how do online course design features influence student performance

by Mr. Albin Breitenberg IV 8 min read

Design features (technology quality, online tools and resources as well as learner interactions) and learner characteristics (self regulation), significantly predicted the learners’ intrinsic motivation in blended learning suggesting that good technology, tools and high interaction levels with independence in learning led to learners being highly motivated.

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What are the four most important features of online course design?

 · How do online course design features influence student performance? 1. Introduction. Online coursework 1 has become increasingly popular in postsecondary education, with an estimated 5–7... 2. Existing studies on online course design features. The literature on online course design features includes ...

Do course design features affect student outcomes?

The relationship between four online course design features and student course grades is examined. • Quality of online interpersonal interaction relates positively to student grades. • Typical practices of online courses with high- versus …

Do online courses improve student performance?

Jaggars and Xu (2016) identified four course factors that contributed to student success in online courses: organization and presentation, learning objectives and assessments, interpersonal...

Does Internet access affect students'performance in online settings?

 · A new online design assessment rubric is developed.The relationship between four online course design features and student course grades is examined.Quality of online …

How does online class affect the performance of students?

The results are generally consistent with past research: Online coursework generally yields worse student performance than in-person coursework. The negative effects of online course-taking are particularly pronounced for less-academically prepared students and for students pursuing bachelor's degrees.

What are the essential features of an effective online course?

A good online course is engaging and challenging. It invites students to participate, motivates them to contribute and captures their interest and attention. It capitalizes on the joy of learning and challenges students to enhance their skills, abilities and knowledge. A good online course is cognitively challenging.

How can online classes improve your academic performance?

The student will learn more from experiencing than from listening. This will improve the way the student thinks. The old way of memorizing a particular topic and vomiting it out during a test has been completely removed. The student will learn to analyze and apply their knowledge better through these online activities.

What are five design tips to improve online courses?

5 Tips for Engaging Online Course DesignDevelop Course and Module Learning Goals and Objectives. ... Use Multiple Media for Learning Materials. ... Choose Appropriate Learning Tasks. ... Humanize the Technology. ... Include Multiple Learning Assessments.

How can the quality of online classes be improved?

Use physical whiteboards for students to show their thinking. Allow students to share their screen to showcase their work and explain how they solved a problem. Use virtual whiteboards for increased engagement. Make use of stamps, emoticons, drawing tools etc.

What are advantages of online classes?

Ten Advantages of Online CoursesOnline courses are convenient. ... Online courses offer flexibility. ... Online courses bring education right to your home. ... Online courses offer more individual attention. ... Online courses help you meet interesting people. ... Online courses give you real world skills.More items...

Do students perform better in online classes?

Response From the Field. A majority of the scores if not hundreds of studies examining the comparative performance of online versus face-to-face learning have found "no significant difference" in student outcomes.

How do you design an effective online course?

5 Tips for Designing Effective Online Courses in 2022Know Your Audience. ... Create Well-Organized Courses / Micro-Learning. ... Make Your Lessons Interactive. ... Incorporate Synchronous and Asynchronous e-Learning Styles. ... Make Content Accessible.

What are the implications for online course design?

Key Considerations When Designing an Online CourseBuild your instructor presence. ... Develop rapport with your students. ... Create opportunities for student to student interactions. ... Effectively communicate with your students. ... Teaching presence. ... Social presence. ... Cognitive presence. ... Multiple Means of Engagement.More items...

How can I improve my online course design?

Nine ways to improve online course design:Make it personal.Set clear learning objectives.Make the course easy to navigate.Keep accessibility in mind.Engage students through communication.Encourage active listening.Design engaging questions.Provide effective exams.More items...•

What are the factors that affect the success of online courses?

... Creativity, design and aesthetic presentation of the online material, and live interaction with the students are amongst the lecturer-related factors that positively and significantly affect the success of the online courses. 40, 41 Indeed, attitude towards e-lecturers and the quality of the lectures are fundamental factors in judging the success of TB learning. 29 Preparation of a lecture delivered through cyberspace is a real challenge to the teachers, and IT knowledge and proper infrastructure are paramount requirements 39 in terms of compensating for the lack of physical presence and dynamic interaction of the conventional learning environment. ...

How do instructors help students?

The instructors actively participate in providing knowledge to heighten learning environment in institutions. They monitor the effective growth of the students and take part in creating lesson plans. They facilitate the development of learning programs in the classroom and allows effective communication. Online instructors in case of e-learning utilize several innovative electronic media to enable the effective collaboration of classrooms in teaching domains. E-learning courses thus facilitate the learning opportunities for students across the global arena. The flexible nature of online courses helps students in gaining the benefits of web-based learning. Web-based sites provide an extensive source of learning programs that heightens the knowledge area of the students. Proper instructions from the e-learning courses help the students all over the world in gaining access to information worldwide. Several audio and video measures aid the students to interact with the instructors and even clear out the doubts. E-learning even promotes independent learning processes where the students can acquire knowledge 24*7 through the online platform. This research study has focused on the role of e-learning in the educational sectors that helps in retaining the quality stands of the learning students. According to Frydenberg, 9 standards help in the retention of e-learning mechanism in the educational system. Out of the nine, the study has focussed on the 3 categories that include instructional design and course development, instruction and instructors, delivery. Thus a research study has been conducted that will provide immense knowledge concerning the effective role of instructors and e-learning in the knowledge processes. A literature review has been drafted based on the study of the relevant discussions of the scholars. Further, the methodology has been discussed that has assisted in obtaining information on the detailed structure. In addition, a brief overview of the data analysis has been provided in this study.

What percentage of Mexicans take online courses?

Currently in Mexico, 51% of Mexicans who are studying use online platforms and courses. A study was conducted in the Fall of 2019, 162 students’ perceptions in various online Content and Language Integrated Learning courses offered completely in English in a university in Monterrey, Mexico. The purpose of the study was to determine students’ perceptions of the most important and least important components, as well as students’ greatest challenges in taking online courses in a foreign language. The students’ perceptions were categorized into six areas: course organization, interaction with teachers and classmates, ease of navigation, technology, course materials and content, and assessment. Students selected the following as the most important course components: course organization, easily understood content, quality of course materials. The online course components that students selected as the least important were interaction with classmates, videos recorded by the instructor, and course objectives. The study also revealed a weak relationship in the student to student interactions. This study provided the instructor with feedback on the online courses so that the instructor can make future course modifications to increase student success in the online courses.

What is dual enrollment in high school?

Dual-enrollment programs are a fixture in American secondary education and allow high school students the opportunity to receive college credits while attending high school. However, whether the location of a dual-enrollment course encourages college persistence is not fully understood. Student Integration Theory and Psychological Theory are applied to various modes of dual-enrollment course delivery. The College Persistence Questionnaire ( CPQ) measured college persistence of 101 dual-enrolled high school students taking college courses at either a high school or at a community college. An ANOVA revealed a significant difference ( p < .01) in college persistence based on course location with students taking courses on the college campus having higher persistence. The researchers concluded that location of a dual enrollment course is a significant factor when evaluating college persistence. Implications for practice are offered.

What is a TBA in online learning?

Unlike the traditional “lone ranger” method for online course design—a method that hinges on individual faculty efforts, expertise, and knowledge—a team-based approach (TBA) harnesses the collective intelligence of several experts to design effective online learning experiences. Using learning design (LD) as a conceptual framework, this article describes the experience of a public institution in using a team-based approach to produce a large number of online courses for degree programs. After establishing the relevance of a team-based approach, the author discusses the premises that underpin the model, in terms of process, faculty relationship, and quality assurance. Building on these premises, a cyclical backward design process is described which is intended to (1) clarify course-learning outcomes and align course content, (2) determine acceptable evidence of students' learning, and (3) plan the learning experience. The article is concluded with a few insights and lessons learned from the institutional experience.

What are the pressures for education reform?

Pressures for reform include declining STEM student enrollments, high attrition rates from STEM curricula, and the rise of powerful alternative teaching strategies shown by cognitive science and educational research to promote learning and curricular retention better than traditional teaching methods do. In addition, research has shown that online and face‐to‐face courses on average produce comparable learning outcomes, and hybrid courses that combine the best features of both are more effective than either face‐to‐face or online courses by themselves. Motivated by these and other pressures, many faculty members have adopted the new teaching methods, and distance education had become widespread well before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic forced most educators at all levels to teach online. As might be expected, however, many faculty members and administrators have resisted change, arguing that the traditional approach has always worked well and needs no major revision. Before the pandemic, most STEM courses were still being taught using the traditional methods, and many course instructors are eager to return to them. These different responses to calls for education reform have led to heated debates among university instructors and administrators regarding how STEM curricula and courses should be designed, delivered, and assessed, and the role technology should play in all three functions. This essay outlines two competing paradigms on each of these issues—the traditional paradigm, which has long dominated STEM education, and the emerging paradigm, which has become increasingly common in the last 30 years but is still not predominant at most universities and colleges. The essay concludes with speculation about the eventual outcome of the competition.

What is online nursing education?

Introduction As online nursing education programs continue to increase to meet the demands of the growing market, nursing faculty are challenged to develop and deliver courses based on best practice principles. The Online Nursing Education Best Practices Guide (ONE Guide) builds on and extends the nationally recognized Quality Matters® program and serves as a roadmap guiding course development and delivery. The fundamental principle for success in online teaching is instructor presence; the teacher as a facilitator of learning is illustrated throughout the guide. An Online Instructor Checklist facilitates systematic implementation of best practice principles. Methods This article is based on a focused literature review and concept analysis resulting in a comprehensive guide for delivery of effective, quality nursing education through best practices in the online learning environment. A broad search of databases focused on articles during 2014 to 2019 was completed. The literature review included articles that examined over 1200 student perceptions of instructor presence in the online setting. Conclusion Nurses carry a direct responsibility for the health and well-being of patients. Nursing quality education proves fundamental to the profession’s long-term outcomes. The ONE Guide and Online Instructor Checklist apply comprehensive, evidence-based teaching strategies to give a roadmap for success in the online teaching environment.

Abstract

Given the rapid growth in online coursework within higher education, it is important to establish and validate quality standards for these courses.

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Abstract

Given the rapid growth in online coursework within higher education, it is important to establish and validate quality standards for these courses.

Strategies for Engaging Faculty in Instructional Design

These links are based on references which have been extracted automatically and may have some errors. If you see a mistake, please contact [email protected].

Does online learning hurt students?

A study published in Economics Letters co-authored by Alex Rees-Jones, an associate professor of business economics and public policy at the Wharton School, and led by Douglas M. McKee and George Orlov of Cornell University, found that online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic hurt student learning, but did not hurt particular demographic groups more than others. However, they did find that if the instructor used active learning techniques, students were more engaged and thus learning outcomes improved.

Do students learn more when they work together?

Earlier research has shown repeatedly that students learn more when they actively work on problems either individually or together in the classroom relative to students who sit passively listening to a lecture and taking notes, according to McKee.

Is the study optimistic about future student learning outcomes?

The study’s findings make the authors optimistic about future student learning outcomes even though many students and teachers remain in a period of substantial online instruction for three reasons, according to the authors of the study.

How does online learning affect F2F outcomes?

F2F lectures). In addition, Navarro and Shoemaker (2000) observe that learning outcomes for online learners are as effective as or better than outcomes for F2F learners , regardless of background characteristics. In a study on computer science students, Dutton et al. (2002) find online students perform significantly better compared to the students who take the same course on campus. A meta‐analysis conducted by the US Department of Education finds that students who took all or part of their course online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional F2F instructions. The report also finds that the effect sizes are larger for studies in which the online learning was collaborative or instructor‐driven than in those studies where online learners worked independently (Means et al., 2010).

How does education help in economic development?

The benefits of education on economic development are well established in the literature (Gyimah‐Brempong, 2011), ranging from health awareness (Glick et al., 2009), improved technological innovations, to increased capacity development and employment opportunities for the youth (Anyanwu, 2013; Emediegwu, 2021). One of the ways in which inequality is perpetuated in South Africa, and Africa as a whole, is through access to education (Anyanwu, 2016; Coetzee, 2014; Tchamyou et al., 2019); therefore, understanding the obstacles that students face in transitioning to online learning can be helpful in ensuring more equal access to education.

Do F2F students outperform online students?

On the other hand, evidence by Brown and Liedholm (2002) based on test scores from macroeconomics students in the United States suggest that F2F students tend to outperform online students. These findings are supported by Coates et al. (2004) who base their study on macroeconomics students in the United States, and Xu and Jaggars (2014) who find negative effects for online students using a data set of about 500,000 courses taken by over 40,000 students in Washington. Furthermore, Almatra et al. (2015) compare overall course grades between online and F2F students for a Telecommunications course and find that F2F students significantly outperform online learning students. In an experimental study where students are randomly assigned to attend live lectures versus watching the same lectures online, Figlio et al. (2013) observe some evidence that the traditional format has a positive effect compared to online format. Interestingly, Callister and Love (2016) specifically compare the learning outcomes of online versus F2F skills‐based courses and find that F2F learners earned better outcomes than online learners even when using the same technology. This study highlights that some of the inconsistencies that we find in the results comparing online to F2F learning might be influenced by the nature of the course: theory‐based courses might be less impacted by in‐person interaction than skills‐based courses.

Is blended learning considered online learning?

For the purpose of this literature review, both pure online and blended learning are considered to be online learning because much of the evidence in the literature compares these two types against the traditional F2F learning. The debate in the literature surrounding online learning versus F2F teaching continues to be a contentious one. A review of the literature reveals mixed findings when comparing the efficacy of online learning on student performance in relation to the traditional F2F medium of instruction (Lundberg et al., 2008; Nguyen, 2015). A number of studies conducted Before the 2000s find what is known today in the empirical literature as the “No Significant Difference” phenomenon (Russell & International Distance Education Certificate Center (IDECC), 1999). The seminal work from Russell and IDECC (1999) involved over 350 comparative studies on online/distance learning versus F2F learning, dating back to 1928. The author finds no significant difference overall between online and traditional F2F classroom education outcomes. Subsequent studies that followed find similar “no significant difference” outcomes (Arbaugh, 2000; Fallah & Ubell, 2000; Freeman & Capper, 1999; Johnson et al., 2000; Neuhauser, 2002). While Bernard et al. (2004) also find that overall there is no significant difference in achievement between online education and F2F education, the study does find significant heterogeneity in student performance for different activities. The findings show that students in F2F classes outperform the students participating in synchronous online classes (i.e. classes that require online students to participate in live sessions at specific times). However, asynchronous online classes (i.e. students access class materials at their own time online) outperform F2F classes.

Is F2F online learning underexplored?

This gap in the literature may also highlight a salient point: online learning is still relatively underexplored in developing countries. The lockdown in South Africa therefore provides us with an opportunity to contribute to the existing literature from a developing country context.

How does online education affect students?

Virtually all of these studies found that online instruction resulted in lower student performance relative to in-person instruction; although in one case, students with hybrid instruction performed similarly to their in-person peers. Negative effects of online course-taking were particularly pronounced for males and less-academ ically prepared students.

How does virtual instruction affect college completion?

Although course completion rates appear to be lower for online courses relative to in-person, the evidence is mixed on the impact of virtual instruction on graduation and time-to-degree. The negative learning impacts, reduced course completion, and lack of connection with other students and faculty in a virtual environment could ultimately reduce college completion rates. On the other hand, there is also evidence that the availability of online classes may allow students to move through their degree requirement more quickly.

What are the drawbacks of RCTs?

One drawback of RCTs is that these studies are typically limited to a single college and often a single course within that college, so it is not clear if the results generalize to other contexts. Several papers in the literature draw on larger samples of students in non-randomized settings and mitigate selection problems with various econometric methods. These papers find common themes: Students in online courses generally get lower grades, are less likely to perform well in follow-on coursework, and are less likely to graduate than similar students taking in-person classes.

Can live streaming lectures help students?

The authors find that having access to a live-streamed lecture in addition to an in-person option improves the achievement of high-ability students, but lowers the achievement of low-ability students. The key to understanding this two-pronged effect is the counterfactual: When streamed lectures substitute for no attendance (e.g., if a student is ill), they can help students, but when streaming lectures substitute for in-person attendance, they can hurt students.

Will colleges offer online classes in 2020?

are poised to bring students back to campus, but a large amount of uncertainty remains. Some institutions will undoubtedly continue to offer online or hybrid classes, even as in-person instruction resumes. At the same time, low vaccination rates, new coronavirus variants, and travel restrictions for international students may mean a return to fully online instruction for some U.S. students and many more around the world.

When did the Brown Center Chalkboard start?

The Brown Center Chalkboard launched in January 2013 as a weekly series of new analyses of policy, research, and practice relevant to U.S. education.

Is online learning better than in person learning?

The results are generally consistent with past research: Online coursework generally yields worse student performance than in-person coursework. The negative effects of online course-taking are particularly pronounced for less-academically prepared students and for students pursuing bachelor’s degrees. New evidence from 2020 also suggests that the switch to online course-taking in the pandemic led to declines in course completion. However, a few new studies point to some positive effects of online learning, too. This post discusses this new evidence and its implications for the upcoming academic year.

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