A Content Analytic Comparison of Learning Processes in Online and Face-to-Face Case Study Discussions

In the U.S., only 38 of every 100 ninth graders enroll in college; of these 38, only 18 complete bachelors’ degrees within six years. Asynchronous learning networks (ALN)—asynchronous, highly interactive, instructor-led, resource-rich, cohort-based learning—can yield high success rates. Growing demand for online education and the expectation among higher education leaders that ALN learning outcomes will exceed face to face outcomes reflect belief in ALN’s power to engage learners. Sloan-C’s body of research confirms that ALN is especially suited for the anytime, anywhere, affordable access that is responsive to learners in a knowledge society. In fact, the original principles of ALN are the same principles that characterize ALN programs that have high student success rates. This paper includes vignettes from two- and four-year ALN programs that have used these principles to achieve high success rates.

This paper examines paradigms used in online learning, with a specific emphasis on how to effectively employ asynchronous learning networks (ALN) for the delivery of online courses. Recent progress in ALNs is presented, methodologies for getting started in creating an ALN course given and relationships between traditional teaching and learning methods and ALN-based courses discussed. To illustrate a specific ALN model, the paper presents a case study about the creation of an online course. The prospects for online education and the challenges that face the ALN field are considered.

To test the hypothesis that higher level of cognitive activity predicts older age at dementia onset in Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia. As part of a longitudinal cohort study, 1,903 older persons without dementia at enrollment reported their frequency of participation in cognitively stimulating activities. They had annual clinical evaluations to diagnose dementia and AD, and the deceased underwent neuropathologic examination. In analyses, we assessed the relation of baseline cognitive activity to age at diagnosis of incident AD dementia and to postmortem markers of AD and other dementias. During a mean of 6.8 years of follow-up, 457 individuals were diagnosed with incident AD at a mean age of 88.6 (SD 6.4, range 64.1-106.5) years. In an extended accelerated failure time model, higher level of baseline cognitive activity (mean 3.2, SD 0.7) was associated with older age at AD dementia onset (estimate 0.026; 95% confidence interval 0.013-0.039). Low cognitive activity (score 2.1, 10th percentile) was associated with a mean onset age of 88.6 years compared to a mean onset age of 93.6 years associated with high cognitive activity (score 4.0, 90th percentile). Results were comparable in subsequent analyses that adjusted for potentially confounding factors. In 695 participants who died and underwent a neuropathologic examination, cognitive activity was unrelated to postmortem markers of AD and other dementias. A cognitively active lifestyle in old age may delay the onset of dementia in AD by as much as 5 years.

We have used letter writing as a means for preservice teachers (PSTs) to develop ability to design effective tasks, in terms of eliciting high levels of cognitive activity from students. Studies on student-dependent task analyses, by assessing the levels of cognitive demand indicated in students’ responses, have demonstrated significant growth among PSTs over the course of letter-writing exchanges. We examine growth with a qualitative analysis of two PSTs who became effective at designing tasks that elicited high levels of cognitive activity. In particular, we examine how those PSTs accounted for tasks that did not elicit the kinds of activity they expected and how they adjusted their tasks to elicit higher levels of activity. We found disparity between the two PSTs’ apparently successful approaches: one that fit the larger goals of the project and one that fit only the descriptions specified in the project rubric. The study affirms the potential value of letter-writing projects while introducing a concern that has implications for all professional development projects.

In the Fall 1997 semester, Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC), through its Extended Learning Institute (ELI), is offering what is to our knowledge the first Associate in Science (AS) engineering degree available via distance education to home-based learners in the US. Funded largely by grants from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation during the past four years, NVCC/ELI has developed the engineering, mathematics, chemistry and physics courses required to offer a complete AS engineering degree program. This paper describes how NVCC/ELI has incorporated asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) into its math, science, and engineering courses and highlights some of the issues involved in developing ALNs for home-based community college students.

This paper presents a qualitative study of role changes that occur when faculty becomes virtual professors. In 20 semi-structured interviews of faculty, coded with pattern analysis software, the authors captured role changes enacted by instructors in asynchronous learning network (ALN) settings-cognitive roles, affective roles, and managerial roles. The cognitive role, which relates to mental processes of learning, learning, information storage, and thinking, shifts to one of deeper cognitive complexity. The affective role, which relates to influencing the relationships between students, the instructor, and the classroom atmosphere, required faculty to find new tools to express emotion, yet they found the relationship with students more intimate. The managerial role, which deals with class and course management, requires greater attention to detail, more structure, and additional student monitoring. Overall, facility reported a change in their teaching persona, towards more precision in their presentation of materials and instructions, combined with a shift to a more Socratic pedagogy, emphasizing multilogues with students.

In this study a change in teaching strategy to involve a greater emphasis on asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) was implemented and the views of students (n=51) to this change were evaluated through responses to an online questionnaire. In response to Likert-type questions the majority of students demonstrated a positive view of this new model. Sixty-one percent of students felt that other types of online material would benefit the learning process and 80 % would recommend this module to a friend. Students acknowledged that the use of ALN-supported learning made the material easierto understand (52%), the lecturer more accessible (66%) and enabled them to take a more active role in the learning process (55%). Though only 10% of students utilized the asynchronous newsgroup more than 5 times, 77% found reading the contributions of others useful. Contrary to this 76% preferred the more familiar lecturebased environment for subject delivery. In response to open-ended questions students’ views were more reserved and highlighted a range of problems such as inadequate infrastructure, unreliable computers, and poor access to the online material as well as resistance to a new teaching paradigm. Student performance was influenced by age and contribution to the newsgroup. Those who were younger had a lower grade (47.8 ? 15.8) than those who were older (52.0 ? 11.4). Students with higher grades (56.2 ? 10.3) contributed to the newsgroup while students with lower grades (45.7 ?12.5) did not. Based on these observations, it is apparent that students do appreciate the advantages of ALNsupported learning though for a shift toward this model to be effective problems of access and system failure must be resolved. Implications for future ALN-based modules are discussed.

The proliferation of distributed systems has enabled collaboration and cooperation among learners, and has enhanced cross-cultural interactions across educational boundaries. The issue of cross-cultural communication is fundamental in asynchronous learning research since the learners involved have communication norms that are significantly different across cultures. The influence wielded by the cultural values of individual learners in a heterogeneous group can impact upon the learning process and outcome of the entire group of learners. Concurrently, the degree of social presence supported by the media used in asynchronous learning networks can also affect learning. This paper discusses the relationship between cultural traits and media social presence with the focus on asynchronous learning networks. A set of propositions delineating cross- cultural and media impact on learning processes is highlighted with respect to the cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism. Preliminary findings of a pilot study are discussed.

Asynchronous Learning Networks ( ALNs) use computer-mediated communication to support online courses of study, in which anytime, anywhere access to interactions among the students and the teacher/facilitator is a key element. In addition to class discussions, other elements frequently incorporated are use of the World Wide Web and of web-based tutorials or simulations. A number of contingencies determine the extent to which ALN's are successful learning environments, including characteristics of the software used, whether the pedagogical techniques employed fit the medium, and characteristics of the individual learners.We have selected three papers which represent some of the basic objectives of research on Asynchronous Learning Networks. Our first paper by Catherine Middleton compares two asynchronous conferencing systems; the results are very interesting. The second paper by Urban Nulden discusses an educational philosophy for structuring asynchronous courses. The third paper, by Jane Leuthold discussed whether computer-based learning is right for everyone

As asynchronous learning becomes the norm throughout academia, changes are taking place in campus information systems. Academic libraries, as the entity responsible for serving the information needs of the university, have little choice but to change dramatically. In fact, academic libraries have a history of being aggressive in adapting state-of-the-art technologies. One can point to decades-long involvement with the development of online catalogs and the use of shared cataloging utilities. Libraries continue to serve academic teaching and learning by taking on new roles, revising traditional services, and time and space constraints.Libraries have, however, been slower to adjust organizational structures and processes to leverage the potential of technology. Replies to a recent survey of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) indicate that change in the responding libraries at this time is incremental rather than dramatic. Patterns are emerging, however, relative to resource reallocation and the formation of partnerships with other university units that reflect new priorities.This article describes two examples of innovative information delivery initiatives. VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia, was proposed by the state’s Library Advisory Council in 1993 to encourage collaboration among the Commonwealth’s institutions of higher education and to support the electronic dissemination of information. Academic libraries are also leading the way by providing new and unique sources of online information such as Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), by developing electronic submissions, online archiving, and Web access, as well as bringing to the forefront discussions about issues such as copyright and publishers’ control of academic publications. Network-based access to information resources such as these is changing higher education, and the opportunities offered by asynchronous learning networks are challenging libraries to adjust their policies, processes, and services.

Interactional coherence in asynchronous learning networks: A rhetorical approach

The evolution of the computer-assisted personalized approach (CAPA) system and its use in large lecture classes is described. Further individual student contact in these large classes of over 400 students has been established by implementing an asynchronous learning network (ALN). The two systems complement each other and provide the means to monitor and promote the individual student performance at any time during the semester. During the last semester poorly performing students were individually contacted with personalized e-mails to inform them of their standing and to encourage better performance. Results of this combined technological approach are presented.

Review of the ninth Sloan-C international conference on asynchronous learning networks, Atlanta, Florida, November 2003

Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) are often described as “any place, any time” environments for learning. In order for such environments to become feasible and popular on a large scale, they must be based on a public market architecture that is distributed, component-based, non-proprietary, and standardized. This paper describes one such framework, and discusses its possible implementation using a set of standards developed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium. In addition, we comment on the central role that XML plays in the implementation of such standards.

Summary form only given. According to a study by the College Board, today's average college student is a female in her thirties with children and a job. Such students frequently have difficulty attending a traditional full-time college program, but the alternatives may not meet their needs either. In an effort to combine the benefits of the classroom and lab experiences, the alternative scheduling of evening programs, and the relatively short time span of a full-time degree program, DeVry Institute of Technology has developed an Accelerated Computer Information Systems program. The Accelerated program allows students to attend class 12 hours a week (one evening and all day Saturday). This program enables students to earn a bachelor of science degree in Computer Information Systems in just three and one-third years (attending twenty consecutive 7-8 week sessions). In each session, students take two courses, with class sit time reduced by at least 30%. To enable students to achieve the course objectives, we have blended a distance learning component with a traditional classroom component. In addition to lectures and labs, instructors use Internet technologies such as web forums, Asynchronous Learning Networks, web pages, and e-mail to assist students in mastering the course objectives as outlined in our standard curriculum guides while minimizing the time they need to spend in a classroom.