OJDLA

Competency Model Development for Online Instructors

Julie Stone Ingle — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 12:05:00 -0500

This paper describes the design and development of a competency model for online instructors based on literature reviews, student surveys, and other artifacts. The first development phase included a literature review centered around researched-based competencies for online instructors and existing theories used to evaluate online instructional needs. The theoretical framework used to support the research was the transactional distance theory and the relative proximity theory. The investigators used a qualitative survey-design approach to collect data. An extensive coding of data from student surveys revealed specific competency clusters. This article highlights the essential components necessary to align the model with the stakeholders' needs to implement effective online teaching practices. The recommended implementation model outlines the business needs, goals, and steps to evaluate and validate the return on investments and ensure the competency model's implementation meets the organizations' proposed needs and goals.

Time Compression and the Online Student Simulation Experience

Julie Stone Ingle — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 12:03:00 -0500

Simulations offer a proven way to enable experiential learning in business courses. Longer games enable both application of concepts and models learned during coursework and a framework within which students can experience teamwork and use data analysis to improve performance. Recent growth of compressed sessions in academe, particularly in business education, could limit use of longer simulations. We compared MBA student participation in a strategic marketing simulation and post-simulation reflection reports in two online classes--a 15-week semester and a seven-week term. There was no difference in student participation, nor in report content relating their overall experience and quality of their team communication. We offer implications for instructors and administrators contemplating schedule compression decisions.

Faculty Development for Online Learning: Sparking Transformation of Perspectives and Practice

Julie Stone Ingle — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 12:02:00 -0500

Faculty development for online teaching is an opportunity to reflect on and revise teaching perceptions and instructional practice. This study found written reflection activities aided instructors in questioning their instructional decisions. This, combined with dialogue with colleagues, became an avenue for instructors to think deeply about teaching practice, specifically as they were able to benefit from the perspective of experienced online instructors. This study’s findings suggest that having experienced instructors come in to tour their courses, discuss lessons learned, and answer questions about practice helped instructors to see alternative perspectives and contributed to perspective transformation.

Student Perspectives on Dissertation Chairs’ Mentoring Practices in an Online Practitioner Doctoral Program

Julie Stone Ingle — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 12:01:00 -0500

The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to assess dissertation chairs’ current practices to support doctoral students in an online practitioner program from the students’ perspective. Findings from a 2020 study on dissertation chair experiences and current practices for meeting with and providing feedback to doctoral students pursuing a scholar-practitioner terminal degree in an online doctoral program were used to develop the questions for this study. The questions addressed student success in completing the dissertation in relation to attributes of (a) regular contact, (b) multiple modes of contact, (c) timely feedback, (d) effective feedback, (e) feedback beyond the dissertation, (f) trusted guidance, (g) evolving feedback, (h) consistent message, (i) honored vision, (j) individualized coaching and guidance, (k) trust and caring behaviors, and (l) balancing institutional requirements and student needs. Forty-eight participants responded to close-ended survey questions. Twelve participants subsequently participated in an interview using phenomenological inquiry to further probe their experiences. The findings indicate the importance of multiple attributes in the students’ success. For 9 of the 12 attributes studied, there was a significant (p<0.05) correlation between the student experiencing the attribute and them deeming it to be an important attribute. Accounts of student experiences further illustrate these results. Students have expectations of their dissertation chair to serve as a trusted mentor, allowing room for dialogue and discussion, as they lead them to successful completion of their degree.

Online versus Face-to-Face Nursing Degrees: A Study of Recruiters’ Perceptions

Julie Stone Ingle — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:45:00 -0400

Since the 1990s, online learning and distance learning have proliferated rapidly. The purpose of this study was to explore recruiters' perceptions regarding nurses with online degrees versus face-to-face (f2f) degrees at the baccalaureate level. This study used a qualitative research approach with a phenomenological research design. A total of ten nurse recruiters were recruited to participate in online Zoom interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the findings. Eight themes representing recruiters' perceptions regarding nurses with online degrees versus f2f degrees at the baccalaureate level emerged from the qualitative data. Participants perceived that the nurses with online degrees tended to be technologically savvy, had critical thinking skills, and could accomplish tasks autonomously. Participants had different perceptions regarding the advantages of online education based on their own experiences of taking online classes.

Adaptive Advising Through Text Messaging: Adviser Motives and Institutional Support for Texting Students

Julie Stone Ingle — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:30:00 -0400

This study explored academic advisor use and perceptions of values, motives, and institutional support of SMS texting as a communication channel with students. Theoretical concepts in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and adaptive leadership guided the study as well as existing survey research on Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) in higher education (Duran et al., 2005). Survey responses from advisors nationwide (N = 402) revealed SMS use among all ages, genders, experience levels, and programmatic formats, and advisors overall had a positive view of the communication channel. Motives for use varied between online and on-ground academic advisers, with SMS used primarily to gain access to richer mediums. A statistically significant association between learning environment and SMS incorporation indicated that online advisors were likelier to use SMS texting for student communication. The study sheds light on the prevalence of SMS use by academic advisers and how institutional policies and resources might better support the university-to-student connection. For HEIs interested in enabling adaptive advising to experiment with interventions at scale and relationship building in student-centric mediums, the findings may help to provide a framework for using SMS text as an additional channel for communication.

For-Profit Online Performance through the COVID-19 Pandemic

Julie Stone Ingle — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 10:16:00 -0400

The COVID-19 pandemic has had substantial impacts on all types of higher education institutions. The common thought is that the shift to online would be a benefit to existing online education providers. This paper examines the market as a whole, as well as the performance of publicly-traded online higher education providers against the market index of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with the goal of identifying whether or not online providers were able to take advantage of the market conditions to exceed the performance of the market as a whole. Coupled with this investigation is the phenomenon of public institutions acquiring for-profit online providers and the implications of that emerging trend to the higher education market as a whole.

FLOC, Facilitating Learning Online Certification Workshop Part of the Micro-Credential series for online teaching certification

Julie Stone Ingle — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 09:12:00 -0400

The pandemic has changed the way we look at our professional development opportunities. UNG’s Distance Education & Technology Integration (DETI) made the decision to completely revamp our professional development options. In 2012 we first developed a self-paced fully online workshop to onboard new online/hybrid faculty quickly and efficiently. The Facilitating Learning Online Certification (FLOC) is a standalone self-paced workshop and is popular among our new hires as well as seasoned faculty. This presentation outlines the way we have incorporated FLOC into a new “menu” of professional development opportunities. Rather than a certificate for successfully completing individual workshops, now each workshop is awarded a micro-credential (badge), which when combined, cultivate to our UNG Online Teaching Certification.

Using Feedforward to Improve the Course Redesign-Relaunch Process

Julie Stone Ingle — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 08:05:00 -0400

The wash-rinse-repeat model of refreshing courses each term might be a financially beneficial model for the institution, yet is it serving students the best educational experience? If all that is monitored in the pre-flight check is for broken hyperlinks and refreshed dates, who is ensuring the quality delivery? Many institutions proudly boast “excellence in teaching”, “student success”, “engaged learning”, and “student-centered” in mission, vision, and value statements, yet once an online course is launched, the oversight of that course often appears to go on autopilot in some institutions for years.

Course design is an iterative process with feedforward loops like student course reviews, peer observations, course grades, and self-reflections to name a few. The process might involve a SWOT-style analysis including course challenges students identify, opportunities for improvement from peers, and reflection on course goals to capture all input. Instructional designers are key stakeholders in the process for information about campus resources, educational technology, and accessing reports from the learning management system from previous courses to study student performance or course page usage.

Interactive Videos: Student Perceptions Before and After the Great Pivot

Julie Stone Ingle — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 08:04:00 -0400

The purpose of this study was to survey undergraduate students of a management statistics course about their perceptions on the usefulness of a series of instructional videos with embedded quiz questions created by their instructor to provide students with knowledge of Excel functions needed to understand the course materials and complete course work. Due to COVID-19, the intended study was split between academic years and three different course types (in-person pre-COVID-19, fully-online post-COVID-19, in-person post-COVID-19), all taught by the same instructor, were surveyed resulting in a study that compared three different course types rather than a simple replication study. The results of the survey showed that there were significant positive changes to perceptions of video quizzing usefulness for students as they progressed through the in-person pre-COVID-19 course, but not significant differences for students who progressed through the two other course. In comparing the courses with each other, the only area in which all three had significant differences to each other was in students feeling the video quizzes enabled them to skip synchronous sessions. This was the only area in which the pre-COVID 19 course had any significant differences from the two post-COVID-19 courses, but the two post-COVID-19 courses were found to be significantly different from each other on almost every item with the fully-online students rating all items higher than the in-person students did. The researchers of this study felt that these results pointed to two major areas for future study; one being on how class modality post-COVID-19 impacts student perceptions of online tools and the other being related to the value and replicability of the in-person experience among those who were forced into remote learning during the pandemic.