TABLE OF CONTENTS
Ahmed Chiheb Ammari Jaleleddine Ben Hadj Slama Institut National des Sciences Appliques et de Technologie (INSAT)
Abstract: The development of feasible and cost-effective remote engineering and science laboratories is one of the most important problems facing the progress of online technical education. In this paper, we describe the development of a complete remote laboratory for the instruction of control engineering. Equipped with common industrial sensors and actuators, the system represents temperature and flow processes regulated with an industrial Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Using local monitoring, we enable students to perform interactive real plant experimentation in control and automation without the overhead incurred in maintaining a full presence laboratory.
Marcia Dixson, Ph.D. Michelle Kuhlhorst, M.A. Amber Reiff, M.A Indiana University-Purdue University at Fort Wayne
Abstract: Teaching online courses is unexplored territory for many instructors. Understanding how to use the powerful learning techniques involved in cooperative group learning in an online context is imperative. This paper is a first attempt to explore the dynamics of learning groups in the context of online discussion forums. Given the spread of online learning, the importance of this kind of research cannot be overstated. The authors analyzed the content of twenty asynchronous discussion forums within an online course in family communication. Their findings indicate that such groups send social messages at a fairly high rate; that participation seems to be fairly evenly distributed among members, although having a "leader" is helpful to the group's process; and that instructor messages and competitive student messages have no apparent effect on the final product. However, they also found that two types of messages-orienting/giving information and showing solidarity-were found more frequently in groups that produced higher quality work. This research opens many questions and offers some guidelines about the most effective ways to structure online learning situations.
Seungyeon Han, Ph.D. Hanyang Cyber University Janette R. Hill, Ph.D. University of Georgia
Abstract: This article describes a study exploring how students' learning is reflected in asynchronous online discussion. The study examined how online discourse contributes to the learning process. In examining online group discussions using discourse analysis, five different types of discourse were identified: goal setting, reflection, connection, original reformulation, and re-direction. With the different types of discourse, we explained how each message or a threaded message facilitated the discussion, particularly in terms of collaborative efforts to achieve the goal(s). The nature of each type of discourse was illustrated, including how different strategies were identified in the data and how different results of discussion were demonstrated in the data. We also describe the methodological issues related to the analysis of online discourse and discuss implications for research and practice.
Robert Heckman Syracuse University Hala Annabi University of Washington
Abstract: In this paper we argue for the possibility of using asynchronous technology to create a continuous, voluntary learning community in face-to-face courses. We discuss the theoretical concepts and values that are the foundation of such a community, describe some of the activities that take place there, and present principles of cultivation that we believe will help instructors nurture such communities in their own classes. The examples we present suggest that the emergence of a voluntary online learning community is possible in any course. Nevertheless, more research is necessary to better understand the nature of such learning communities, and we present a research agenda for the future study of this phenomenon.
Online learning is now reaching the core, helping to transform higher education and moving beyond isolated efforts to pervasive influence and change. The dichotomy of distance learning vs. campus-based education has broken down, and forward-looking senior administrators have embraced new approaches to education that contain the elements of successful online education while cultivating the community-building and branding of site-based education, particularly to promote enriched faculty and program development. Rather than being isolated in a distance learning task force or continuing education program, the conversations about online learning now occur—or need to occur—at the executive level and throughout other levels and structures.
Stephen J. Kuyath The William States Lee College of Engineering University of North Carolina at Charlotte Susan J. Winter The Belk College of Business Administration University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Abstract: Instant messaging (IM) is changing the way we communicate with each other and may prove to be a more effective communication tool for distance learning environments than the more commonly used discussion groups and email. Media richness and social presence theories are described and young adults' perception of IM's richness and social presence are determined. In addition, preferences for using instant messaging for communicating messages of low, medium, and high levels of equivocality were investigated. The results indicate that young adults perceive IM to fall between email and the telephone in both social presence and media richness. As message equivocality increases, preference for the use of the telephone increases while preference for the use of email decreases. Preference for the use of IM increases for messages of intermediate equivocality, but decreases for those of high equivocality. Overall, young adults prefer IM over email as a communication tool, but prefer the phone over IM. Implications for media richness theory, social presence theory, and distance learning are described.
Katrina A. Meyer, Ph.D. The University of Memphis
Abstract: In addressing how to evaluate online discussions, this paper will describe several concepts, tools, or frameworks that have been used in evaluations and discuss differences in approach based on instructor purpose, be it research, assessment, or learning. Then several common problems are described, including use of content analysis, identification of latent content, inadequate training of coders, lack of reliability, and choosing the correct unit of analysis. Two examples are provided of coding decisions made on portions of student discussions; these examples use two different frameworks to elucidate the process and its difficulties. Conclusions focus on the importance of following standard good research or assessment practice and preparing for a time-consuming and often frustrating coding process.
Dr. Katrina A. Meyer The University of Memphis Dr. Janis Bruwelheide Montana State University Russell Poulin Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications
Abstract: This paper focuses on an assessment of an online certification program in K-12 library media which has a near-perfect record of retaining students. Students and graduates of the program were asked to identify reasons for enrolling (and staying enrolled) in the program as well as functions that faculty performed well. These reasons were drawn upon three theoretical models of student retention: Tinto, Bean and Metzner, the Community of Inquiry Model, plus advantages of online programs. Open-ended questions and Likert-style items provide some support for the academic integration portion of Tinto's retention model, Bean and Metzner's retention model for adult non-traditional students, and the importance of the program being available online in explaining why students stayed. Open-ended questions and Likert-style items also support the use of the Community of Inquiry model as a way of identifying what faculty did well in the program and perhaps contributed to the students' willingness to stay enrolled in the program.
Y. Steimberg J. Ram R. Nachmia A. Eshel Tel-Aviv University
Abstract: This research examines classroom-based student participation in online discussion groups while preparing for a test, as well as the relation between the type of participation and student achievement. The online discussion groups were set up towards particular tests in a large-scale course, Introduction to Ecology, during the academic years of 2004 (N=99) and 2005 (N=72). They were intended to be a virtual meeting place for students to exchange information related to a question pool, when no face-to-face meetings with the teachers take place. The results indicate that a high percentage of the students who take the test (85%) participate in the discussion groups. Mixed results were found regarding the relations between the participation in the discussion and achievements. Based on the quantitative data and interviews with students we outline recommendations with regard to the effective use of discussion groups for supporting students in their preparation for tests.
Murray Turoff New Jersey Institute of Technology
Abstract: Environmental forces influencing the future of higher education in the U.S. threaten to undermine the desirable role of faculty as arbiters of academic quality. For online learning to live up to its potential, institutional policies can return academic authority to faculty over degree programs in all modes and support the importance of education in promotion and tenure processes. Accreditation agencies traditionally have been a service to the institutions and the administration at higher education institutions; they will also have to become an equal service to the consumer of higher education. Consumerism will force all those concerned with the quality and utility of a higher education to focus on the quality and effectiveness of the instructors.
Norman Vaughan D. Randy Garrison University of Calgary
Abstract: This study focuses on understanding the social and teaching presence required to create a blended faculty development community of inquiry. Garrison, Anderson and Archer's community of inquiry framework was used to analyze transcripts from the face-to-face and online sessions of a faculty learning community focused on blended learning course redesign. All three categories of social and teaching presence were detected in both forms of transcripts. The pattern of social comments changed considerably over time within the online discussion forum. The frequency of comments reflecting affective and open communication decreased while those with group cohesion increased dramatically. A similar trend was not observed within the face-to-face transcripts. In terms of teaching presence, the percentage of comments coded for design & organization and facilitating discourse decreased over time in both the face-to-face and online transcripts while comments containing an element of direct instruction increased considerably.
The Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) is published by the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C™). Responsibility for the contents rests with the authors and not with Sloan-C™. Copyright © 2006 by Sloan-C™. All rights reserved.
