of the extent of online and face-to-face teaching and learning employed &ndash; 100 per cent online in case study one and almost 100 per cent face-to-face in case study three.<br /

Students\u27 Performance, Satisfaction and Retention in a Hybrid and Traditional Face-To-Face Science Course, Principles of Biology I, in a Community College

Hybrid teaching, comprised of both in-class and online teaching, is rapidly becoming a favorite mode of teaching and learning. Online and hybrid courses on have become more and more appealing to both higher education institutions and the students they serve. In particular, hybrid teaching has an increase appeal to community colleges as they serve a diverse student population with varied academic levels, cultural background, and personal responsibilities. Hybrid courses promotes flexibility in course scheduling options for students and enables institutions to accept more students without worrying about physical classroom space concerns. This study explored and compared students’ learning outcomes, satisfaction, and retentions for students enrolled in a hybrid versus a traditional face-to-face lab science course in an urban community college. The same instructor taught all sections of the course under both delivery modes and the same course syllabi and grading scale were used. The first research question assessed students’ learning outcomes utilizing standard assessment tools such as assignments, laboratory reports, laboratory exams, quizzes, midterm and final exams. No significant differences were observed in scores between the two modes for assignments, laboratory exams, and midterm exams. Traditional face-to-face students scored higher than the hybrid students in laboratory reports and final exams where the students in hybrid mode did better in quizzes than students in face to face. The second research question assessed students’ satisfaction via a questionnaire. Traditional students revealed a positive satisfaction with their course where hybrid students presented more neutral and/or negative satisfaction. The third research question evaluated students’ retention. Data revealed that traditional face-to-face students’ retention was higher than students enrolled in the hybrid sections