Matching Items (6)
Filtering by
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Community college students are attracted to courses with alternative delivery formats such as hybrid courses because the more flexible delivery associated with such courses provides convenience for busy students. In a hybrid course, face-to-face, structured seat time is exchanged for online components. In such courses, students take more responsibility for their learning because they assume additional responsibility for learning more of the course material on their own. Thus, self-regulated learning (SRL) behaviors have the potential to be useful for students to successfully navigate hybrid courses because the online components require exercise of more personal control over the autonomous learning situations inherent in hybrid courses. Self-regulated learning theory includes three components: metacognition, motivation, and behavioral actions. In the current study, this theoretical framework is used to examine how inducing self-regulated learning activities among students taking a hybrid course influence performance in a community college science course. The intervention for this action research study consisted of a suite of activities that engage students in self-regulated learning behaviors to foster student performance. The specific SRL activities included predicting grades, reflections on coursework and study efforts in course preparation logs, explanation of SRL procedures in response to a vignette, photo ethnography work on their personal use of SRL approaches, and a personalized study plan. A mixed method approach was employed to gather evidence for the study. Results indicate that community college students use a variety of self-regulated learning strategies to support their learning of course material. Further, engaging community college students in learning reflection activities appears to afford some students with opportunities to refine their SRL skills and influence their learning. The discussion focuses on integrating the quantitative and qualitative data and explanation of the findings using the SRL framework. Additionally, lessons learned, limitations, and implications for practice and research are discussed. Specifically, it is suggested that instructors can foster student learning in hybrid courses by teaching students to engage in SRL processes and behaviors rather than merely focusing on delivery of course content. Such SRL behaviors allow students to exercise greater control over the autonomous learning situations inherent in hybrid courses.
ContributorsManuelito, Shannon Joy (Author) / Buss, Ray R. (Thesis advisor) / Smith, Rachel (Committee member) / Barnett, Joshua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This study examines the experiences of participants enrolled in an online community college jazz history course. I surveyed the participants before the course began and observed them in the online space through the duration of the course. Six students also participated in interviews during and after the course. Coded data from the interviews, surveys, and recorded discussion posts and journal entries provided evidence about the nature of interaction and engagement in learning in an online environment. I looked for evidence either supporting or detracting from a democratic online learning environment, concentrating on the categories of student engagement, freedom of expression, and accessibility. The data suggested that the participants' behaviors in and abilities to navigate the online class were influenced by their pre-existing native media habits. Participants' reasons for enrolling in the online course, which included convenience and schedule flexibility, informed their actions and behaviors in the class. Analysis revealed that perceived positive student engagement did not contribute to a democratic learning environment but rather to an easy, convenient experience in the online class. Finally, the data indicated that participants' behaviors in their future lives would not be affected by the online class in that their learning experiences were not potent enough to alter or inform their behavior in society. As online classes gain popularity, the ability of these classes to provide meaningful learning experiences must be questioned. Students in this online jazz history class presented, at times, a façade of participation and community building but demonstrated a lack of sincerity and interest in the course. The learning environment supported accessibility and freedom of expression to an extent, but students' engagement with their peers was limited. Overall, this study found a need for more research into the quality of online classes as learning platforms that support democracy, student-to-student interaction, and community building.
ContributorsHunter, Robert W. (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra L (Thesis advisor) / Tobias, Evan (Thesis advisor) / Bush, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Pilafian, Sam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this action research study was to measure the transactional distance of computer science students who participated in an online virtual community after completing a college preparation program. Using data and results generated from previous cycles of research I developed and moderated an online virtual community designed to lessen transactional distance using a sequential exploratory mixed-methods research design. This study addressed the following research questions:
1. How and to what extent will participation in a virtual community influence the transactional distance between students and course content?
2. How and to what extent will participation in a virtual community influence the transactional distance between students and their instructors/teaching assistants?
3. How and to what extent will participation in a virtual community influence the transactional distance between students and other students in the same courses?
The participants for this action research study included approximately 200 students enrolled in six online sections of an entry level computer programing course from various locations around the world. Also participating in the community were the online instructors who taught the course, teaching assistants, advisors, and the action researcher.
Using the sociocultural, transactional distance, self-determination, and adult learning theories as a framework, the virtual community provided occasions for students and instructional team members to share experiences and support each other academically and socially. The community was designed to enable students to give and receive frequent feedback, increase autonomy and their sense of belonging, and provide additional opportunities for them to learn from each other. Through a descriptive analysis of the transactional distance survey results, I was able to determine that transactional distance between students and their teachers, and students the course content slightly increased, while the transactional distance between students and their classmates somewhat decreased. There was also an increase in average final grade and pass rate and a decrease in student withdrawal rate.
1. How and to what extent will participation in a virtual community influence the transactional distance between students and course content?
2. How and to what extent will participation in a virtual community influence the transactional distance between students and their instructors/teaching assistants?
3. How and to what extent will participation in a virtual community influence the transactional distance between students and other students in the same courses?
The participants for this action research study included approximately 200 students enrolled in six online sections of an entry level computer programing course from various locations around the world. Also participating in the community were the online instructors who taught the course, teaching assistants, advisors, and the action researcher.
Using the sociocultural, transactional distance, self-determination, and adult learning theories as a framework, the virtual community provided occasions for students and instructional team members to share experiences and support each other academically and socially. The community was designed to enable students to give and receive frequent feedback, increase autonomy and their sense of belonging, and provide additional opportunities for them to learn from each other. Through a descriptive analysis of the transactional distance survey results, I was able to determine that transactional distance between students and their teachers, and students the course content slightly increased, while the transactional distance between students and their classmates somewhat decreased. There was also an increase in average final grade and pass rate and a decrease in student withdrawal rate.
ContributorsAnderson, Lynne (Author) / Mertler, Craig (Thesis advisor) / Cross, Ted (Committee member) / Adams, Jacob (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
While predicting completion in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has been an active area of research in recent years, predicting completion in self-paced MOOCS, the fastest growing segment of open online courses, has largely been ignored. Using learning analytics and educational data mining techniques, this study examined data generated by over 4,600 individuals working in a self-paced, open enrollment college algebra MOOC over a period of eight months.
Although just 4% of these students completed the course, models were developed that could predict correctly nearly 80% of the time which students would complete the course and which would not, based on each student’s first day of work in the online course. Logistic regression was used as the primary tool to predict completion and focused on variables associated with self-regulated learning (SRL) and demographic variables available from survey information gathered as students begin edX courses (the MOOC platform employed).
The strongest SRL predictor was the amount of time students spent in the course on their first day. The number of math skills obtained the first day and the pace at which these skills were gained were also predictors, although pace was negatively correlated with completion. Prediction models using only SRL data obtained on the first day in the course correctly predicted course completion 70% of the time, whereas models based on first-day SRL and demographic data made correct predictions 79% of the time.
Although just 4% of these students completed the course, models were developed that could predict correctly nearly 80% of the time which students would complete the course and which would not, based on each student’s first day of work in the online course. Logistic regression was used as the primary tool to predict completion and focused on variables associated with self-regulated learning (SRL) and demographic variables available from survey information gathered as students begin edX courses (the MOOC platform employed).
The strongest SRL predictor was the amount of time students spent in the course on their first day. The number of math skills obtained the first day and the pace at which these skills were gained were also predictors, although pace was negatively correlated with completion. Prediction models using only SRL data obtained on the first day in the course correctly predicted course completion 70% of the time, whereas models based on first-day SRL and demographic data made correct predictions 79% of the time.
ContributorsCunningham, James Allan (Author) / Bitter, Gary (Thesis advisor) / Barber, Rebecca (Committee member) / Douglas, Ian (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This study investigated the ability to relate a test taker’s non-verbal cues during online assessments to probable cheating incidents. Specifically, this study focused on the role of time delay, head pose and affective state for detection of cheating incidences in a lab-based online testing session. The analysis of a test taker’s non-verbal cues indicated that time delay, the variation of a student’s head pose relative to the computer screen and confusion had significantly statistical relation to cheating behaviors. Additionally, time delay, head pose relative to the computer screen, confusion, and the interaction term of confusion and time delay were predictors in a support vector machine of cheating prediction with an average accuracy of 70.7%. The current algorithm could automatically flag suspicious student behavior for proctors in large scale online courses during remotely administered exams.
ContributorsChuang, Chia-Yuan (Author) / Femiani, John C. (Thesis advisor) / Craig, Scotty D. (Thesis advisor) / Bekki, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The pathway for entering the K-12 classroom as a teacher varies compared to what was once the traditional model of teacher preparation. In this mixed-methods action research study, I explore supporting first year alternatively certified urban and rural intern teachers through a multicomponent distance induction program. The induction model in this study was based on the theoretical framework of Bandura's social learning theory and Wenger's communities of practice. The purpose of this study was to identify the extent in which a multicomponent distance learning induction program impacts first year intern teachers' sense of self-efficacy, understand their successes, their challenges, and to identify how intern teacher evaluations change. Quantitative data included results from a self-efficacy survey and the Student Teaching Assessment Instrument (STAI). Qualitative data was collected through intern teachers' blogs, cadre leader video narratives, and cadre leader STAI narrative responses. Six themes emerged including topics such as building relationships with other education professionals, receiving feedback from the cadre leader, identifying struggles and application of college coursework into the K-12 classroom. Key findings reveal interns are least efficacious in student engagement, relationships with other educators support an intern teacher emotionally and pedagogically, intern teachers struggle with work-life balance, and cadre leaders observed intern teachers as having improved their skills in student engagement, instructional practices, and classroom management. Implications to practice include a structured approach to introducing student engagement, creating a best practices library of video examples, and a pre-orientation (Super Saturday) of topics prior to stepping into the classroom with students.
ContributorsGresko, Jennifer A (Author) / Wetzel, Keith (Thesis advisor) / Ewbank, Ann (Thesis advisor) / Catalano, Ruth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013