Everyone involved in online education talks about community – what is it, how is it created, do students really want it? Most researchers now agree that online education is enhanced through a greater sense of community within the online classroom; however, the factors that make for a substantive and quality...
As an Oregon State Ecampus Research Fellow, I designed and initiated a research study that aimed to: 1) investigate tools and techniques for engaged, experiential online learning with undergraduate philosophy students and 2) propose disciplinespecific criteria for evaluating the impact of these pedagogical interventions. The study was designed to answer...
Online teaching and learning has become an increasingly important aspect of the educational mission of universities. In person, teachers have time-tested tools for assessing student ability, including a wealth of verbal and nonverbal communication. The online format provides a wealth of data, and promises—but may not yet deliver—useful tools for...
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have generated considerable excitement and considerable skepticism since their recent inception (e.g., Kim, 2014; Perna et al., 2014). By fall 2015, approximately 35 million people had participated in 4200 courses offered by over 550 institutions (Shah, 2015). In addition to MOOCs’ potential for expanding access...
Prior research has suggested that homework activities that encourage learners to think more conceptually about to-be-learned material can have positive benefits on overall content learning. Can such activities be implemented successfully in online coursework, and does it produce the anticipated benefit? In two sections of an online Psychology course, participants...
The literal distance inherent in online education can be an important difference between it and traditional classroom settings, such that proximate, on-site learning is thought to be where experiential, transformative education happens (Cohen, 2013). Yet it is possible that some of the most compelling, effective aspects of traditional, proximate education...
Teacher preparation programs must ensure that course and clinical work provide a solid practice and theoretical foundation upon which new teachers can grow and thrive. Part of this process is the need for theory and research learned in coursework to mesh and enrich classroom practices. In this study we interview...
I am a physics education researcher. My ‘laboratory’ is a year-long Introductory Algebrabased Physics sequence taught at Oregon State University (OSU). While not technically a hybrid class, it has most of the aspects of a hybrid learning environment, as the course is “flipped,” and includes a combination of pre-lecture online...
Writing within Discipline is a pedagogical model that aims to engage students in active learning and to develop critical thinking and writing skills within the norms of a particular discipline. However, lack of faculty time for grading writing products impedes its broader implementation. Web based peer review programs have been...