Online tutorial support in open and distance learning: students' perceptions

The Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK) offers 199 courses with online features to enhance the distance learning environment. The university has arranged these courses to provide students with greater flexibility in interacting with tutors, classmates, and the content itself. Integral to learner flexibility online is access, valuing computers and online learning, endorsement, and language proficiency. The current investigation attempts to explore these issues by examining the perceptions of OUHK students enrolled in courses with online tutorial supports. The methods of questionnaire survey and semi‐structured interview were employed. Surveyed using multistage stratified sampling technique were 449 OUHK students enrolled in 18 upper level courses (9 English, 9 Chinese) at the OUHK. Forty‐two students were randomly selected for a follow‐up interview. Five major topics were explored including: (1) accessing the Internet; (2) perceptions of technology; (3) rationale for using the Internet in course work; (4) learning strategies used by the tutor online; and (5) perceptions of the online tutorial support.     

The Comparative Impacts of Social Justice Educational Methods on Political Participation,Civic Engagement,and Multicultural Activism

This cross-sectional, repeated measures, quasi-experimental study evaluates changes in college students’ commitment toward, and confidence in, political participation, civic engagement, and multicultural activism. Our sample (n = 653) consisted of college students in a Midwestern university who participated in one of three social justice education course types (service learning, intergroup dialogue, or lecture-based diversity classes) or in an “introduction to psychology” course (the non-intervention group). After completion of a social justice education course, students reported an increase in political participation and multicultural activism, whereas students enrolled in the non-intervention group reported no changes in these measures. Service learning course participants started and ended their course with the highest reported levels of political participation, civic engagement, and multicultural activism but did not demonstrate an increase in any of the three outcomes. Intergroup dialogue participants demonstrated increases in all three outcomes, while participants of lecture-based classes focusing on social justice issues demonstrated increases in political participation and multicultural activism, but not civic engagement. Our findings suggest that participation in social justice education courses is associated with increases in political participation and multicultural activism.     

Development of a scale of Sense of Community in university online courses

Creating a sense of community in online classes contributes to student retention and to their overall satisfaction with the course itself. This study aimed to develop a scale of sense of community of students attending online university courses. A series of ordinal exploratory factor analyses were conducted on data obtained from 839 students enrolled in Italian universities. Using an item analysis method, we were able to select the 36 most valid items from an original set of 60 items we had previously defined. These items are distributed across three related factors measuring membership, influence, and fulfillment of needs. This factorial structure replicates the McMillan and Chavis’s model of sense of community, upon the basis of which this scale was developed. The three factors presented good ordinal alpha and adequate convergent/divergent validity coefficients. The scale represents an efficient tool for the design, monitoring, and evaluation of online courses.     

Student views regarding online freshmen physics courses

Background: Nationally, many public universities have started to move into the online course and program market that was previously associated with for-profit institutions of higher education. Public university administrators state that students seek the flexibility of online courses. But do students want to take courses online, especially freshmen-level science courses perceived to be difficult?

Purpose: This study investigated student views related to the potential of a physics course they were currently enrolled in being offered online.

Sample: This study took place at a large, public, mid-western university and involved students enrolled in either the first or second semester of a face-to-face flipped physics course for engineering technology majors.

Design and methods: Discussions with students during the semester about their online course experiences and expectations were used to develop the concourse and subsequently the Q sample to perform a Q methodology study about students’ views regarding taking physics courses online. Additional statements for the concourse and Q sample were taken from communications with administrators at the university. In this way, the statements sorted by the students included those from students and those from administrators. Factor analysis of the Q sorts resulted in three factors, each representing a unique perspective. Interpretations of these perspectives included the analyses of the Q sorts, the researcher’s interactions with students and administrators, and students’ written responses regarding their previous online course experiences and their sorting decisions.

Results: Three unique student views emerged were named: keeping it real and face-to-face, Online could be ok depending upon the course and instructor, and Online not for STEM classes. Consensus among the views is also discussed.

Conclusions: Overall, students’ views are negative concerning having physics courses, including labs, online and those views conflict with statements expressed by administrators regarding students’ desires for online courses at the university.     

Investigating university tutor perceptions of assessment feedback: three types of tutor beliefs

Feedback is a key element in effective teaching and learning. The issue of how teachers perceive the role of feedback will impact significantly their feedback approaches, the amount of the detail of their feedback and the time and effort expended on the feedback provision. This research was designed with the purpose of exploring how a group of over 50 tutors who were supporting an online university English course perceived, understood and interpreted the processes of assignment feedback. A factor analysis study based on questionnaire data revealed three sets of tutor beliefs towards assessment and tutor feedback: traditional–autonomous–global (TAG), student‐centred (SC) and traditional‐local (TL). Follow‐up in‐depth interviews were conducted with tutors. The TAG tutors saw scores as the most important feedback to students, but doubted the value of detailed feedback. SC tutors maintained that good tutor feedback should offer more than mere scores, and that students needed feedback in order to improve. TL tutors tended to underline all the errors and provide detailed feedback. They were negative towards the idea of their feedback being monitored. The authors identified some differing and converging tutor perceptions on assessment feedback, the understanding of which could arguably play an important role in introducing changes in tutor feedback culture.     

The effects of a competency‐oriented learning environment and tutor feedback on students’ reflection skills

This study investigates the effects of a competency‐oriented course and the effects of feedback training on students’ reflection skills. Thirty‐one nursing students enrolled in a conventional course with lectures and assignments following a traditional test. Subsequently, they enrolled in a competency‐oriented course, which included more performance‐oriented tasks based on competencies and a performance‐based assessment. In both courses, half of the students received feedback on their assignments from tutors who were trained in feedback skills (experimental group), while the other half of the students received feedback from non‐trained tutors (control group). After each course, all students wrote a reflection report. Results show that students’ reflection reports after the competency‐oriented course were of a higher quality than the reports after the conventional course. Contrary to our expectations, the quality of the reflection reports of the control group (students supervised by non‐trained tutors) was significantly higher than the quality of reflection reports of the experimental group (students supervised by trained tutors). This study shows that a competency‐oriented design of courses enhances students’ reflection skills, but that the training in feedback skills needs to be reconsidered.     

如何确保在线直播课程的教学成效?——以疫情期间在线直播课程的学习环境和学习内容设计为例

如何确保在线直播课程的教学成效,是当下在线教学亟待解决的问题。文章以师范生“中职课程设计与开发”课程为例,遵循学生中心、行动导向、工作过程导向和工作成果导向的基本理念,借鉴探究社区模型理论和学习环境设计相关理论,结合行动导向教学的要求,从学习环境(物理环境、心理环境)、学习内容(学习任务、学习活动)两方面展开在线直播课程设计,以提升学生的学习体验和学习参与度,确保在线直播课程的学习成效。文章的研究可为在线直播教学和混合学习的教学设计实践提供参考,并有助于推动教学改革。     

Assimilation in Online Course Design

As online education continues to grow, instructors from traditional classrooms are being asked to design online courses. In this study, data from interviews with thirty-three public four-year college and university instructors, who had experience designing online courses, were used to understand the instructor’s perspective on online course design. Using grounded theory, data were analyzed, sorted, and coded to uncover the strategies instructors use to design online courses. Results revealed instructors adapt to the online environment by using strategies to mimic elements of face-to-face courses: in essence, adaption comes through assimilation. Instructors expressed interest in helping students navigate online to encourage active participation in courses. They described using technology and learning management system (LMS) features (e.g., videos, discussion forums) to “hear” and “see” students, as a way to increase interaction and presence, familiar elements from face-to-face education. They spoke of creating authentic assignments to increase student engagement. The implications of this study include effective design and instructional strategies for online courses, as well as understanding the motivation of instructors who design online courses. The study results are relevant to a broad audience including online instructors, instructional designers, LMS organizations, and administrators.     

Facebook-Induced Motivation Shifts in a French Online Course

This study explores the effects of instructor’s self-disclosure using the Facebook social networking online platform on students’ motivation types in an online language course. The participants were 104 beginning French students enrolled in an online French course at a major research university in the southeast U.S. The participants were divided into a Facebook group, where they could access the instructor’s Facebook profile throughout the semester, and a control group. The Academic Motivation Scale (Noels, Pelletier, Clement, & Vallerand, 2003) was used for determining whether the participants were intrinsically or extrinsically motivated, anchoring this research within the Self-Determination Theory model (Deci & Ryan, 1985). Post-treatment results indicated that participants assigned to the Facebook group experienced a significant shift in motivation type that research has determined as being beneficial for language learning (Gardner, 1985). No such shift occurred in students assigned to the control group. This shift is of particular importance in an online course environment where the instructor’s Facebook profile was the only means of teacher’s self-disclosure unlike a face-to-face environment where teacher self-disclosure can occur spontaneously.     

Effects of discussion representation: comparisons between social and cognitive diagrams

An online discussion facilitates students’ higher order thinking in online classes, especially when adopted with the instructor’s guidance. The current experimental study examined the effects of two different discussion representation tools (social and cognitive diagrams) on students’ discussion behaviors. The social diagram emphasized interactivity of participants by illustrating who posted messages and who replied. The cognitive diagram described how discussion topic evolved by summarizing main topics discussed. Thirteen graduate students enrolled in an online graduate course participated in the study. While analyzing five instructional cases, students were asked to discuss each case in a group that the instructor assigned randomly. For each case, one group was provided with the social diagram whereas the other with the cognitive diagram. Major findings revealed both tools facilitated online discussion activities as the instructor intended: the social diagram turned out to promote socially desirable responses while the cognitive diagram produced more cognitively desirable responses. Further studies on how the two types of discussion diagrams can be integrated in online discussions will be needed.     

Exploring the Effects of Learning Environment on Transfer,Student Perceptions,and Instructor Accommodations in an Undergraduate Course Sequence

Previous studies have compared student performance for the same or similar classes delivered both online and face-to-face. However, few studies have explored the role that a change in learning environment plays in the student’s ability to transfer skills and knowledge gained in prerequisite courses to follow-on, or post-requisite, courses. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student demographic factors, learning environments, and the transfer of skills and knowledge in undergraduate accounting education. In addition, this study examined student perceptions of online learning both before and after the course learning sequence, and the specific accommodations instructors made to their instructional design to facilitate the delivery medium change in learning environment. Data for this study was collected from 2,324 students and their corresponding instructors participating in a sequence of two undergraduate accounting courses at a large Midwestern U.S. university. Results revealed a positive relationship between a student’s performance in post-requisite coursework and GPA, the number of completed credits, and enrollment status (full or part-time). Instructors made delivery medium specific adjustments in course topic coverage, student participation, and group work to accommodate for the perceived capabilities of the learning environment.     

Reconceptualising higher education pedagogy in online learning

The purpose of this collaborative inquiry project was to examine teacher education practices in two early childhood degree programmes in a school of education at a regional university in Australia. All students are enrolled in these online courses as distance learners. The reconceptualised online pedagogy immersed students, peers and their lecturers in ‘teaching through assessment’ (Edwards, 2010) in a collaborative online environment that mirrors the complexity that students are experiencing in their workplaces. This article describes the pedagogical and conceptual underpinnings we used to reconceptualise our degree programmes. It also outlines our evolving conceptualisations of learning as knowledge creation (Hong & Sullivan, 2009) in the context of our teaching and learning in online courses.     

Academic Achievement and Perceptions of the Learning Environment in Virtual and Traditional Secondary Mathematics Classrooms

This study identified pre-entry variables related to course completion and noncompletion in university online distance education courses. Four hundred and sixty-four students who were enrolled in online distance education courses participated in the study. Discriminant analysis revealed six pre-entry variables were related to retention, including cumulative grade point average, class rank, number of previous courses completed online, searching the Internet training, operating systems and file management training, and Internet applications training. Results indicate prior educational experience and prior computer training may help distinguish between individuals who complete university online distance education courses and those who do not.     

Closing the feedback loop? Iterative feedback between tutor and student in coursework assessments

We evaluate the case for using feedback iteratively, to improve student engagement and learning. In this model, students were invited to respond to tutor feedback with students’ own responses. Among the three courses/modules (three tutors) studied, differences in feedback styles were evident from: (a) thematic analysis of tutor comments and, for one course, and (b) comments in a student focus group. Students were inconsistent in their evaluation of tutor feedback but, in a more detailed study of one of the courses, there was clear evidence for the benefits of iterative feedback. Lessons from the main study were then applied to a course that had not previously incorporated iterative feedback. Using this experience, we provide suggestions for applying iterative feedback in assessments.     

在环境管理课程中开展互动式教学的探讨

该文以环境专业大四学生环境管理课为研究对象,探讨了互动式教学方法在大学实用性课程应用效果。试验教学表明,在环境管理涉及学科多且涉及领域复杂的多学科、多领域、实用性强的课程教学中,采用互动式教学方法,能够获得很好的教学效果。精心选题、周密策划、学生积极参与、教师积极引导等是互动式教学方法能否获得成功的关键。该试验教学成果可以为同类型的专业课教学改革提供参考。     

课前指导与补充指导对学生网络学习的影响

马来西亚开放大学（OUM）90％以上的学生为在职人员。这些成年学生离开学校至少已经5年,而且大多数人的数学基础不好。因此,仅是在线学习加少量面授辅导的教学模式对他们来说还不能完全解决学习困难。学校试用了“课前指导工作室”与“补充指导”的教学方法,探讨了这一方法对学员的在线参与程度及考试结果的影响,运用源于探究团体模式的34项量表对在线论坛的内容进行了分析,结果表明,学员参加工作室与否同他们的期末考试成绩有很大关系。参加指导老师工作室及补充指导的学员与那些参加指导老师常规指导的学员相比,前者的在线参与程度及期末考试的平均分都存在着很大的差异。两组学员的数学探究团体模式平均分表明,两组学员在教学存在和认知存在方面有差异,但在社会存在方面基本相同。     

Improving college students’ attitudes toward mathematics

This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of a treatment designed to improve college algebra students’ attitudes toward mathematics. Keller’s ARCS motivational design model was used as a guiding framework for the development of a motivational video, which was delivered online. The application of motivational design to improve mathematics attitudes in an online environment extends the use of motivational design. A pretest-posttest control group design was used to test the effectiveness of the treatment. The participants in this study were 43 students enrolled in a college algebra course offered at a large state university in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Statistically significant results were observed for improved attitudes toward mathematics.     

Online course selection: using course dashboards to inform student enrollment decisions

This article explores the potential of course dashboards as a front-end strategy for decreasing online course dropout rates. Scholarship has addressed course attrition once students are enrolled in online courses. However, supporting academic success by assisting students in the making of effective decisions about which online courses to take has received relatively little attention. Students in undergraduate-level online courses from varied disciplines rated the utility of course information types and three course dashboard prototypes. Qualitative feedback was also collected. Various types of information related to the time investment necessary to successfully complete the course were given priority. With regard to information displays, students preferred moderate-to-high amounts of well-organised information, presented with a careful balance of text and visual images. Comments from past students also favoured course dashboard elements.