Online Course Design Research Articles

Reimagining Online and Blended Provision of English for Academic Purposes: Practices and Reflections from a Distributed Network in East Africa

The online and blended delivery of courses through the use of technologies has attracted attention and research.The teaching and learning of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in multilingual contexts such as in Africa has also been given prominence in research, as well as the benefits of technology in EAP programmes. The pressing need for technology - supported educational practices has been evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic that affected most educational systems around the world. Although there is an increasing body of research on the integration of technology in education emerging from developing contexts, most proposed models still come from high-income countries.Therefore, there is a need for more critical and contextually relevant approaches to the integration of technology in education. Based on the authors’ narratives of their lived experiences as teachers of EAP in a university in East Africa, this article aims to describe and reflect on the practices related to design and delivery of online and blended courses to university students, including in a teacher education programme. It is hoped that this work will contribute to discussions on how to make online and blended teaching practices of EAP more contextually relevant and how exogenous resources can be adapted to the realities of students in multilingual developing contexts.The online and blended delivery of courses through the use of technologies has attracted attention and research. The teaching and learning of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in multilingual contexts such as in Africa has also been given prominence in research, as well as the benefits of technology in EAP programmes. The pressing need for technology-supported educational practices has been evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic that affected most educational systems around the world. Although there is an increasing body of research on the integration of technology in education emerging from developing contexts, most proposed models still come from high-income countries. Therefore, there is a need for more critical and contextually relevant approaches to the integration of technology in education. Based on the authors’ narratives of their lived experiences as teachers of EAP in a university in East Africa, this article aims to describe and reflect on the practices related to design and delivery of online and blended courses to university students, including in a teacher education programme. It is hoped that this work will contribute to discussions on how to make online and blended teaching practices of EAP more contextually relevant and how exogenous resources can be adapted to the realities of students in multilingual developing contexts.

The Use of Images in Online Learning

Images can improve learning and performance. However, research suggests that many online educators and instructional designers lack the knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively create and use images when designing online courses and instructional materials. Given this problem, we conducted a qualitative content analysis of images used within 20 different college courses to better understand how images are used in online courses. After creating a new image categorization, we coded 232 images. Results found that while only 27% of images in online courses were educational, other types of images can still serve important roles in online courses. The results were used to create a new framework for image use in online learning. We conclude the paper with recommendations that can help online educators and instructional designers select images for the online courses they design and teach.

Research on the Application of Computer Photoshop Software in University Network Courses

The design and construction of online courses is the beginning of online course teaching. The course content must follow the development trend of the industry, and constantly improve and update. This course can maintain the attractiveness and vitality of the online course platform and fully mobilize the enthusiasm of students. Using online courses platform for self-learning. Based on the development practice of Photoshop network course, this paper introduces the teaching design link in the network course, and studies and discusses the functional modules and development technology of the network course.

Pedagogical Approaches and Learning Activities, Content, and Resources Used in the Design of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in the Health Sciences: Protocol for a Scoping Review.

BackgroundDeveloping online, widely accessible educational courses, such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), offer novel opportunities to advancing academic research and the educational system in resource-constrained countries. Despite much literature on the use of design-related features and principles of different pedagogical approaches when developing MOOCs, there are reports of inconsistency between the pedagogical approach and the learning activities, content, or resources in MOOCs.ObjectiveWe present a protocol for a scoping review aiming to systematically identify and synthesize literature on the pedagogical approaches used, and the learning activities, content, and resources used to facilitate social interaction and collaboration among postgraduate learners in MOOCs across the health sciences.MethodsWe will follow a 6-step procedure for scoping reviews to conduct a search of published and gray literature in the following databases: Medline via Ovid, ERIC, SCOPUS, Web of Science, and PsychINFO. Two reviewers will screen titles, abstracts, and relevant full texts independently to determine eligibility for inclusion. The team will extract data using a predefined charting form and synthesize results in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist.ResultsThe scoping review is currently ongoing. As of March 2022, we have performed initial data searches and screened titles and abstracts of the studies we found but revised the search string owing to inaccurate results. We aim to start analyzing the data in June 2022 and expect to complete the scoping review by February 2023.ConclusionsWith the results of this review, we hope to report on the use of pedagogical approaches and what learning activities, content, and resources foster social and collaborative learning processes, and to further elucidate how practitioners and academics can harvest our findings to bridge the gap between pedagogics and learning activities in the instructional design of MOOCs for postgraduate students in the health sciences.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/35878

“Design and implementation challenges of massive open online course on research methods for Indian medical postgraduates and teachers –descriptive analysis of inaugural cycle”

BackgroundIn view of the growing popularity, reach and access for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), India’s apex body for medical education, the National Medical Commission (NMC) mandated uniform foundational course on research methods for the medical post graduates (PGs) and faculty members of the medical institutions under NMC as MOOC. This course is a pioneering effort in the field of India’s PG medical education. NMC entrusted Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE) to design and offer the MOOC, named as Basic Course in Biomedical Research (BCBR). We describe the experience of designing and that of implementation challenges in the inaugural cycle of the course.MethodsThe course objective was to inculcate the fundamental concepts in research methods covering epidemiology and biostatistics in the form of video lectures, resource materials, discussion forum, assignments, feedback and a final proctored examination. The course was delivered over 16 weeks through MOOCs platform under the Indian Ministry of Education. We reviewed records, documents and faculty notes and described the course conceptualization, development, design and implementation process. We abstracted information from course portal on enrolment profile of the participants, self-reported course feedback (structured and open-ended on format, lectures and quality of contents), examination registration form, scores obtained in the assignments/examination and that of the participant queries. We described quantitative data using descriptive statistics. We presented the thematic analysis of qualitative data from open-ended questions in the feedback system and that of email interactions.ResultsThe inaugural cycle (September-December 2019) was taken by 24,385 participants. Majority, 15,879 (65%) were from medical background. 13,242 (54%) were medical postgraduates and 2637 (11%) were medical teachers. Among the enrolled, 14,720 (60%) cleared the assignments. A total of 11,392 (47%), 8,205 (62%) medical PGs and 896 (34%) faculty members successfully completed the course. Feedback from 1305 (5%) participants had mean score of 4.5/5 (±0.7) for quality of teaching. We faced challenges in customizing the course for medical participants, unawareness among target group, digital illiteracy and the ongoing pandemic.ConclusionsDuring the inaugural cycle of the online Basic Course in Biomedical Research course, nearly half of the enrolled participants successfully completed and received the certificate. India’s MOOC for enhancing research capabilities of future medical researchers encountered successes and challenges. Lessons learnt from the inaugural cycle will guide future directions and to address larger issues in terms of sustainability and replication by stakeholders in medical education in India or elsewhere.

Refining active learning design principles through design-based research

This design-based research (DBR) study had both local and general goals. Its local goal was to increase active learning in the online courses offered at a large research university in the midwestern United States. Its larger goal was to define active learning design principles for online courses in general, so that they might be used to improve the learning experience for wider audiences. While the principles of active learning can be applied to courses in any mode of delivery: flipped classroom, blended, or fully online, the importance of active learning in online courses is highlighted because active learning course design requires numerous upfront considerations. Moreover, because the pedagogical model is structured throughout the online learning environment and thus is made visible, online courses present a unique opportunity to review what is core to the principles of active learning. The design intervention (an innovative course review method) incorporated the principles of authentic e-learning. The study addressed two major research questions: (1) “To what extent does the intervention—a new course review method—indicate the extent to which active learning is present in the design of an online course?” and (2) “How do the principles of authentic e-learning incorporated in the new course review method need to be refined?” To address the first question, the online course review intervention was used to evaluate the learning activities and assessments of 75 undergraduate online courses against these authentic e-learning principles, resulting in an active learning (AL) score for each course. To address the second question, we surveyed the learners in these 75 courses about what made learning meaningful and coded the learners’ feedback in reference to the active learning design principles. The practical outcome of this DBR study is a pedagogical course review that quantifies active learning in online courses. The theoretical outcomes of this DBR study are refined active learning design principles that can serve instructors, designers, teacher educators, and administrators in enhancing the design of online courses. The findings of this study affirm that the authentic task principles as well as newly identified learner-centered design principles together can serve as evidence-based principles to define and refine active learning in online courses.

Using the Critical Incident Questionnaire as a Formative Evaluation Tool to Inform Online Course Design: A Qualitative Study

The online instructor plays a prominent role in influencing how students respond to an online course, from designing the course structure, course activities, and assignments to encouraging interaction. Therefore, to develop effective online courses, instructors need robust feedback on their design strategies. Student evaluation of teaching (SET) functions as a summative evaluation of the course design and delivery. Yet, the feedback from SETs can only be integrated into the next iteration of the course, thereby failing to benefit the students who provide the feedback. One suggestion is to use midsemester formative evaluation to inform course design in real time. A qualitative research study was conducted to explore whether the Critical Incident Questionnaire (CIQ) could be an effective formative evaluative tool to inform real-time online course design and delivery. Thematic analysis was conducted on the midcourse evaluations obtained from 70 students in six fully online master’s level courses. There are three key findings from this study. First, CIQ use can provide opportunities for real-time adjustments to online course design and inform future redesign of online courses. Second, responses received via the CIQ prioritize the student voice and experience by focusing on factors that are critical to them. Finally, this deep-dive analysis reinforces the enduring factors that contribute to effective online course design and delivery. A recommendation for practice is to use the CIQ as an effective tool to gather formative feedback from students. This feedback can then be used to adjust course design as needed.

Mapping Network Structure and Diversity of Interdisciplinary Knowledge in Recommended MOOC Offerings

In massive open online courses (MOOCs), recommendation relationships present a collection of associations that imply a new form of integration, such as an interdisciplinary synergy among diverse disciplines. This study took a computer science approach, using the susceptible-infected (SI) model to simulate the process of learners accessing courses within networks of MOOC offerings, and emphasized the potential effects of a network structure. The current low rate of access suggests that a ceiling effect influences learners’ access to learning online, given that there are thousands of courses freely available. Interdisciplinary networks were created by adding recommended courses into four disciplinary networks. The diversity of interdisciplinarity was measured by three attributes, namely variety, balance, and disparity. The results attest to interesting changes in how the diversity of interdisciplinary knowledge grows. Particularly remarkable is the degree to which the diversity of interdisciplinarity increased when new recommended courses were first added. However, changing diversity implied that neighbouring disciplines were more likely to come to the forefront to attach to the interdisciplinarity of MOOC offerings, and that the pace of synergy among disparate disciplines slowed as time passed. In the absence of domain experts, expert knowledge is not sufficient to support interdisciplinary curriculum design. More evidence-based analytics studies showing how interdisciplinarity evolves in course offerings could help us to better design online courses that prepare learners with 21st-century skills.

Digital learning experience design and research of a self-paced online course for risk-based inspection of food imports

The growth in trade of food across international borders requires authorities to be trained to promote food safety and risk-based inspection. Online training for risk-based food import controls is a promising approach. In this study, we focused on the development and refinement of a self-paced online course to teach risk-based inspection of food imports, in short RIFI. We applied educational design research and research to improve methodology along with heuristics evaluations, a user experience study, and a learner experience study with statistically significant pre/posttests and a total of 56 participants, mostly from the United States. The result indicates that the course is useable and shows learning efficacy. The majority of the participants (94%) gained knowledge after taking the course. However, looking deeper into the data, only 35% of participants met the targeted postscore based on the learning growth scale. This denotes the needs for refining the course. There is room for improvement in layout, terminology, data entry, comprehensiveness, and feedback. Our study suggests that the emerging field of learning experience design combines multiple literacies as it expands on instructional design, user experience as well as teaching and learning skills. In the future, further development of content and activities, including another module, is planned.

Design and First Impressions of a Small Private Online Course in Clinical Workplace Learning: Questionnaire and Interview Study.

BackgroundClinical workplace learning takes place in a dynamic and complex learning environment that is designated as a site for patient care and education. Challenges in clinical training can be overcome by implementing blended learning, as it offers flexible learning programs suitable for student-centered learning, web-based collaboration, and peer learning.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to evaluate the Small Private Online Course (SPOC) by interns’ first impressions and satisfaction measures (N=20) on using the SPOC. This study describes the design process of a SPOC from a theoretical and practical perspective and how it has been integrated into a clinical internship in internal medicine.MethodsThe design of the SPOC was based on general theoretical principles that learning should be constructive, contextual, collaborative, and self-regulated, and the self-determination theory to stimulate intrinsic motivation. Interns’ impressions and level of satisfaction were evaluated with a web-based questionnaire and group interview.ResultsInterns thought the web-based learning environment to be a useful and accessible alternative to improve knowledge and skills. Peer learning and web-based collaboration through peer interaction was perceived as less effective, as student feedback was felt inferior to teacher feedback. The interns would prefer more flexibility within the course, which could improve self-regulated learning and autonomy.ConclusionsThe evaluation shows that the SPOC is a useful and accessible addition to the clinical learning environment, providing an alternative opportunity to improve knowledge and skills. Further research is needed to improve web-based collaboration and interaction in our course.

Impact of Online Courses on University Student Visual Attention During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BackgroundUnder the threat of COVID-19, many universities offer online courses to avoid student gatherings, which prevent teachers from collecting responses and optimizing courses. This work collected eye movement data to analyze attention allocation and proposed instruction for improving the courses.MethodsSubjects were recruited to watch three online courses. Meanwhile, their eye movement data were collected through Dikablis Glasses. Mayer’s multimedia cognitive theory was adopted to discriminate the pivotal components of online course, and the Mann–Whitney relevance analysis demonstrated that different representations of courses affected the viewers’ attention differently.ResultsThree subjects watched three different types of political courses. Course 1, which combined text and explanation, attracted the most attention. Course 2 was shown to be less attractive than course 1 and better than course 3, but the subjects were distracted by the animations in course 2. Course 3, which did not use any technique to present learning content, attracts the least attention from the subjects. A correlation analysis shows that course 1 and course 3 have similar results compared with course 2.ConclusionOnline courses have become a norm during the COVID-19 pandemic. Improving the quality of online courses can effectively reduce the impact of the epidemic on teaching. These experiment results suggest that text + commentary in the design of online courses can effectively attract the attention of the listeners and achieve better learning results. Attention gradually rises in the early stage and then falls after reaching a peak. At this time, the proper introduction of animation can effectively reverse the attention curve, while individual text or commentary results in quickly losing the listener’s attention.

UI/UX design of educational on-line courses

This paper considers the problem of an interface for educational platform, which is fully effective for achieving the outcomes of educational activity. The current research is a theoretical analysis of existing recommendations on UI/UX design, applied when creating educational systems, as well as of research papers that study user interface (UI) usability and evaluate user experience (UX) in designing on-line platforms. This article describes a mechanism for evaluating usability with the help of baseline and final evaluation tool. It also studies UX components, that ensure its high quality. A list of standard components of web-design is being discussed in the present paper; modern trends in web-design of educational platforms are identified. The paper provides the description of an on-line course model, which is built on the basis of analysis of the prerequisites for existing and functioning of educational on-line systems and which is aimed at achieving outcomes of educational activity. There is ground to believe that the design of educational on-line courses will contribute to achieving the outcomes of educational activity, if user interface components comply with a list of criteria, such as easy-to-perceive content, no extra information, easy and simple navigation on the pages of the course, following the principles of usability.

A Meta-Analysis on the Community of Inquiry Presences and Learning Outcomes in Online and Blended Learning Environments

The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework describes three essential presences (i.e., teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence) and how these presences interact in providing an educational experience in online and blended learning environments. This meta-analysis examined 19 empirical studies on the CoI Presences (Teaching Presence, Social Presence, and Cognitive Presence) and their correlations with learning outcomes, including actual learning, perceived learning, and satisfaction. It was found that teaching presence and actual learning were moderately positively correlated, (r = .353). There was a weak correlation between cognitive presence and actual learning, (r = .250) and social presence and actual learning, (r = .199). For the correlation between the presences and perceived learning, cognitive presence and perceived learning was found to be strongly correlated, (r = .663), followed by the moderate correlation between social presence and perceived learning (r = .432), and teaching presence and perceived learning, (r = .392). With respect to satisfaction, the correlation between cognitive presence and satisfaction, (r = .586) and between teaching presence and satisfaction was strong, (r = .510), but the correlation between social presence and satisfaction was moderate, (r = .447). The findings have implications for designers and instructors who design and teach online and blended courses to include these presences.

Correlates of Academic Performance in Online Higher Education: A Systematic Review

The existing steady and continual rise of online learning in higher education has been accelerated by COVID-19 and resulted in a move away from solely on-campus teaching. Prior to the pandemic, online education was providing higher education to students who were returning to study to up-skill, are employed full-time, caring for family members, living rurally or remotely and/or for whom otherwise face-to-face campus learning was not a preference or option. To understand how we can better support online students in their unique circumstances and create an optimal learning environment, we must understand the factors associated with academic achievement within an online setting. This systematic review involved a search of relevant databases published between January 2009 and May 2021 examining factors and constructs related to academic performance in online higher education settings. Across 34 papers, 23 (67.6%) explored factors and constructs related to student characteristics including cognitive and psychological, demographic, university enrolment, and prior academic performance. Twenty-one (61.8%) papers explored learning environment factors including engagement, student experience, course design, and instructor. Our overall synthesis of findings indicates that academic performance in online learning is most strongly associated with motivation (including self-efficacy), and self-regulation. We propose three main implications of our review for online learning stakeholders such as educators and designers. Firstly, we argue that the wellbeing of online learners is important to understand, and future research should explore its impact on students’ experience and success in online higher education. Secondly, we emphasise the importance of developing and designing online courses utilising relevant frameworks and evidence-based principles. Finally, we propose an approach to promoting improved student cognitive and psychosocial experiences (such as self-efficacy, self-regulation, and perceived support) could be achieved by creating and incorporating an online learning orientation module at the commencement of enrolment.Systematic Review Registration: (website), identifier (registration number).

Online teaching research in universities based on blockchain

This study explores the use of blockchain in the course design and evaluation in Chinese universities, and explores the value of teachers’ views and experiences on blockchain in the course design. Previous studies have shown that blockchain has a positive effect on the improvement of online teaching management and evaluation quality. Most of the current research focuses on the management of online teaching by using blockchain, and this qualitative case study investigates the design and evaluation of online course based on blockchain by five teachers of different specialties. Semi-structured interviews and course materials were collected from five teachers for a TPACK framework analysis. The result of the survey emphasizes that the redesign of online courses based on blockchain can improve the matching between blockchain and courses, the quality of teaching and the trust of various parties in online education. The block chain-based the online course of both theory and practice design and evaluation, which is oriented by the index method of capability evaluation, is an appropriate idea and has achieved good results. The experimental course focuses on the integration of blockchain and experimental platform. The immersive and interactive course presentation and the personalized examination based on machine learning are effective. But follow-up should pay attention to the different requirements of course design of different disciplines, using a variety of data sources for analysis, to take measures to enhance the enthusiasm of teachers to adopt new technologies.

VIDEO CAMERA ON-OFF DURING SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE GROUP WORK

Since its introduction several decades ago, online learning has become a component of higher education, with institutions worldwide providing a form of online course delivery. One key feature of online learning is the use of video conferencing software and the use of a video camera feature. Grounded on Vygotsky and Wallon's ideas of how emotion and cognition are interconnected and equally relevant in learning processes, this paper aims to understand how the use of the video camera feature in synchronous online group work affects relationship building in those settings and the students' overall learning experience. Qualitative findings from 22 semistructured interviews completed with 12 students and 10 instructors enrolled in Canadian postsecondary online teacher education courses are shared. Results indicate instructors and students perceive there are consequences for turning the video camera on and off during synchronous sessions and that seeing others on camera helps promote positive affective relationships among students. The findings contribute to the literature related to video camera usage in online learning environments and serve to inform institutions and instructors designing online courses with synchronous group activities.

Rapid Adjustments of Remote Teaching of Youth – Lessons from the Pandemics

The paper is overviewing ubiquitous digitalisation and its exertion into the educational sphere. Instant transfer into online mode of teaching during the COVID-19 lockdown raised the discussion on the effectiveness of such mode. The analysis of what are the factors that potentially can harm academic progress is done. However, the COVID-19 lockdown showed that criteria of effectiveness can be ignored as less important. That is why there is a need to analyse it and in the result implement the changes into online education that would allow it to resemble the in-class mode as much as possible. In the paper, an exemplary solution is proposed – the design of a language online course. The course is created using the CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) method. So, it covers not only learning of language, but also of content, that is digital hygiene in this case. At the end of the paper expert evaluations of the course design are done.

Designing Effective Online Courses: Exploring the Relationships Amongst Online Teaching Self-efficacy, Professional Development, Online Teaching Experience, and Reported Implementation of Effective Higher Education Online Course Design Practices

How best to prepare and support higher education faculty to design and teach effective online courses is a topic of great significance to higher education institutional leaders and faculty developers. This study explored how hours of professional development along with online teaching and learning experiences were related to online teaching self-efficacy and the extent to which participants reported implementation of effective online course design practices. Using a non-experimental quantitative correlational explanatory research study design, data were collected using a questionnaire. Participants included 104 online faculty from a large public higher education system located in the upper Midwest that includes both community colleges and universities. The findings suggested that both online teaching self-efficacy and self-reported ratings of implementation of effective online course design practices were higher when individuals have completed at least 20 hours of professional development meant to prepare them to teach online, have experience as an online instructor and/or online learner, and have participated in a peer review of their online course. The findings offer insights into how those with varying levels of online teaching self-efficacy rate their online course design practices and suggest that faculty may not accurately self-assess their course design abilities. The results and implications for those who are planning for and providing professional development meant to prepare faculty to teach online are discussed.

Examining Higher Education Instructor Perceptions of Roles and Competencies in Online Teaching

Online instructors adopt various roles and perform various competencies in the design and delivery of online courses. In this study, online instructor roles are categorized into eight types including Subject Matter Expert, Course Designer and Developer, Course Facilitator, Course Manager, Advisor/Mentor, Assessor/Evaluator, Technology Expert, and Lifelong Learner. Through survey-based research with 141 online instructors, this study examines competencies that online instructors perform based on various roles. When rating competencies, overall categorical means for all the roles were rated above 4.00, which showed that they used all these roles. The highest rated items and lowest rated items are discussed in addition to the connection between research and practice in online teaching. Online instructors who participate in training and who collaborate with instructional designers rated the frequency with which they perform the competencies to be higher. This study has implications for online instructors, instructional designers, and administrators who design and deliver online learning and offer professional development for online instructors.

The virtual COVID-19 classroom: surveying outcomes, individual differences, and technology use in college students

The COVID-19 pandemic caused many colleges to quickly shift to virtual learning, leading students to rely on technology to complete coursework while also experiencing new situations and stressors. The present study explored students’ technology use in their online course in conjunction with several student outcomes and individual difference measures. Ninety-six undergraduate students were surveyed about devices used and their perceptions of those devices. In addition, the survey measured students’ engagement, motivation, procrastination, perceived stress, and self-efficacy. It also asked students to report their current grade as well as how satisfied and isolated they felt in their course. Relationships emerged in predictable ways between course outcomes and individual difference measures. And though laptops were most used for coursework, more smartphone use related to lower feelings of isolation. Lower feelings of isolation then related to higher grades and less stress. Regression analyses confirmed that smartphone use explained unique variance in feelings of isolation, and further revealed that perceived stress consistently predicted all outcomes. From these results and complementary qualitative survey data, it seems that both laptops and smartphones hold importance for academics in the current context. Educators should further explore the role of device in students’ experience as well as consider this information when designing online courses.