Research Annotations

Records: 322

Student-Advisor Interaction in Undergraduate Online Degree Programs: A factor in student retention

Carol Gravel

APA Citation

Gravel, C. A. (2012). Student-advisor interaction in undergraduate online degree programs: A factor in student retention. NACADA Journal, 32(2), 56-67.

Annotation

● Two hundred eighty-three undergraduates seeking to earn their degree entirely through an online curriculum received an e-mail from the provost that defined the background and benefits of the study. The letter also pointed out that the online survey was available in their online course for a 2-week period. The response rate was 83.4%
● A two-phase exploratory mixed methods study was employed
● . Two participants who completed the Academic Advising Inventory (AAI) They were chosen for two . . . reasons: First, they agreed to be interviewed, and second, the results of Part 1 of the AAI indicated they scored among the highest in terms of receiving a developmental or a prescriptive style of student advisor interaction
● Most interactions are developmental interactions
● t all respondents communicated with their advisors regarding all three types of matters: a) personalizing education, b) academic decisions, and c) selection of courses. The topic most often discussed with the advisors related to academic decision making. Selecting courses was the second most frequently discussed topic, followed by personalizing education.
● The responses to the items on the AAI regarding RQ1 indicated that the majority (n = 146) of respondents perceived a developmental style of student-advisor interaction. However, the mean score (M = 60) for these participants indicated that they rated the developmental interaction on the very low end of the Winston and Sandor’s (2002) developmental advising scale.

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Supporting Online Students: A practical guide to planning, implementing and evaluating services

Anita Crawley

APA Citation

Crawley, A. (2012). Supporting online students: A practical guide to planning, implementing, and evaluating services. John Wiley & Sons.

Annotation

Not Available

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The Evolution of Big Data and Learning Analytics in American Higher Education

A. G. Picciano

APA Citation

Picciano, A. G. (2012). The evolution of big data and learning analytics in American higher education. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 16(3), 9-20.

Annotation

This article explores how higher education is able to incorporate big data into policy and decision making and the implications of using big data for these purposes. The authors are careful to note that big data should inform decision making and not to strictly replace the knowledge and experience of qualified professionals and educators.
One main benefit of using big data is instructions are able to use live and real-time statistics in their decision-making process instead of delayed . . . statistics. However, as of the time of this article, not enough scientists are trained to analyze and incorporate big data into their studies. Also, as it relates to online courses, there may be a bias effect happening as to what kind of student is taking online courses compared to traditional classroom-based students. As such, big data has greater benefits for online students compared to traditional classroom students.

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A review of paradigms for evaluating the quality of online education programs

Kaye Shelton

APA Citation

Shelton, K. (2011). A review of paradigms for evaluating the quality of online education programs. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 14(1). https://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring141/shelton141.html

Annotation

This review of literature explores different approaches toward assessing online educational program quality in order to offer guidelines, or “quality indicators.” The review suggests that guidelines could be useful in addressing challenges that online education has faced, such as being compared to traditional face-to-face education. In order to form these guidelines, the article details 13 different “paradigms” for assessing online educational program quality, taken from an examination . . . of themes from 13 studies from 2000 to 2009 (i.e., 2 from 2000; 2 from 2001; 5 from 2002; 1 from 2004; 1 from 2005; 1 from 2006; 1 from 2009). The review identified the theme of “Institutional Commitment, Support, and Leadership” as most common, followed by “Teaching and Learning,” “Faculty Support; Student Support; Course Development,” “Technology; Evaluation and Assessment,” “Cost Effectiveness; Management and Planning,” “Student and Faculty Satisfaction,” and “Other.” The review’s recommendations include more consistency in evaluating online education program quality. To aid in this area, the review author developed a rubric called “A Quality Scorecard for the Administration of Online Education Programs,” which is available to OLC members at the following link: https://secure.onlinelearningconsortium.org/effective_practices/quality-scorecard-administration-online-education-programs

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A Synthesis of Sloan-C Effective Practices

Janet Moore

APA Citation

Moore, J. C. (2009). A synthesis of Sloan-C effective practices: December 2009. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 13(4).

Annotation

Details effective practices around:
Student satisfaction
Learning effectiveness
Scale
Access
and Faculty Satisfaction

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About NSSE

Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research

APA Citation

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). (2011). About NSSE. Retrieved from http://nsse.iub.edu/html/about.cfm

Annotation

Student engagement often refers to two main features of quality education. First, is the amount of time and effort students put into their education including both activities done as part of coursework as well as educational activities like service learning and internships. Secondly, it refers to the ways in which a university structures its curriculum and allocates its resources in ways that have been proven to foster student learning (Kuh, 2003, NSSE, 2011).

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An Iterative Approach to the Development of a Professional Development Intervention for Head Start Teachers

Karen Diamond     Douglas Powell

APA Citation

Diamond, K. E., & Powell, D. R. (2011). An iterative approach to the development of a professional development intervention for Head Start teachers. Journal of early intervention, 33(1), 75-93.

Annotation

Professional development (PD) for preschool teachers is designed to provide specific class content and classroom expectations of their teaching, as well as guidelines for active learning. In this article, Diamond and Powell revise a coaching-based PD intervention, Classroom Links to Early Literacy (CLEL) in order to help teachers improve skills related to vocabulary and phonology. Five studies are designed to examine intervention content (measured in study 1), practical implication of the . . . intervention components(study 2 and 3), all components (study 4). Study 5 offers pilot data from preliminary analysis on relationship between PD intervention and teachers’ instruction. Study 1 reveals teachers’ uncertainty about instruction of new words. This result led Diamond and Powell to revise training materials and include more specific content of letter sounds and phonological skills. Study 2 suggests that teachers’ use of hypermedia resource depend on multimedia (text and video). Study 3 finds teachers’ positive reactions to feedback, and study 4 added that structured guidelines for feedback facilitates smoother communication between teachers’ and coaches. In study 5, Diamond and Powell conclude PD intervention increases the number of vocabularies in class session. (M=7.12 words vs M=3.7 words). As a result, child utterances also increased from 119 (control group) to 163.

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Assessment of a University-Based Distance Education Mentoring Program from a Quality Management Perspective

Casimir Barczyk     Janet Buckenmeyer     Lori Feldman     Emily Hixon

APA Citation

Barczyk, C., Buckenmeyer, J., Feldman, L. & Hixon, E. (2011). Assessment of a University-based distance education mentoring program from a quality management perspective. Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 19, 5-24.

Annotation

This study reports on the results of an assessment conducted on the “Distance Education Mentoring Program” (DEMP), a faculty professional development certification program at Purdue University Calumet focused on mentoring new online teachers in online course instructional design. In DEMP, faculty members new to teaching online are paired with an experience mentor housed outside of their discipline to ensure focus on pedagogical principles rather than course content. DEMP is examined through the . . . lens of Quality Management (QM). 34 faculty members who were mentees in the program completed the questionnaire. Results showed the teachers felt the quality of their teaching improved and felt mentors provided “more psychosocial support than career development support” (p. 19). The authors suggest that a focus on quality management in mentoring, as well as the use of mentors capable of providing social support in addition to technical support can lead to improved outcomes for mentees, which in turn will improve outcomes for students and thus other stakeholders in online education.

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Audio Feedback for Student Writing in Online Nursing Courses: Exploring student and instructor reactions

Kathryn Wood     Cary Moskovitz     Theresa Valiga

APA Citation

Wood, K. A., Moskovitz, C., Valiga, T. M. (2011). Audio feedback for student writing in online nursing courses: Exploring student and instructor reactions. Journal of Nursing Education, 50, 540-543. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20110616-04

Annotation

This study compared and contrasted spoken, written and audio-recorded feedback in a graduate nursing course. The researchers were interested in which type of feedback students would feel best contributed to course connectivity and usefulness and also which type of feedback is viewed as most efficient by instructors. 30 students in a MSN course took the survey during Fall 2009, which was examined through content analysis. 80% felt audio feedback was more personal than written, 60% found it more . . . motivational, and 50% felt they retained the feedback better. Those who identified themselves as visual learners preferred written comments. Results suggest that audio feedback increases presence in online courses and more personalized and nuanced comments increase graduate student perceptions that faculty care about them personally.

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Blended Environments: Learning effectiveness and student satisfaction at a small college in transition

Gouri Banerjee

APA Citation

Banerjee, G. (2011). Blended environments: Learning effectiveness and student satisfaction at a small college in transition. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 15, 8-19.

Annotation

Two studies were conducted at a small liberal arts and sciences college. Overall, students felt that not all subjects were equally suited to blended learning.
Study 1: Quantitative study where 240 students filled out a survey concerning their thoughts on learning technology, in particular how satisfied they were with faculty using online, blended and F2F teaching methods. 58% of students preferred a “moderate” amount of technology in their courses although most didn’t consider internet use as a . . . “technology” (p. 13). Business, IT and Education students looked most favorable on technology use in their courses. Males were more likely than females to feel that technology use in courses enhanced their learning. Students working off-campus or in internships were more likely to be satisfied with blended courses. Only 37% of students felt learning technologies increased engagement, 41% didn’t lean one way or the other and 21% felt that learning technologies decreased student engagement.
Study 2: Qualitative study of student evaluations from 2008,2009,2010 in a “Problem Solving with Computers” course. Student engagement was particularly high in using Google Docs , Google Forms and Wikis for collaborative learning. 57% preferred the blended format and 42% preferred F2F. Again more males than females strongly agreed that blended learning increased learning. Males and females equally agreed that blended improved learning by allowing F2F questions, increasing self-directed learning and allowing more thorough instruction. Overall, students were satisfied but tended to prefer F2F aspects in the student evaluations.

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