Quality Control in Online Courses: Using a Social Constructivist Framework

There has recently been increased interest in the quality of online courses. Faculty from the School of Education at Marquette University suggest using social constructivist theories in the design and development of online courses and in the training and pedagogy of online instructors to ensure quality in online courses. Quality can be designed into online courses by focusing on complex tasks, using multiple perspectives, establishing a learning community, encouraging the social negotiation of meaning and providing assistance for learners at various levels. While good design can go a long way to ensure quality in online courses, the quality of the instructor is equally critical. Training instructors to establish a supportive climate, provide constructive feedback, and ask critical and probing questions leads to high quality online instruction

Perceptions Among Students in Online Health Related Courses - A Pilot Study

Given the proliferation of online courses in university education, continuous evaluation is imperative to ensure quality. This study utilized a quantitative descriptive design using a questionnaire to explore the perceived adequacy and acceptance of distance learning in undergraduate health related courses. Questions were designed to elicit students\u27 reactions to teaching methods, course content, and how the format influenced their learning. Overall, acceptance of online courses is high. Most of the students were willing to take another online course in the future. Respondents felt that online courses offer more flexibility, encourage both independent and critical thinking skills, and that the course materials reinforce the learning process. Students also felt that educators were able to adequately explain concepts, provide sufficient assistance, and that the instruction was both current and at the appropriate level. Both students and faculty will benefit from the study by helping to facilitate the improved quality of online courses

Student Perceptions of Online Courses for School Administrators

Online courses are the fastest growing student enrollment at the university level during the last decade. Between the time period 2003-2009, the number of students who had taken online courses doubled to 3.9 million which outpaced the growth in traditional college settings by a 12% margin (Mashable/Tech,2010). However, this online programming movement still remains in its early stages of development. Thus, faculty members and designers of online education need to know more about online courses. Momin (2003) stated that this growth, in online education, has been accompanied by increased questions about the effectiveness of online courses. More research needs to be conducted regarding how student experiences differ in online course environments and how outcomes are developed and measured. Specifically, faculty members and administrators need to understand how students perceive online education and courses because these perceptions and attitudes can be a direct link to student motivation and learning. Koohang and Durante (2003) further suggest that elements of e-learning and student motivation are critical

Professional Learning in Massive Open Online Courses

This study explores the role of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in supporting and enabling professional learning, or learning for work. The research examines how professionals self-regulate their learning in MOOCs. The study is informed by contemporary theories of professional learning, that argue that conventional forms of learning are no longer effective in knowledge intensive domains. As work roles evolve and learning for work becomes continual and personalised, self-regulation is becoming a critical element of professional learning. Yet, established forms of professional learning generally have not taken advantage of the affordances of social, semantic technologies to support self-regulated learning. MOOCs present a potentially useful approach to professional learning that may be designed to encourage self-regulated learning. The study is contextualised within ‘Fundamentals of clinical trials', a MOOC for health professionals designed and run by the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center, and offered by edX. The research design builds on the authors' previous studies in the areas of Technology Enhanced Learning and Professional Learning and in particular, research which explored the learning behaviours of education professionals in the Change 11 MOOC. The previous studies demonstrated a link between individual learners SRL profile and their goal setting behaviour in the Change 11 MOOC as well as uncovering other factors which influenced their engagement with the MOOC environment. The present study extends the original study by further focusing on specific aspects of self-regulation identified by the Change11 studies and our parallel studies of self-regulated learning in knowledge workers. The analysis of learner behaviour in the Fundamentals of Clinical Trials is complemented by additional exploration of the design considerations of the MOOC, to determine the extent to which course design can support or inhibit self-regulation of learning. The study poses three research questions: How are Massive Open Online Courses currently designed to support self-regulated learning? What self-regulated learning strategies and behaviours do professionals adopt? and How can MOOCs be designed to encourage professionals to self-regulate their learning? Validated methods and instruments from the original study will be adapted and employed. The research is unique in providing evidence around two critical aspects of MOOCs that are not well understood: the skills and dispositions necessary for self-regulated learning in MOOC environments, and how MOOCs can be designed to encourage the development and emergence of SRL behaviours

Essential Design Elements for Successful Online Courses

This article describes a study of how students perceive and interact with web-based education, with the intent of improving the experience. In particular, the study aimed to understand how undergraduate students learn classical geological laboratory ideas and skills through activity-based instruction via the internet. The focus of this case study was an embryonic web-based course in introductory geology. Over the 2-year study the website expanded and improved iteratively based on feedback from students each term. The study was descriptive in nature and was intended to discover the basic nature of an effective website, regardless of its complexity. The authors suggest several basic rules for pedagogical design of online courses. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Toward Emotionally Accessible Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

This paper outlines an approach to evaluating the emotional content of three Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) using the affective computing approach of prosody detection on two different text-to-speech voices in conjunction with human raters judging the emotional content of course text. The intent of this work is to establish the potential variation on the emotional delivery of MOOC material through synthetic voice

Preparing Higher Education Tutors for Delivering Online Courses

This paper identifies that academic staff need to be suitably prepared to deliver wholly online courses, and outlines the steps taken towards achieving this, at one Higher Education institution in the UK. E-learning, whether partially (blended) or wholly online, is not simply about the technology, but also requires an understanding of the pedagogical considerations, and the skills that are needed, to effectively facilitate them. Through the use of a formal questionnaire, and collation of informal comments made on a social network, evaluation is made of a staff development course designed specifically to promote effective facilitation of high quality online courses. The results determined that the course is fit for purpose and achieves its aims. Future cohorts are already over-subscribed as a result of positive commentary by participants. Further developments will be made, based upon constructive feedback by participants. Whilst possibly not unique, this course demonstrates action being taken in an educational institution to recognise that effective online delivery requires specific knowledge and skills that are different from those used in the traditional classroom

Copyright & Online Courses

Presentation given at a Lunch & Learn session hosted by the KU Center for Online and Distance Learning on November 13, 2012. The slides in this presentation were based upon an earlier presentation given by Ada Emmett, Scholarly Communication program head, KU Libraries, and Rachel Rolf, Associate Counsel, Office of the General Counsel. A video recording of this presentation is available by clicking on the Published Version link in this record