Students In Online Courses Research Articles

On-campus students taking online courses: Factors associated with unsuccessful course completion

On-campus students are requesting online course options, and campuses are increasingly providing online sections of core courses, with a common offering involving online science lectures accompanied by on-campus lab courses. However, low course completion rates by on-campus students in online courses have become an area of concern. This study seeks to identify factors associated with unsuccessful online course completion and withdrawal by investigating course completion rates in an online physics lecture course. The authors use eight years of data (N=3032) to establish lecture course completion patterns then compare these patterns with three semesters (N=940) of a hybrid course combining online lecture with face-to-face laboratories. Deviations from established patterns are identified and student characteristics which are uniquely associated with unsuccessful course completion and withdrawal in online sections are isoloated. Differences in rates of students repeating the class, lower rates of repeating student completion in online sections, and early disengagement by repeating students are found to be important. Results imply the need for early course interventions and/or potential policies regarding repeating students.

Time on Task: Perceived and measured time in online courses for students and faculty

Objective : A cross sectional, online survey study examined active course time and activity for students and faculty in online courses compared to their perceptions of time. Methods : Student self-reports of their estimated course time and percentage of time on individual tasks, and faculty estimates of student time as well as their own course activity time were obtained. This was compared to actual individual and course summary activity data as recorded by the learning platform (Blackboard). Descriptive and t tests were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22. Results : Students and faculty generally agreed on the amount of time spent on task in all areas examined (discussion, assignments, tests and quizzes, messaging and communication, information searches, checking instructions and rubrics), but were significantly different for time spent off-line preparing Discussions and Assignments. Discussions, content materials, messaging and grade records were the most active areas. Students believed that the work in the online courses was more appropriate than did their instructors. There was no correlation between active course time and course grades. Conclusions : Students and faculty generally agreed in the amount of time spent actively in an online class, but grossly overestimated their time online. On line time did not correlate to course grade. The study adds to better understanding of the time sent in online courses.

Enhancing Critical Thinking in Graduate Nursing Online Asynchronous Discussions.

Graduate nursing students in online courses often have limited success in developing the critical thinking (CT) skills essential for advanced roles. This study describes the use of complementary strategies in a graduate-level nursing course to enhance CT in online discussions. Using Paul and Elder's framework for understanding the components of CT, the authors designed an asynchronous online course using multiple strategies to promote CT. We used mixed methods to collect descriptive and numerical data and content and repeated measures analyses to identify changes in CT skills and student perceptions across the semester. CT scores increased significantly and aligned with students' perceived improvements in CT. Evidence of CT in online discussions increased significantly across the semester with the use of multiple instructional strategies and substantial student and faculty efforts. The findings are a useful benchmark for future studies comparing combinations of strategies to identify those most effective and least arduous. [J Nurs Educ. 2016;55(9):514-521.].

Building creative thinking into the STEM undergraduate classroom experience using large databases: The Paleobiology Database example

Undergraduate research experiences have been linked to increased student recruitment and retention in STEM, particularly within traditionally underrepresented populations. However, research experiences can be cost prohibitive due to the infrastructure necessary to conduct experiments or collect field data. Existing, large scientific databases can be leveraged to provide students (including students in online courses) with authentic research experiences without the logistical costs. The Paleobiology Database (paleobiodb.org) is one of many publicly available (and free) scientific databases. This project describes authentic research activities which engage students at several 4 and 2-year institutions in the southeastern United States use the data available in the Paleobiology Database to engage in the creative process of developing their own research questions, hypotheses, and investigations. Once produced an evaluated, these research activities will be made available to instructors across the world on the Paleobiology Database website, which will also encourage educators to create and post their own activities as well.

Academic Dishonesty: Assessing the Threat of Cheating Companies to Online Education

ABSTRACTAcademic dishonesty has evolved to keep pace with changes in higher education. Websites now advertise the service of taking online courses for students. This study examined one such online company. Representatives from the company were professional and delivered the advertised services. Two experienced faculty members who co-taught the course used in this study were unable to identify the cheating company. The cheating company earned an “A” for the student. This article discusses the process by which the company was initially identified as well as provides an account of the interactions with the company that resulted in the student earning an “A.”

Promoting online learners’ continuance intention: An integrated flow framework

Despite the rapid growth and significant benefits of online learning, retaining students in online courses remains a key challenge. This study empirically tests an integrated model that simultaneously examines factors influencing students’ attainment of flow experience in online learning and the impacts of flow on their online learning continuance intention. The results identified telepresence as the most significant factor influencing students’ flow experience in online learning. Perceived hedonic value played the most important mediating role transmitting the effects of flow on students’ continuance intention. The implications of the study for both research and practice are discussed.

Time will tell: The role of mobile learning analytics in self-regulated learning

This longitudinal study explores the effects of tracking and monitoring time devoted to learn with a mobile tool, on self-regulated learning. Graduate students (n = 36) from three different online courses used their own mobile devices to track how much time they devoted to learn over a period of four months. Repeated measures of the Online Self-Regulated Learning Questionnaire and Validity and Reliability of Time Management Questionnaire were taken along the course. Our findings reveal positive effects of tracking time on time management skills. Variations in the channel, content and timing of the mobile notifications to foster reflective practice are investigated, and time-logging patterns are described. These results not only provide evidence of the benefits of recording learning time, but also suggest relevant cues on how mobile notifications should be designed and prompted towards self-regulated learning of students in online courses.

Online Learning for Students from Diverse Backgrounds: Learning Disability Students, Excellent Students and Average Students

The perceived contribution of science education online course to pre-service students (N=121) from diverse backgrounds students with learning disabilities (25 LD students), 28 excellent students and 68 average students is presented in this five years research. During the online course students were asked to choose a scientific subject; to map it and to plan teaching activities; to carry out the proposed activities with students in a classroom experience; and to reflect the process. The assumption was that adapting the online course by using information and communication technology following formative assessment will improve students' self-learning ability as well as broaden their science knowledge, their lab performance and teaching skills. Data were collected using quantitative and qualitative tools including: pre and post questionnaires and nine (three students from each group) depth interviews upon completion of the course. Findings, based on students` perceived evaluation, pinpointed on the advantages of the online course for students of the three groups. LD students’ achievements were not inferior to those of their peers, excellent students and average students. Yet, it carefully reports on a slight but explicitly marginal perceived evaluation of the LD students in comparison to excellent students and average students regarding: forum participation, authentic task and water lab performance. The article discusses the affordance of the online course via additional features that can be grouped into two categories: knowledge construction and flexibility in time, interaction and knowledge. Further research is suggested to extend the current study by examine the effect of other courses and different contents and by considering various evaluation methods of online courses, such as: observation, the think aloud, text and tasks analysis, and reflection.

Online Instructions: Problems and Potentials for the Teaching of English in Indonesia

This paper reports the results of a survey of a one-semester online course for students majoring in Economics, Secretarial, Computer Technology, and Language Education. The teacher created online materials of reading strategies along with the assignment on www.blackboard, corn, and the students were instructed to access the materials, learn them independently, and do some self-evaluated reading assignments. Questionnaires were then distributed to see what obstacles had hampered their efforts in learning from online materials, as well as what advantages they gained from the new instructional approach. The qualitative and quantitative data culled from the questionnaires revealed potentials as well as some latent problems in carrying out an online teaching. The general profile that emerged was learners who were enthusiastic about learning through Internet and felt that the new approach had familiarized them with the future's technological tools, but who were mostly hampered by the lack of fund and facilities. These are discussed with special reference to the use of advanced computer technology in the teaching of English in Indonesia.

Physics is a casualty of Ukrainian turmoil

Help is needed for physicists and students who were uprooted from rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine. But the particulars are just being fleshed out.

Increasing Interactivity in the Online Learning Environment: Using Digital Tools to Support Students in Socially Constructed Meaning-Making

As more and more library and LIS education migrates to the online environment, college and university faculty are called upon to expand their pedagogy. Interactivity has been cited as one factor in attracting and retaining students in online courses and programs. LIS educators can reach outside the online learning management system (LMS) to discover Web-based tools to develop more interactive learning experiences for students’ use in the virtual classroom. These activities and tools can help faculty as they enact a social constructivist teaching philosophy that increases the focus on students engaging with course content while they learn with and from one another as well as from the instructor. This paper describes one educator’s journey in stretching boundaries and using student-created Web 2.0 tools and multimedia to curate course content and support students’ collaborative learning experiences and collective meaning-making.

A Roadmap to Transform Learning From Face-to-Face to Online

Online learning offers a flexible learning environment, allowing colleges to attain a global presence and provide a higher caliber of student learning experiences. The implementation of online learning, however at the educational institution can lead to various challenges across three main clusters: students, faculty, and management. An overview of these challenges, based on the review of the current literature, is provided in this paper along with appropriate mitigation strategies. A generalized roadmap is established in this article that illustrates how the transition from face-to-face to online courses can be managed using a series of key steps in three critical phases during online course development: prior to, during, and post course development. The roadmap is applicable to educational institutions interested in starting their online learning journey and can provide additional guidance to institutions with an already established online presence. It facilitates the creation of well-structured online courses for students, ensures faculty are enrolled in professional development activities that support delivery of online courses, and supports managers in developing effective plans to implement technology infrastructure and create policies to support successful online learning.

Examining the Relationship between Students’ Perceptions of Instructor Communication of Power Online and Student Online Course Endorsement

Examining the Relationship between Students’ Perceptions of Instructor Communication of Power Online and Student Online Course Endorsement

Unlearning the Past: New Foundations for Online Student Retention

Many factors affect students selecting a university to attend and almost as many factors that can present challenges once they enroll and begin attending classes. Once they start taking courses, the next challenge is completing them, and this can be particularly taxing for online students. In the case of online universities, quality assessment criteria of the online courses and faculty may vary. Thus, it is important not only to get feedback from students, but also to look at course completion rates. The purpose of this paper is to share lessons learned regarding factors that significantly increased student online course completion rates at one online for-profit university. This study looked at a researcher's search for strategic factors that considerably increase course completion rates and identified assessment strategies to improve those course completion rates. The researcher’s collaboration with researchers from another university led to findings that revealed best practices and assessments factors successfully applied in online courses. Administrative changes at the researcher’s university led to retention efforts that have positively affected student retention. One major factor observed by the researcher included analytical writing assessments and their predictive value for doctoral student retention. Results of the implementation of the changes at the researcher’s university included a 39% increase in retention of first year doctoral candidates, from a low of 39% in 2011 to 75% in 2012.

Learning Latent Engagement Patterns of Students in Online Courses

Maintaining and cultivating student engagement is critical for learning. Understanding factors affecting student engagement will help in designing better courses and improving student retention. The large number of participants in massive open online courses (MOOCs) and data collected from their interaction with the MOOC open up avenues for studying student engagement at scale. In this work, we develop a framework for modeling and understanding student engagement in online courses based on student behavioral cues. Our first contribution is the abstraction of student engagement types using latent representations and using that in a probabilistic model to connect student behavior with course completion. We demonstrate that the latent formulation for engagement helps in predicting student survival across three MOOCs. Next, in order to initiate better instructor interventions, we need to be able to predict student survival early in the course. We demonstrate that we can predict student survival early in the course reliably using the latent model. Finally, we perform a closer quantitative analysis of user interaction with the MOOC and identify student activities that are good indicators for survival at different points in the course.

Inter-Professional Role Perception and Communication of Preservice Students and Therapists in Schools and Early Intervention

Limited research is available examining inter-professional role perception or communication specific to school and early intervention practice settings. The purpose of this two-phase qualitative study was to describe the inter-professional role perception and communication among occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy graduate students in online courses and therapists working in schools or early intervention. Data were gathered via online discussions and an in-person focus group. Results demonstrated differences in therapist and student role perceptions and understanding of areas of practice overlap. Findings may help educators develop a better understanding of how inter-professional role perceptions and communication are learned.

Comparing student and faculty perceptions of online and traditional courses

The use of online courses on college campuses has grown substantially in recent years, despite limited information on how these courses are perceived by faculty and students, compared to traditional (classroom) classes. In this study, two separate, but equivalent, surveys were developed to compare the perceptions of faculty and students. Comparisons were made between the perceptions of faculty who have taught the same course using online and traditional formats to the perceptions of students who have taken online and traditional courses using a series of 7-point Likert scales. Both surveys measured: 1) perceptions of online versus traditional courses, 2) perceptions of students who take online courses and students' motivations for taking online courses, 3) perceptions of faculty members who teach online courses; and 4) demographic characteristics. Analysis of data included the comparison of mean values between faculty and students and Pearson correlation analysis to determine relationships between questions. Of the 25 questions investigated in this study, 12 showed significant differences in means between faulty and student perceptions (p<0.001). Significant findings from this research showed that compared to faculty perceptions, students tend to see online courses as more self-directed and believe that online students must be more willing to teach themselves. Students in online courses feel more disconnected from professors and fellow students than professors believe them to be. In addition, faculty tend to see the role of the professor as more critical to the success of online courses than students do.

Cheminformatics for the masses: a chance to increase educational opportunities for the next generation of cheminformaticians

As was observed in the opening editorial for this journal [1], cheminformatics is a discipline that has an unusually wide scope of application, from library science to molecular biology, yet has a small and scattered academic presence. There are many people keen to learn about the techniques of cheminformatics, but only a small subset of them are able to obtain a formal qualification in it, due to time and commitment constraints, financial limitations, and proximity to one of the sites offering degrees in the field. The programs available and some of these challenges have been reviewed previously [2,3]. Online learning is thus an enticing opportunity for cheminformatics. If done well, it could widely broaden participation in cheminformatics learning, removing most if not all of these constraints on learning, and enabling the wisdom gained over the long history of the field to impact a wide range of practitioners and disciplines. It could help draw together expertise from rapidly growing cheminformatics communities in India, China, Europe, North America, and elsewhere. Indiana University has been developing and experimenting with a variety of online techniques since the inception of the cheminformatics program there a decade ago, including offering IU classes for credit synchronously to remote students through video and web conferencing [4], free online learning resources for cheminformatics [5], and a low cost online introductory cheminformatics textbook in PDF format [6]. A variety of other resources have been made available online, of particular note the Henry Stewart Talks Introduction to Cheminformatics series [7]. We are currently in the midst of a revolution, or at least a potential revolution, in how learning is done in higher education. MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), such as those offered by Coursera, edX, and Udacity, amongst others, offer the enticement of opening high quality education by world experts to anyone with an internet connection and computer. Universities are beginning to partner with these companies to offer accredited degrees, often at much lower cost than a traditional degree (see, for example, the recent announcement of an online M.S. in computer science by Georgia Tech and Udacity [8]). Much is still to be worked out in how to engage and retain students in online courses, avoid cheating, and so on, but it is clear that modern internet technologies are likely to vastly change the educational landscape, even if current offerings are just a transitional phase. There are many ways in which this movement could widen the impact of cheminformatics on the world, and increase the number of people with expertise in its many techniques and applications. For example, I am collaborating with Robert Belford at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, on a project to develop online MOOC-like cheminformatics teaching modules that can be used to create custom, locally organized cheminformatics courses for chemistry undergraduates at institutions that do not have the resources to teach cheminformatics themselves [9]. Localized expertise could be encapsulated in online resources and modules, and shared with Creative Commons licensing to allow customized training and accredited education options to be built for particular purposes in both academia and industry. The field as a whole could be advanced by online discussion around these modules (a Google + community exists precisely for this kind of discussion [10]). In the opening editorial for this journal, we expressed strongly our belief that cheminformatics be centered and cemented as a true, distinct discipline, with a mechanism to educate the next generation of researchers. The ballooning importance of health, science, data and informatics in the 21st century is evidence of the critical importance cheminformatics will play in the coming years. At the Journal of Cheminformatics we therefore strongly support the broadening and increase of accessibility to cheminformatics education. We encourage those involved in cheminformatics education to submit papers to this journal on their experiences and vision as well as describing open resources that are being made available. We hope thus to spur a lively discussion on how to contextualize cheminformatics education in the globally connected world we live in. We further challenge those involved in chemistry and cheminformatics education to consider widening accessibility of materials, particularly through making materials available online.

DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING COMPREHENSIVE STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES FOR ONLINE STUDENTS

The issue of “student retention” in higher education has become a critical focus in recent years. This problem is even more severe with students enrolled in online courses. While many institutions have tried to address this persistent issue, few have been able to mount an effective and sustained strategy to decrease attrition rates, particularly for students in online courses. This paper describes the efforts of Lone Star College-Online and its Online Student Support Services unit to build and implement a comprehensive suite of services for online students with the intention of enhancing the online student experience and ultimately, directly and indirectly, improving student retention rates. It is hoped that others can learn and gain from the shared successes and challenges presented in this paper.

The impact of student retention strategies: an empirical study

A major concern for institutions and instructors is the high dropout rate of students in online courses. This study investigated the impact of student retention strategies on retention rates in an online information systems course. A treatment group exposed to retention strategies related to student engagement, learning communities, student services and learner centred environments was compared with a control group. Results suggested that retention strategies may not impact retention rates. This is important as faculty are routinely encouraged to implement similar strategies in online course design and delivery.