Exploring quality of life through an online international collaboration

ABSTRACT

In today’s classrooms, learning does not have to be bounded by physical space. By having access to a range of digital communication technologies, students and teachers can synchronously and asynchronously engage in authentic learning opportunities extending beyond the local community. They can be learning and interacting with others from around the world. This occurred with Grade 3 students from a school in Alberta, Canada, and Lima, Peru who investigated how their physical environments influence their quality of life. Over a seven-week period, the two groups engaged in synchronous and asynchronous activities in addressing this topic. A case study approach was used to research the project. Four key findings emerged from the data to inform teaching practice for designing and facilitating online international collaborative learning.     

Establishing an online community of inquiry at the Distance Education Centre,Victoria

This pilot intervention focused on three courses that were redesigned to utilize the online environment to establish an online community of inquiry (CoI). The setting for this research study was the Distance Education Centre, Victoria (DECV), an Australian co-educational school with approximately 3000 students who, for a variety of reasons, are studying one or more subjects via distance education. Despite the availability of information and communications technology, many students at the DECV remain socially isolated from their peers. The DECV recognizes that online student collaboration has the potential to bridge this divide. Results of this study suggest that the adaptation of these courses had led to improvements in students’ perception of their educational experience. These findings may be of use to other P–12 education providers who are attempting to promote online collaboration and student connectedness.     

A Virtual Learning Environment for Part-Time MASW Students: An Evaluation of the WebCT

This study aims to evaluate the perception of a cohort of social workers studying for a part-time master's program in social work in using the popular Web-based learning platform-World Wide Web Course Tools (WebCT) as a complimentary method of teaching and learning. It was noted that social work profession began incorporating computer technology in its practice long after other professions. Its incorporation into social work teaching came even later. Questionnaires were used to collect views on computer-assisted learning (CAL) and the WebCT. Follow-up, individual in-depth interviews were conducted to obtain further qualitative data to understand the specific conditions under which a virtual learning environment becomes facilitative. It was found that in general students have a positive towards CAL and the WebCT, but they do not think that their education should be entirely Web-based. Teacher-student interactions were still essential to achieve the educational objectives. Nonetheless, the complementary value of the virtual learning environment, that is, a good measure of independence and productivity in their study depends on the students' level of competence and familiarity with the WebCT platform.     

Building an online academic learning community among undergraduate students

Online learning communities are frequently created for higher education students; however, these are most often designed to cater to a particular unit or subject. In an effort to strengthen the Bachelor of Arts course at the University of New England, the author sought to create an online space that would promote an interdisciplinary and collegial dialogue among their broad on- and off-campus student cohort. This paper examines the building of an academic community among a large and diverse group of undergraduate students on a Moodle platform. The paper tracks the development of the multi-layered portal from the initial stages of planning to the indicators of strong engagement taken up by students, and eventually leading to the creation of similar portals across the university. In examining this process this paper highlights the shared desire by distance education students and academics for authentic and personal higher education participation regardless of the students’ location.     

Understanding community in synchronous online learning: do perceptions match behaviours?

ABSTRACT

The community of inquiry (CoI) framework is becoming increasingly popular in online learning. The relationships among CoI constructs (cognitive, teaching and social presences) were generally investigated through surveys. However, some methodological challenges were noticed in CoI studies such as the limitations in data diversity or data verification. Hypothesising that learners’ perceptions about CoI constructs may not reflect their actual behaviours, this study matches students’ perceptions and actual behaviours reflecting the CoI constructs in an online learning setting in a synchronous online undergraduate programme. Data from CoI surveys, online discussion records and observations were comparatively discussed. The results indicated that relationships between the behaviours and perceptions about CoI constructs were quite positive and students’ perceptions about CoI constructs almost matches with their actual behaviours. Thus, the study confirmed the power of determining the interactions reflecting CoI constructs in online learning within CoI surveys. It is hoped that the study may shed a light with its contribution in providing some evidence for the question of whether conventional data collection techniques in CoI studies is required to be revisited or not.     

The incorporation of hands-on tasks in an online course: an analysis of a blended learning environment

This article describes the design and evaluation of a blended online/face-to-face course completed by more than 6000 learners throughout the United States of America and internationally. The educational impact was monitored using a variety of evaluation strategies. The results, in terms of achieved knowledge and overall satisfaction, indicate that a focus on online instruction combined with face-to-face, hands-on activities showed statistically significant improvement in the learners' understanding of the course material, while also validating the impact of the curriculum in their workplace. As illustrated through the blended course design, this study further showed that online learners with greater improvement in their pre- and posttest scores also exhibited significantly greater likelihood in demonstrating competency in several areas during the hands-on portion of the course. In particular, participants working in the information systems field exhibited the highest mean difference score (21.49) on the pre- and the posttests, while those working in the laboratory had the lowest (12.17). Likewise, the odds that participants who reviewed the course contents sought to further understand their job roles was 58.2 times greater for those in information systems, while it was only 19.0 times greater for laboratory staff, than those who did not review their job roles.     

Preliminary evidence of a relationship between the use of online learning and academic performance in a South African first-year university accounting course

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the use of online learning resources and academic performance in an Accounting 1 course conducted at a South African Higher Education Institution. The study employed a quantitative analysis over three academic years comparing the collection of end of year marks and the time spent online. The results provide preliminary empirical evidence to show that students who spent more time online significantly improved their course mark. Although much accounting-based educational research exists on the use of computers, there is a dearth of research testing any relationship between the use of online learning material and performance, and particularly in accounting education. While the results are preliminary and have some limitations, they are useful to students, teaching instructors and administrators, and provide a platform for future research into the value of using online learning in accounting.     

Preliminary evidence of a relationship between the use of online learning and academic performance in a South African first-year university accounting course

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between the use of online learning resources and academic performance in an Accounting 1 course conducted at a South African Higher Education Institution. The study employed a quantitative analysis over three academic years comparing the collection of end of year marks and the time spent online. The results provide preliminary empirical evidence to show that students who spent more time online significantly improved their course mark. Although much accounting-based educational research exists on the use of computers, there is a dearth of research testing any relationship between the use of online learning material and performance. While the results are preliminary and have some limitations, they are useful to students, teaching instructors and administrators, and provide a platform for future research into the value of using online learning in accounting.     

Approaches to studying and perceptions of the academic environment among university students in Pakistan

There has been a paucity of research on the experiences of students at Pakistani universities. A survey of over 900 students at two universities examined their approaches to studying and perceptions of their courses. Evidence was obtained for a deep approach, a surface approach and two aspects of a strategic approach. Their perceptions were based upon the instructional practices, the acquisition of generic skills, the appropriateness of the assessment and of their workload, and the available learning resources. A higher‐order analysis revealed two broad dimensions of the student experience in Pakistan. Students who had positive perceptions tended to adopt a deep approach, to prefer courses, teaching and assessment that supported their understanding and to be engaged and reliable in their studies. However, students who had negative perceptions tended to adopt a surface approach and to prefer courses, teaching and assessment that reinforced this approach through the bare transmission of information.     

Effects of feedback on collaborative writing in an online learning environment

The need for supporting student writing has received much attention in writing research. One specific type of support is feedback—including peer feedback—on the writing process. Despite the wealth of literature on both feedback and academic writing, there is little empirical evidence on what type of feedback best promotes writing in online environments. This article reports on research that tries to determine what type of feedback best improves the quality of collaborative writing and what the effects of feedback are on student learning in an environment based on asynchronous written communication. The results reveal that concerning the type of feedback, epistemic feedback or epistemic and suggestive feedback best improve the quality of collaborative writing performance. The nature of the feedback-giver (whether teacher feedback or teacher and peer) makes a difference to the final text only when the feedback is epistemic, or epistemic and suggestive.     

Creating a model to examine motivation for sustained engagement in online communities

This paper considers factors that influenced long-term engagement in an online community. It draws on a case study of a 6 year online collaboration amongst a group of European teachers. The email interchange between these teachers was, with their agreement, saved and used as research data; intensive group interviews were also conducted, involving all the participants in the online group. Dynamic motivation models and Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of motivational flow were used to create a theoretical framework to analyse the email interchanges and group interview data so as to build an understanding of the teachers’ commitment to the online community. As a result of the analysis, the existing theoretical models were modified to produce a new combined model. This incorporates ideas grounded in the participants’ reasons for their sustained engagement in the collaboration. This combined model could provide a basis for planning future virtual interactions and for assessing their sustainability.     

A comparison between primary school principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of students’ online risk behaviours: the role of perceived self-efficacy

ABSTRACT

The present study aimed to investigate and compare school principals’ and teachers’ perceptions regarding online risk behaviours in school-aged children, examining simultaneously the predictive role of their perceived self-efficacy in their perceptions under study. The participants were 237 principals and 295 teachers, mainly from Central Macedonia and Attica, who completed a self-reported online questionnaire. According to the findings, participants declared awareness of students’ online risk behaviours. However, compared to teachers, principals to a greater extent felt confident to manage this issue and support school community involvement in the prevention of/intervention in it. Furthermore, principals’ self-efficacy in promoting students’ learning/ethical behaviours in school and teachers’ self-efficacy in managing students’ behavioural problems inside a classroom predicted positively their perceptions under study. The findings indicate the necessity of applying differentiated related training programmes for principals and teachers, highlighting simultaneously the importance of their perceived self-efficacy in how they approach the issue studied.     

Factors impacting the rapid transition of anatomy curricula to an online environment in response to Covid-19

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many academic institutions had to rapidly transition education to a remote online environment. While a hurdle for most educators, this transition posed an even greater challenge for anatomy educators, many of whom were forced to depart from the traditional cadaver-based laboratory to a virtual format. Recent publications have discussed the rapid transition to online formats necessitated by Covid-19 and the accompanying difficulties, but none have identified specific factors that influenced the difficulty of this transition. Anatomy educators were surveyed to examine how this transition was accomplished and perceived. Of the 165 educators who responded, the majority utilized cadaver-based laboratory instruction. Educators felt that transitioning the laboratory portion of their courses was significantly more difficult and required more time than converting lecture materials. Factors that impacted the difficulty of the transition included a number of pedagogical aspects of the pre-Covid-19 curricula, including the delivery format of prior content, availability of pre-existing electronic materials, and the laboratory technique previously used. Additionally, the length of time an educator had been teaching prior to Covid-19 impacted their perception of difficulty, with newer and more senior educators finding this much more challenging than mid-tenure educators. Ease of transition may be related to previous exposure to curricular reform, experience with multiple anatomy pedagogies, and educator adaptability. While not surprising that converting a cadaver-based laboratory to an online format was challenging, knowledge of the alignment of this difficulty with prior educator pedagogy can help guide future innovations to anatomy education.     

The transformation of an online learning community from an organised facility to an organic fraternity

An online community of learning within a distance doctoral programme was explored to determine if and how the community evolved and transformed over time. This part-time doctoral programme gathers students into cohorts and runs a structured community with students and faculty for 18 months before students confirm candidatures and begin individual work with their own supervisors for the remaining 4–5 years of study. In particular, this study sought to determine if and how the community of learning continued and developed after the 18 months of shared structured learning had been completed. This research was initiated and conducted by the students, giving insights into the community from the students’ perspective. Findings are that the community has survived and will continue in the short-term at least, but with fewer members and operating in a different manner. There has been an ongoing transformation of the community, largely driven by choice and necessity.     

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.     

The influence of academic coaching on persistence in online graduate students

ABSTRACT

Scholarly attention to academic learning centers is warranted, as they lack a consistent identity and, consequently, little is known about their effect on meaningful student outcomes. Further, such investigations are warranted in online education, given the greater student needs and dropout rates. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the receipt of academic coaching at an online learning center and persistence in online graduate students using a matched sample and after controlling for demographic and academic variables. After holding months since enrollment and Grade Point Average (GPA) at follow-up constant, visiting the learning center increased the odds of persistence 2.66 times. Compared to students in the matched sample, students who visited the learning center even once were significantly more likely to persist at follow-up. Convergence and divergence of the findings with the scholarly literature is examined with a particular focus on the unique population of online graduate students.     

Perceptions of the learning environment,learning preferences,and approaches to studying among medical students in Pakistan

Students at a Pakistani medical college were surveyed using instruments taken from Western research. The students who rated their courses positively tended to adopt an organised approach in their learning and studying. The students who perceived that their assessment and workload were inappropriate preferred a transmissive approach to teaching and adopted a surface approach in their learning and studying. The students who preferred a student-centred approach to teaching tended to adopt a deep approach in their learning and studying. This confirms the idea, well established in Western research, that there exists a strong relationship between students’ perceptions of their courses and the approaches that they adopt on those courses. However, the incorporation of problem-based learning in the medical curriculum had not led to any enhancement of their perceptions and preferences, nor had it led to an unambiguous improvement in their approaches to studying. This is attributed to the hybrid nature of their programmes, in which problem-based activities were combined with more conventional forms of teaching and assessment, and to the anxiety and stress which seem to be common among students at medical schools in Pakistan.     

Fostering online social construction of science knowledge with primary pre-service teachers working in virtual teams

As many primary pre-service teachers enter teacher education courses with little science background, it is essential in teacher education courses to provide opportunities for them to learn more science independently. The purpose of this study is to investigate an online pedagogical activity that fosters the social construction of science knowledge by primary pre-service teachers working in small virtual teams. The study investigated how the pre-service teachers collaborated online in virtual teams to complete set tasks, their attitudes toward and beliefs about the effectiveness of the online learning experience, and the types and quality of the resources developed. The findings indicated that the virtual team-produced science resource materials were generally of high quality, with nearly half the number of teams engaging with Web 2.0 technologies (e.g. wikis and blogs) to construct their product. The findings indicated positive attitudes toward the collaborative learning even though beliefs about online learning were mixed.     

Cross-boundary collaboration and knowledge creation in an online higher education course

This study investigated an international, inter-university and multidisciplinary online course with the aim of helping higher education students develop competencies for solving complex problems in collaboration with their peers and stakeholders. The course design was informed by the knowledge creation framework and ideas about cross-boundary collaboration. We attempted to enrich perspectives on knowledge creation by investigating how higher education students (N = 42) from different fields of study and from 17 different nationalities perceived, built and regulated cross-boundary collaboration in the pursuit of real-life problems presented by companies or non-governmental organisations. Drawing on data from 11 in-depth group interviews and team reports of students who had completed this course, we showed the kinds of activities the students considered relevant for cross-boundary collaboration and knowledge creation online. Given this extended context for knowledge creation, the study contributes to the pedagogical development of online learning in higher education.     

Game-based learning in an OpenSim-supported virtual environment on perceived motivational quality of learning

This experimental study was intended to examine whether game-based learning (GBL) that encompasses four particular game characteristics (challenges, a storyline, immediate rewards and the integration of game-play with learning content) in an OpenSimulator-supported virtual reality learning environment can improve perceived motivational quality of the learning activity (P-MQLA) for elementary school students. In this pre- and post-test experimental comparison study, data were collected from 132 fourth-graders through a Short Instructional Materials Motivation Survey. The same tasks were provided for the experimental and control groups, except that the control group’s tasks did not include the four aforementioned gaming characteristics. The non-GBL for the control group involved mainly web-based word problems such as selecting the correct answer by clicking on the potential responses. P-MQLA was improved after the intervention in both groups. There is a trend that the experimental group improved the P-MQLA more than the control group, at borderline statistical significance. The analysis of covariance also indicated a significant interaction between the group variable and the pre-intervention P-MQLA, indicating that the effect of the virtual reality-supported GBL is moderated by learners’ pre-intervention report of P-MQLA.