Reflections on Seeking the ‘Invisible’ Online Learner

Online courses in higher education have a reputation for having a lower course completion or retention rate than face-to-face courses. Much of this reputation is based upon anecdotal evidence, is outdated, or is on a small scale, such as a comparison of individual courses or programs of instruction. A causal-comparative analysis was conducted among 11 large, high research public universities. The universities were compared to each other to determine if differences existed between online and face-to-face course completion; undergraduate and graduation online course completion was analyzed for differences as well. The findings suggested the magnitude of the differences between online and face-to-face completions rates was small or negligible. The area which showed a higher magnitude of difference was in the comparison between undergraduate and graduate online course completion; the practical significance could be worth considering for educational purposes.

SUMMARY Marshall University has a 29-year history of delivering graduate education to in-service teachers. In 1997 the college began using Internet-based courses as a means of reaching an expanding service area. Currently the Graduate School of Education and Professional Development has over 300 courses developed for Internet delivery. During any given semester, approximately 80 online graduate courses are offered. As the emphasis on Web-based delivery has increased, the college has addressed the issue of quality control at several levels, including student surveys, online course evaluations, faculty surveys, faculty peer reviews, and a course approval process. This paper will present a case study of the evolution of our efforts to improve the quality of course development and delivery.

Laboratory Earth, a series of three NASA-Sponsored, on-line graduate courses for K-8 teachers, was designed to meet a variety of learning styles and appeal to teachers’ motivation to learn the content and improve their teaching. This is especially important to teachers as they seek to demonstrate “highly qualified” status to meet No Child Left Behind standards. These graduate-level courses consist of four modules of two to four lessons each. Pre- and post-course surveys indicated significant increases in teachers’ (n=51) content knowledge, science teaching efficacy beliefs (STEBI-A), sense of community within the course (LEO) and science teaching enjoyment (STES). Qualitative data indicated teachers valued the cohort system, content aligned to teaching needs, and the instructor’s response to requested feedback. Results indicated that online courses can provide valuable professional development opportunities for K-12 science teachers to deepen their knowledge, sharpen their skills, and maintain their knowledge of science developments. Because teachers play an important role in the development of their student’s attitudes towards science, it is extremely important that science and education communities collaborate to create courses that use contemporary pedagogy to address the content-knowledge needs of teachers required by National Science Standards criteria.

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to examine the use of TPACK and Twitter in an graduate level online course. The overarching research question is, “How is social media, in particular, Twitter, being used in an online graduate course?” This study uses the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework to provide a common language for describing the use of Twitter from an instructional design and research perspective. Data collection included (a) conversational and interactive dialogue between the researchers that included the instructional designer/course instructor, (b) the archived online course, and (c) the class Tweets (from Twitter) identified with class hashtags. Through collaborative autoethnography, the researchers (a) analyzed the instructional designer’s (also course instructor) practices, contextualizing TPACK principles for the design of the online course learning objectives and Twitter activities, and (b) engaged in an in-depth analysis of students’ tweets. Major themes identified are (a) TPACK framework explicitly supported online course design using Twitter, (b) facilitated fluency for technology integration, (c) promoted consciousness and reflection, (d) enhanced transfer of knowledge, and (e) heightened presences (cognitive, social, and teaching). One primary implication is that using TPACK for instructional design can create a common vocabulary and understanding for educators, instructional designers, and researchers.

Analyzing collaborative interactions: divergence, shared understanding and construction of knowledge

Many colleges of education have embraced online course delivery as an expeditious means of delivering graduate programs. It behooves us to ensure that this delivery method does not compromise our ability to provide these students with necessary critical thinking competencies. This research was designed to determine the degree to which participants in online graduate courses value critical thinking and the degree to which they developed these skills. The results indicated that students both valued understanding, judgment, caution/skepticism, originality, and reflection/action, and developed them in their online classes. The implications confirm that online platforms allow for the development of critical thinking competencies.

Today’s organizations often face complex problems that do not have readily identifiable solutions. Leadership educators are called upon to implement innovative pedagogical practices to teach students to address such complex problems. Inspired by action learning principles, this application brief describes a group-oriented assignment in an online graduate course on leadership development. Practitioner and student reflections are offered as well as an analysis of student learning. Recommendations from these experiences offer ways to refine this pedagogical practice.

The purpose of this article is to investigate how to use a strengths-based lens that is highly contextualized, in an ecology (i.e., online graduate course) that shows the value of the socio-emotional interactions or climate. I used an autoethnographic approach to problematize myself so that I could ask contemplative questions as a result of reflection. My data collection process drew upon personal narrative, reflection, and anecdotes, which I analyzed in a graduate-level online learning context with a strengths-based lens to shed light on broader U.S. higher education online learning cultural and theoretical concepts such as organizational justice theory, connectivism, digital learning ecosystems, inclusive design, design justice, and strengths-based learning approaches. Three key cultural phenomena are revealed in this autoethnography. Finally, I discuss this study’s limitations, some implications for faculty, IDs, and SMEs, and suggest areas for further research.

This article presents a collaborative maker project integrating the arts in a synchronous online environment. Based on the Thinkering, Making, Sharing, and Reflecting (TMSR) model, the four components of hands-on, minds-on, hearts-on, and social-on learning were integrated into an online collaborative maker project involving arts, music, and coding. The authors first describe the theoretical framework of the TMSR model and the design and implementation of the maker project, and then report on the experiences and reflections of the participating teachers, who were enrolled in an online graduate course. Survey results showed that the project fostered the teachers’ connectedness, positive emotions, and satisfaction toward the online learning environment. In addition, qualitative data from their reflective essays revealed that the teacher participants experienced all aspects of hands-on, social-on, hearts-on, and minds-on learning in the online environment both as learners and as teachers. Finally, the qualitative themes showed that the teachers acknowledged supportive maker project components that can be applied in their own teaching context. Implications of the findings for art-integrated maker projects in public school settings were also addressed.

Studies highlight online education’s effectiveness; however, few examine theoretical frameworks for guiding pedagogy in online MSW programs. Patriarchal systems create policy and program inequities in higher education, hindering student achievement. Confronting these inequities is essential in designing successful online MSW programs. This conceptual paper asserts that utilizing a critical feminist perspective promotes nontraditional and minoritized students’ unique needs. Educators can prioritize student success by examining systems of oppression and the intersectionality of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, and disabilities in online environments. Utilizing critical feminist perspectives enhances student experiences by operationalizing inclusivity and and should be measured as student success and engagement in an online graduate course.

Makerspaces have become established as communal and collaborative environments for making meaning, solving problems, and developing essential global skills and competencies. However, these spaces are commonly utilized by makers who are geographically co-located. In this qualitative study, we explored the intersection of a maker approach to learning and the affordances of online education—specifically, learning in one's own community by accessing the online course remotely as opposed to traveling to a physical classroom, and connecting the learning/making activities directly to one's home context—in a graduate-level course focused on critical making. We also discuss the theory and methods that informed the development and implementation of this course, given a recent shift from the use of traditional teacher-centered pedagogies in online learning. Our results suggest that the online course acted as a supportive community of inquiry that both scaffolded students' independent exploration of making in their local communities and facilitated continuous, collaborative learning through an effective blend of synchronous and asynchronous technologies. The need for a platform that enabled ongoing, organic sharing and connection between students was also highlighted.

This paper presents the process two professors engaged in to develop a co-taught model for two online graduate courses taught concurrently as part of a justice-oriented STEM education curriculum. Students in the courses, who are k-12 teachers, contributed to the development of the courses across iterations through feedback and discussions with the professors. Our previous co-teaching experiences in face-to-face courses supported by literature on co-teaching in higher education online environments were instrumental in preparing for the initial semester and ongoing development of these two co-taught courses. Development of the courses also relied on extensive cogenerative dialogue that resulted in a merged calendar tool and revised discussion assignment strategies. Integration of content across STEM disciplines was enacted and modeled in both courses, in part through assignments that were connected across the two courses.

This paper offers insights from a study of 17 high school Spanish teachers enrolled in an online graduate course on Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) Pedagogy. The study analyzed the semester-long transformation of teacher attitudes as expressed in discussion board posts following a content analysis approach. Findings show an initial lack of respect for student dialects and knowledge of US varieties of Spanish coupled with a desire to help students improve via the teaching of “academic Spanish”. Many participants expressed a feeling of engaño (disillusionment) toward their previous training, wondering why they had not studied the aforementioned topics sooner (Russell and Kuriscak 2015). By creating a context where teachers themselves became more critically language aware, they also became “…cognizant of the naturalness of language variation and its loading of social, political, and economic power structures…” (Beaudrie et al. 2021, p. 587). This paper underscores the transformation that can occur when teachers investigate bilingual ideologies and practices and linguistic characteristics of US varieties of Spanish. The concrete suggestions offered here aim to answer Leeman’s (2015) call for “destabilizing teachers’ ideologies” (p. 114) in the hopes of creating a more equitable learning environment for future language students.

This design case discusses key steps taken to establish a virtual makerspace for students enrolled in an online graduate course on informal learning. Two key design decisions are elaborated around (a) the selection of appropriate projects and packaged materials that distance education students can receive by mail to participate in making, and (b) the choice of an online platform for distance education students to document their design processes for assessment purposes and peer interaction and learning. This design case is relevant to a variety of online communities who may wish to engage in maker activities as well as isolated face-to-face communities or individuals who may not have local mentors to support informal making and could, therefore, benefit from online connectivity to an expert or peer support. To promote replication of the design, materials and community tools to support making among geographically dispersed makers are detailed.

When we occupy the streets for justice, we use collective power to take up space, both physically and ideologically. In this paper, I theorize protest as a construct of pedagogy through mirrored dimensions of protests in the streets. Within the context of a co-facilitated, online graduate course, I explore taking up epistemological space through intentionally complicating, questioning and expanding ways of knowing and building knowledge. This work draws from the rich lineage of counter-hegemonic narratives and collective power in Moraga & Anzaldúa’s This Bridge Called My Back, which epitomizes freedom possibilities unleashed when we speak the unspeakable as a pedagogy of protest.