Leadership in online learning in higher education: Why instructional designers for online learning should lead the way

With the increase in demand for online education at the university level has also come the “recognition that in order to be effective, such programs cannot simply be on‐line replicas of the instruction delivered in classrooms” (Reiser, 2001, p. 64). An environment of collaboration with a shared vision is needed to bring faculty expertise together with online learning design and technological expertise. This article addresses why and how instructional designers should lead the way.     

Blended/hybrid courses: a review of the literature and recommendations for instructional designers and educators

This article explores some of the literature on blended/hybrid learning and identifies recommendations for instructional designers and faculty. Terminology and definitions are discussed first including the debate between the words “blended” and “hybrid.” A working definition for the article is discussed but the article does not propose a standard definition for the field. The learning advantages of using a blended/hybrid format are identified from the literature including improved grades, retention and communication and teamwork. The recommendations are discussed in four broad categories: (a) face to face and online scheduling, (b) communication, (c) course content, and (d) other recommendations. The article concludes with a call for future research into blended/hybrid learning and how to best construct blended/hybrid courses from an instructional design standpoint.     

Measuring faculty learning in curriculum and teaching competence online courses

Online education is used for a variety of purposes in higher education. Two such purposes are improving one's performance over time and understanding one's professional development in the context of online teaching and learning. Relying on data from online staff development courses delivered in five Spanish universities, this article explores online faculty learning through the lens of staff development theory. This theoretical perspective emphasizes the universities' quality assurance contexts and offers an empirical examination of the ways in which faculty members learn curriculum and teaching competencies (CTCs) in online staff development programmes. At the core of this analysis is the contention that faculty members understand and respond to quality teaching lessons and activities. Finally, this study highlights the points deemed important when designing, implementing, and evaluating Internet CTC training courses.     

Are they the same? Comparing the instructional quality of online and face‐to‐face graduate education courses

As instructors adopt web‐based learning environments, they must consider how students’ evaluations of learning reflect the overall quality of instruction. Traditional course evaluations are used for faculty retention, tenure and promotion decisions, but also provide instructors with valuable information on the quality of their instruction. This study looks at response rates and compares instructional quality, using student course evaluations along with additional data from online and face‐to‐face graduate education courses, to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. A statistical analysis of students’ course evaluations showed no significant difference in instructional quality based on the format used. Together with comparisons of student work, these results provide additional evidence in support of the finding of no significant difference between formats in the area of instructional quality.     

Coaching our coaches: How online learning can address the gap in preparing K-12 instructional coaches

This paper examines why educators in an online coaching program sought professional development and how learning experiences fostered professional growth. A qualitative case study was employed to highlight four participant experiences. Findings demonstrate that educators prioritized the need to define and organize their work as coaches. While the social nature of learning was instrumental, the job-embedded nature of coursework was foundational to grounding inquiry in authentic problems of practice. Together, these experiences enabled participants to flexibly map learning to their specific school context(s). Implications address future designs of professional learning for educators.     

Ask the instructional designers: A cursory glance at practice in the workplace

The purpose of this exploratory study was to make better connections between what is professed in instructional design degree programs and what happens in the workplace. Findings from the study of how three corporate instructional designers navigated and made sense of their daily practice included the factors that mostly influence their instructional design (ID) decisions, their perspectives on ID theories and models, how they compensated for any deficits in their knowledge or skills, and their hiring preferences.     

The importance of faculty attitudes in the planning for instructional development

Instructional development has been a recent innovation in higher education, responding to the needs of the new American model of universal higher education. Misconceptions and misapplications of instructional development have been frequent, especially its confusion with media service. A fundamental obstacle to success in any instructional improvement program is hypothesized to be lack of concern with faculty attitudes in the planning of methods to serve them. This study discusses the background of the problem and reports on a survey designed to investigate faculty attitudes toward instructional development on one campus. Tentative conclusions are drawn in order to guide further study. The data presented appear to indicate that there is a need to rethink the basic model of instructional development as currently used when applying it to the unique circumstances of higher education.     

Creativity in the training and practice of instructional designers: the Design/Creativity Loops model

This article presents a discussion of research and theoretical perspectives on creativity and instructional design, offering a conceptual model of the connection between these two constructs that was originally proposed in the dissertation work of the first author (Clinton, Creativity and design: A study of the learning experience of instructional design and development graduate students, Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia, Athens, 2007) and that we call the Design/Creativity Loops (DCL) model. Central to the model is a representation of the iterative, looping problem-solving cycle that can include established stages of creative thinking. As an instructional designer is routinely confronted with the next task or design problem in a project, these tasks or problems spawn iterative mental excursions that are opportunities for creative thinking. This article also explores ways that the design and development process can benefit from an emphasis on creativity and offers suggested directions for future research.     

Mind the gap: global quality norms,national policy interpretations and local praxis in Timor-Leste

Increasingly, the imperative for improving educational quality in schooling systems throughout the developing world is harnessed to a particular set of teaching and learning practices, such as child-centred, child-friendly or learner-centred pedagogy (LCP). Such was the case in Timor-Leste where, after independence, LCP was heavily promoted as a panacea for an education system that was perceived to be irrelevant, outmoded and of poor quality. While LCP was readily adopted into policy discourse, less support and attention were given to the substantive incorporation of LCP into teacher practice. When strategically borrowed in such a fashion, the paper suggests little promise remains for LCP to meaningfully improve student learning processes or outcomes in Timorese classrooms.     

Evaluating the quality of interaction in asynchronous discussion forums in fully online courses

Fully online courses are becoming progressively more popular because of their “anytime anywhere” learning flexibility. One of the ways students interact with each other and with the instructors within fully online learning environments is via asynchronous discussion forums. However, student engagement in online discussion forums does not always take place automatically and there is a lack of clarity about the ideal role of the instructors in them. In this article, we report on our research on the quality of discussion in fully online courses through analysis of discussion forum activities. We have conducted our research on two large fully online subjects for computing students over two consecutive semesters and used a grounded theoretic approach for data analysis. Our results reveal what students and instructors consider as quality interaction in fully online courses. We also propose two frameworks based on our findings that can be used to ensure effective online interaction.     

The technological gender gap: Evidence and recommendations for educators and computer-based instruction designers

The term technological gender gap refers to the idea that males and females have different technology-related attitudes, behaviors, and skills. This article reviews the mounting evidence documenting the existence of a gender gap, which, if ignored, could render large numbers of female students unprepared to meet the technological challenges of the future. Recommendations for ameliorating the technological gender gap are presented for educators and computer-based instruction (CBI) designers who are interested in providing equitable educational opportunities for male and female students.     

Perceptions of instructional quality: impact on acceptance and use of an online learning environment

ABSTRACT

Given the growing use of online learning environments in higher education, it is important to further unravel how students’ use is influenced by their perceptions towards these learning environments. This study includes the perceived quality of the instructional design based on the First Principles of Instruction of Merrill and students’ acceptance based on the constructs perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the technology acceptance model (TAM). The aim of this study is twofold: a first aim is to investigate the influence of the perceived instructional quality on students’ acceptance and the second aim is to investigate the impact of students’ acceptance and the perceived instructional quality on the quantity (i.e. course activity) and quality (i.e. course performance) of use. In this study, a Moodle-based online learning environment for learning French as a foreign language was studied. Participants were 161 university students. Structural equation modeling (SEM) indicates that the perceived instructional quality has a significant positive influence on students’ acceptance. Furthermore, students’ perceived instructional quality has a positive influence on the quality, but not on the quantity of use, whereas students’ acceptance of the online learning environment has no impact on the use of the learning environment.     

Mind the gap: vocabulary development in the primary curriculum

In the context of an on-going project emphasising the centrality of speaking and listening in the primary curriculum, the present article turns to vocabulary development: to the wide differences characterising primary age children in this regard, to their consequent unequal access to the wider curriculum, and to means by which such deficiencies may be addressed. This article reports how, given a variety of in-service supports, teachers in a small group of schools undertook to define relevant aims and objectives and to include a range of appropriate approaches in their teaching. Particular emphasis was placed upon active and ‘explicit’ vocabulary instruction. The viability and effectiveness of the strategies employed were assessed through analysis of a range of collected data; numerous examples of which are presented and evaluated here. This article concludes by reviewing such matters from teachers’ as well as pupils’ perspectives, and by emphasising the role of explicit instruction within the various approaches discussed.     

网络课程中学习支持的研究与实践

网络课程中的学习支持包括两个方面一是内置式支持,二是外围支持.前者内置于学习材料中,为学习过程提供支持;后者是网络教育环境的一部分,从技术层面上提供对网络学习环境的支持.基于"计算机应用基础"网络课程,从学习支持的两个方面进行了设计与实践,取得了不错的教学效果.