Linking online course design and implementation to learning outcomes: A design experiment

This paper reports on preliminary findings from ongoing design-based research being conducted in the fully online Master of Arts in Teacher Leadership (MTL) program at a small, Midwest public university. Researchers are using the Quality Matters (QM) and Community of Inquiry (CoI) frameworks to guide the iterative redesign of core courses in the program. Preliminary results from the redesign of one course suggest that such approach can improve student learning outcomes. Results also support the efficacy of the QM and CoI theoretical frames, and the usefulness of design-based approaches in online learning.     

Supporting online collaborative design for teacher professional development

ABSTRACT

This article describes a study of online collaborative design in the context of teacher professional development. Twenty-five teachers from different Spanish universities participated in the online course. The aim was to understand how to support teachers in interuniversity teams to collaborate fully online throughout the learning design process of a scenario based on their discipline integrating information and communications technology (ICT), an issue scarcely tackled in the literature. The described interpretive study, using mixed methods, explores the support of online co-design provided by a novel ICT community platform named ILDE (Integrated Learning Design Environment). Lessons drawn from the results can contribute to the improvement of online collaborative design processes in the context of teacher professional development.     

Distance education for the gifted and talented: An interactive design model

In 1994, the New South Wales Board of Studies, Australia, introduced three high level Distinction Courses for gifted and talented students: comparative literature, cosmology, and philosophy. All are offered by distance education but the cosmology course employs an interactive design model and an extensive communication system that differentiates it from the other two. This article explains the model and the way it is used in practice to organize, sequence and deliver the course. Discussion addresses ways in which the model might be used to design a wider range of courses for gifted and talented students.     

Use of Felder and Silverman learning style model for online course design

Educational technology research and development - Learning Management Systems are used in millions of higher education courses, across various countries and disciplines. Teachers build courses...     

Culture,role and group work: A social network analysis perspective on an online collaborative course

This paper discusses the patterns of network dynamics within a multicultural online collaborative learning environment. It analyses the interaction of participants (both students and facilitators) within a discussion board that was established as part of a 3‐month online collaborative course. The study employs longitudinal probabilistic social network analysis (SNA) to identify the patterns and trends within the network. It conjectures and tests a set of hypotheses concerning the tendencies towards homophily/heterophily and preferential attachment. The paper presents identified interaction network patterns in relation to cultural differences. It also evaluates network dynamics by considering participant roles and group work in the course under study. Results of social network analyses are reported along with measures of statistical confidence in findings. The potential for extending exploratory SNA methods and visualisation techniques in educational research are discussed here.     

Leveraging learning technologies for collaborative writing in an online pharmacotherapy course

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the development and delivery of a hypertext case scenario document to be used as the capstone assessment tool for doctoral-level physical therapy students. The integration of Web-based collaborative tools (PBworks? and Google Sites?) allowed students in this all-online course to apply their pharmacotherapy knowledge in a physical therapy patient scenario, while working with colleagues to determine the best route of patient care. Students developed digital writing skills imperative to a patient-centered, collaborative health-care field, and practiced evidence-based patient care. The findings demonstrate that the implementation of collaborative digital writing with a hypertext document case scenario assessment as the primary assessment tool in this online pharmacotherapy course delivered to doctoral-level physical therapy students is a feasible and effective educational strategy.     

Examining the instructor-student collaborative partnership in an online learning community course

Instructional Science - Education is under a radical transformation in the current innovation-driven knowledge age. The instructor-student collaborative partnership has the potential to transform...     

A flexible framework for online collaborative learning

This paper presents a framework for online collaborative learning, also known as telecollaboration. At the centre of this flexible framework are online collaborative educational experiences where knowledge creation and knowledge in action are the nexus of social, teaching and cognitive presence based on the Community of Inquiry model of Garrison, Anderson and Archers [Garrison, D.R., Anderson, T., and Archer, W. (1999). Critical thinking in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. Internet and Higher Education, 2(2–3), 87–105]. The framework provided should guide educators as they design, develop and implement authentic educational experiences within local, national or international settings in partnership with other educational stakeholders.     

基于旅游开发与管理专业课程在线实时互动教学模式研究

在对泉州市现有旅游人才资源进行调查统计的基础上,针对泉州市现有旅游人才资源的现状和存在问题,提出地方一般本科院校旅游管理专业课程应该创建师生之间、学生之间、学生和旅游从业人员之间的在线实时互动教学平台,并对平台的定位、功能、发布内容等进行讨论,以期对同类地方本科院校旅游人才资源培养的教学模式提供新的借鉴和参照.     

An online, interactive approach to teaching neuroscience to adolescents

Most of today's students are skilled in instant messaging, Web browsing, online games, and blogs. These have become part of the social landscape and have changed how we learn and where we learn. The question becomes how to harness the attractiveness and ubiquity of electronic venues toward the goal of teaching neuroscience. At the Rice University Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning, a central focus is the creation of innovative materials that appeal to middle school students. A recent project was undertaken through a Science Education Drug Abuse Partnership Award (R25 DA15063) from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to inform adolescents about the neurobiology of substance abuse and the current research dealing with a class of drugs known as club drugs. Problem-based learning, multimedia pedagogy, and the National Science Content Standards were integrated to produce The Reconstructors, an episodic series available via the World Wide Web at http://reconstructors.rice.edu. A field test of students from five schools assessed the retention of content after "playing" The Reconstructors series titled Nothing to Rave About. Gain scores indicated that middle school students' knowledge about club drugs and the basic neuroscience concepts that explain their effects improved significantly.     

Teacher preparation: A collaborative model

Abstract

Criticism of education and teacher preparation persists. The “Teachers Educating and Motivating Students,” or TEAMS, model was developed to address this criticism. The TEAMS model has been structured using a Professional Development School (PDS) concept as the core component. The model is a competency‐based, structured block program featuring concurrent enrollment in groups of courses and a corresponding field component.

Evaluation of the TEAMS program is a continuing process. Completion of a “perceptions” survey and a workplace competencies instrument by students and mentors/administrators revealed that the TEAMS program is accomplishing intended goals. Furthermore, t tests revealed only one significant difference in perceived adequacy between students and mentors/administrators on the workplace competencies. The data also revealed an overall positive attitude toward the project and satisfaction regarding the achievement of workplace competencies.     

网络学习中的人际交互研究

网络学习的出现产生了网络学习群体。学习者以信息技术为中介进行人际交互,并在人际交互中进行知识意义的建构。网络学习中的人际交互具有积极主动和交互层面广等特点。这种积极、广泛的人际交互对于掌握网络学习方法及对传统课堂教学都有不少有益的启示。     

思想政治课程协作教学模式的初探

新课程改革以来,对思想政治课教学模式提出了更多新要求,要求以学生为课堂主体与中心,发展学生自主探究,师生,学生与学生,教师与教师之间协作教学的精神。同时也就对教师提出了更多的要求与挑战。因此,本文主要由协作教学的理论以及在其他学科领域开展现状入手,由理论课程要求以及实践课程要求两方面分析了协作教学在思政课开展的基本要求,最后提出了协作教学模式具体在思政理论课堂上开展的构思。     

A blended model: simultaneously teaching a quantitative course traditionally,online, and remotely

As universities seek to bolster enrollment through distance education, faculty are tasked with maintaining comparable teaching/learning standards in traditional, blended, and online courses. Research has shown that there is an achievement gap between students taking courses exclusively offered online versus those enrolled in face-to-face classes. In an effort to mitigate these observed differences, the School of Business faculty at the research institution investigated various course models to meet the needs of a diverse, non-traditional, and multifaceted student population. Ultimately, a blended course model for statistics and quantitative method courses was developed that allowed students to choose between online, remote (via interactive television), and traditional course delivery modes each week. This model is more flexible and agile than existing blended courses that have more static components. Multiple regression analysis, χ², and t-tests are used to demonstrate the efficacy of our model in maintaining student performance standards.     

“实验室安全学”课程在线教育的设计与探索

"实验室安全学"课程已经在清华大学开设有12年,该课程对于提高理工科研究生的实验安全有着显著效果。设计该课程融入在线教育的教学框架,冀望更多大学生通过在线观看,学习和掌握实验安全知识和技能,促进实验室和校园的安全。     

Demonstrating the impact of educational development: The case of a course design collaborative

While universities hold expectations that new colleagues demonstrate high levels of expertise, many recently graduated PhDs are under-prepared for their teaching roles. This case study assessed the impact of an institutionally sponsored, collaborative course design initiative on the professional learning of early-career academics in a research-intensive university in Canada. The initiative was framed as educational development: the integration of faculty, instructional, curriculum, and organizational development in a holistic approach to professional learning. The case documents the impact of a 5-day workshop on course design and teaching complemented with three cycles of classroom observation and feedback, and a monthly discussion group on teaching. Across 10 participants, three strong patterns of results emerged with respect to teaching beliefs, practices and confidence about teaching.     

A model to design interactive learning environments for children with visual disabilities

Current interactive learning environments cannot be accessed by learners with disabilities, in particular for students with vision disabilities. Modeling techniques are necessary to map real-world experiences to virtual worlds by using 3D auditory representations of objects for blind people. In this paper, a model to design multimedia software for blind learners is presented. The model was validated with existing educational software for these users. We describe the modeling of the real world including cognitive usability testing tasks by considering not only the representation of the real world but also modeling the learner’s knowledge of the virtual world. The software architecture is also described by using this model, displaying the components needed to impact learning. Finally, we analyze critical issues in designing software for learners with visual disabilities and propose some recommendations and guidelines.     

Instructional design of interactive multimedia: A cultural critique

Instructional design is socially and culturally constructed. The article explores the proposition that the selective traditions of instructional design consist of values, ideologies and images which act in the interests of particular cultural (class and gendered) groups. It examines this premise and argues for multiple cultural, rather than multicultural, contextualization of instructional design. It situates the multiple cultural model in an eclectic paradigm that appropriately combines elements from (a) behaviorist, constructivist, and critical theory paradigms and (b) weak and strong culturally contextualized design strategies. Cultural context is the very stuff, the scaffolding, of instructional design if users are to be positioned as active participants who are given and take responsibility in the learning-teaching paradigm. Her fields of teaching and research interest concern the cultural contextualization of instructional design of interactive multimedia (IMM) and the World Wide Web (WWW). Other research interests focus on the mental models, thinking processes, and teaching-learning strategies used by teachers and learners when interacting with electronic databases, IMM, and the WWW.