ABSTRACT
PurposeThe future of management studies is invariably steering towards online and hybrid modes of course delivery. Therefore, assessing the effectiveness of online course delivery is exceptionally crucial. This study attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of online course delivery in management education involving the instructor, participant and technological component. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in three ways. First, the study proposes an approach to assess the effectiveness of online courses in management education. The study demonstrates this by taking a case study of a business school (B-school) in southern India. Second, the study identifies the shortcomings and areas that need improvement to enhance the overall effectiveness further. Third, the study outlines suggestive measures to improve the effectiveness of online course delivery by addressing technical, infrastructural, instructor and student behavioral components.Design/methodology/approachTo accomplish the objectives, a case study approach has been adopted and fuzzy logic has been used as a methodology to assess the effectiveness of online course delivery in management education.FindingsThe findings suggest that instructors' use of cases and animation during online sessions, use of whiteboards, digital pens and other tools, attempts to draw participant's interest and the users' sense of belongingness in the online cohort, self-discipline and motivation from students' side, easy to use Learning Management System (LMS), audio-visual platforms, active electronic communication and training on the technical aspect of the online platform need to be improved to enhance the effectiveness of online course delivery further. The current effectiveness of online course delivery in the case of B-school was found to be "Fair,” which is average in relation to the effectiveness labels.Research limitations/implicationsThis study doesn't investigate the factors that moderate the effectiveness of online course delivery and how the factors influence each other. Future research endeavors can be extended in this direction to enrich the body of knowledge with new insights. Apart from this, the results outlined in this study are about the status quo of the case B-school and can't be generalized. However, the methodology and approach can be adopted by other B-schools or higher educational institutes to measure the schools' and institutes' current level of effectiveness in online teaching.Originality/valueSo far, only a few studies have paid attention to the empirical assessment of the effectiveness of online course delivery consisting of engagement from the technical, instructor and participants' dimensions. This study proposes a novel approach to measure the level of effectiveness and identifies the shortfalls that impede good effectiveness in online course delivery.
ABSTRACT
Contribution: A research on applying blended teaching in microwave filter design in graduate students. Background: The Covid-19 epidemic has caused many universities worldwide to switch to online courses. Taiwan did not have a large-scale local infection in 2020, so the school has implemented a blended teaching plan, combining online and in-person courses. Intended Outcomes: Discuss the effectiveness and satisfaction of the Microwave Filter Design Course in Graduate Students for two classes, Online or In-person course. Application Design: This study uses a quasi-experiment to teach microwave filter courses in the two classes. The teacher integrated into the Flipped Classroom and Interactive Response System (IRS). Students must use the APP to complete the preclass preview and prepare materials. Class A [Formula Omitted] uses in-person classrooms for the whole course;Class B uses blended teaching. The first eight weeks are synchronized online, then mid-term exams, and in-person courses are used for the next ten weeks. Students in two classes in the last week filled out the course satisfaction questionnaire. Findings: Class B achieved better results in the eighth midterm exam week, showing better learning results. Although students in both classes are highly satisfied with the course, Class A is more satisfied than Class B. For graduate students participating in the microwave filter design course, in-person classrooms and blended teaching can achieve good learning results and satisfaction. However, teachers must pay attention to students' reception and understanding of flipped classrooms when using online teaching. And timely and in-depth guidance on the accuracy of APP use.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we explored the impact of course design elements that aim to support and sustain students' engagement during a 12-week online course. The course we analyzed targeted higher education, master-level students of Computer Science and Educational Technologies, and took place fully online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The course was facilitated by a Learning Management System (LMS), and due to the circumstances, the instructor's primary goal was to motivate students to actively participate during the course duration. To that end, the instructor implemented a course design focused on integrating elements such as interactive activities, short quizzes, hidden "easter eggs,” and real-time webinars. To study the impact of these elements on students' activity, we carried out an exploratory analysis of students' activity as recorded by the log files of the LMS and the qualitative feedback that students provided to the instructor. Our results suggest that the course design supported sustaining students' engagement. The level of students' activity varied for the learning materials and resources, but we confirmed a high usage of the quizzes over the course duration. Copyright © 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda.
ABSTRACT
High dropout rate is a critical problem in MOOCs. The prime objective of this study is to identify possible dropout students at the early stage of the course and reducing the number of dropouts providing proper feedback to address the relevant factor. A prediction model based on stacking ensemble machine learning is proposed to identify whether a learner is at risk of dropping a course. The proposed stacked ensemble model outperformed with an accuracy of 93.4% compared to other popular machine learning classifiers. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
ABSTRACT
As online learning modes become more common, this can exacerbate educational inequalities for learners who do not have the ability to utilise these modes effectively. This has been seen in the COVID-19 crisis where there has been a shift to remote and distance learning modalities despite the limited ability for all learners to benefit equitably. In particular, digital literacy remains a fundamental barrier to benefitting from online and blended learning. This paper reports on a study that investigated the digital literacy needs and preferences of peri-urban, marginalised youth when utilising online and blended learning in South Africa and how online education platforms can be designed to better suit such groups. It is argued that for online courses to truly support marginalised groups, it needs to be ensured that these learners are digitally equipped and digitally literate in terms of accessing, utilising, and benefitting equitably from online learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
As community colleges emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic there may be a tendency to rely on technology to facilitate more online coursework. Online education has been a fixture of higher education since the mid-1990s, but there's always been a question as to whether it is effective as traditional, face-to-face coursework. This is especially important in College Algebra, already viewed as a barrier course for many students. If more students take College Algebra online, will the results be as good as students taking the course in a classroom? The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study is to identify the relationship between course modality and final grade percentage, after accounting for instructor and curriculum effects for college algebra courses taught both online and face-to-face.Previous research studied this question, but a consensus about the efficacy of online education was mixed. Some studies found that online students perform worse than face-to-face students in college algebra (Amro, 2014;Amro et al., 2015;Driscoll, 2012). Other studies found no difference between the modalities (Araeipour, 2013;Harrington et al., 2016;Huang, 2016). Research by Burch and Kuo (2010) and Graham and Lazari (2018) discovered online students perform better than face-to-face students. This study considered the question through the lens of Moore's Theory of Transactional Distance, which examines the distance between the learner and instructor, course content, interface, and other learners as a psychological distance rather than a spatial distance. Using one instructor teaching both online and face-to-face courses using the same materials was an attempt to keep transactional distance as a constant, mitigating instructor and curriculum effects that could impact a study comparing modalities. Previous research that accounted for the instructor and course materials found no significant difference in outcomes based on modality. This study looked at final grade percentages in College Algebra courses taught by one instructor with both online and face-to-face sections over the course of the 2017-2018 school year. Data were supplied by a two-year institution located in rural Arkansas. In addition to looking for the relationship between modality and final grade percentages, the study looked for relationships between gender and final grades, a student's age and final grades, as well as an interaction between online students and their age or gender on final grade percentages. Findings indicated there was no significant relationship between the course modality and final grade percentages. Additionally, there was no relationship between gender or age and final grades based on modality. However, one significant relationship the study found was that when women took online algebra, they scored over 15 points lower than men taking online algebra. There was no interaction between a student's age and taking an online college algebra course. Further research should expand on the notion of accounting for Transactional Distance while looking at the relationship between course modality and final grade percentages and expand the study to disciplines outside of college algebra. Finally, research should investigate whether the relationship changed after the COVID-19 pandemic altered perceptions and implementation of online courses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
During the Covid-19 pandemic, global teachers gained extensive experiences with teaching online courses. To design quality online courses in the post-pandemic era, the impact of the latest technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI), must be considered. Investigating how teachers incorporate AI-powered tools and how students perceive learning experiences with the tools is crucial for informing effective online course design. In this case study, we presented an 18-week online English course for 43 senior high school students in Taiwan. Designed according to learning theories, this course aimed to cultivate autonomous EFL learners, who learned to read and write with the support of three AI-powered tools (i.e. Linggle Write, Linggle Read, and Linggle Search). Data were collected from the instructors and students in both qualitative and quantitative formats. Results showed that a learning loop was created to connect online learning with offline practice;students had better optimal experience in student-centered presentations than in teacher-centered lectures;and language proficiency predicted semester grade and assignment quantity. This study has both theoretical and practical value;it serves as an example of how to design a quality synchronous online course on AI tools for EFL reading and writing based on theoretical approaches. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Interactive Learning Environments is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
ABSTRACT
This quantitative study examines the impact that selected academic and personal demographic characteristics had on the successful completion of online coursework during the Covid-19 pandemic. Focused on a high-research university in the Southeastern United States during the Fall of 2020, this research looked the potential influence that prior online learning experiences had on students' abilities to transition to the online modality during a time of crisis. Data for this study was retrieved from institutional sources and the sample consisted of 5,739 second-year students at the institution. After describing the sample and population, exploratory regressions were conducted to establish models for explaining variance in online GPA performance and percentage of online course completion during the Fall 2020 semester. The resulting models account for 40% of the earned online GPA and 19% of the variance in online course completion percentage.In addition to the aforementioned models, the results of this study showed significant differences in online learning performance by race, with White students significantly outperforming students of color. This held for students with and without prior online learning experiences, which were found to have little impact on the performance of students in the online modality during a time of crisis. The results of the study also showed that academic discipline, while having a negligible relationship in most cases, did negatively impact the performance of some STEM students.This ex-post facto research highlights the fact that crisis learning differs from traditional learning in more ways than originally thought. Overall, performance during the semester studied declined, indicating the impact of added stresses during a time of crisis. The study sheds light on opportunities for future research, including the prospect of investigating how students initially experiencing online learning during a time of crisis perform in subsequent online classes and the need to focus on how teacher preparation and course design may impact learner engagement in the online modality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
Background: Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a rare disorder characterized by inadequate secretion of growth hormone (GH) from the anterior pituitary gland. One of the challenges in optimizing GH therapy is improving adherence. Using digital interventions may overcome barriers to optimum treatment delivery. Massive open online courses (MOOCs), first introduced in 2008, are courses made available over the internet without charge to a large number of people. Here, we describe a MOOC aiming to improve digital health literacy among healthcare professionals managing patients with GHD. Based on pre- and post-course assessments, we evaluate the improvement in participants' knowledge upon completion of the MOOC. Methods: The MOOC entitled 'Telemedicine: Tools to Support Growth Disorders in a Post-COVID Era' was launched in 2021. It was designed to cover 4 weeks of online learning with an expected commitment of 2 h per week, and with two courses running per year. Learners' knowledge was assessed using pre- and post-course surveys via the FutureLearn platform. Results: Out of 219 learners enrolled in the MOOC, 31 completed both the pre- and post-course assessments. Of the evaluated learners, 74% showed improved scores in the post-course assessment, resulting in a mean score increase of 21.3%. No learner achieved 100% in the pre-course assessment, compared with 12 learners (40%) who achieved 100% in the post-course assessment. The highest score increase comparing the pre- and the post-course assessments was 40%, observed in 16% of learners. There was a statistically significant improvement in post-course assessment scores from 58.1 ± 18.9% to 72.6 ± 22.4% reflecting an improvement of 14.5% (p < 0.0005) compared to the pre-course assessment. Conclusion: This "first-of-its-kind" MOOC can improve digital health literacy in the management of growth disorders. This is a crucial step toward improving the digital capability and confidence of healthcare providers and users, and to prepare them for the technological innovations in the field of growth disorders and growth hormone therapy, with the aim of improving patient care and experience. MOOCs provide an innovative, scalable and ubiquitous solution to train large numbers of healthcare professionals in limited resource settings.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Education, Distance , Health Literacy , Humans , Educational Measurement , Growth Hormone , Growth DisordersABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have become innovative open-learning approach in medical education. This study aimed to evaluate the dynamic changes in the construction and application of medical MOOCs before and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in China. METHODS: The dynamic changes of usages about medical MOOCs before and after 2020 were mainly searched on the Smart Education of China Higher Education platform, and the detailed learning profiles and outcome indicators were further analyzed using 40 national first-class medical MOOCs from 'zhihuishu' platform. RESULTS: A total of 2,405 medical MOOCs were exported from the Smart Education of China Higher Education platform, of which 1,313 (54.6%) were launched since 2020. The total and average numbers of participants of 141 national first-class medical MOOCs peaked during the initial spread of COVID-19 in 2020. We further analyzed the dynamic usage of MOOCs from 2018 to 2022 based on 40 national first-class medical MOOCs launched on the 'Zhihuishu' platform. The findings revealed that the number of registered learners (3,240 versus 2,654), questions and answers (27,005 versus 5,116) and students taking the final examination (2,782 versus 1,995) per semester were significantly higher since 2020 compared to these before 2020. Especially, the number of registered learners, registered schools, questions and answers, and students participating in online discussion, taking the unit quiz, taking final examinations and passing final examinations all peaked in the 2020 spring-summer semester. Pearson's correlation analysis found that the number of questions and answers and the number of learners who participated in online discussion were both positively correlated with the number of students who passed the final examination, and the correlation was especially strong since 2020. Moreover, the number of publications on medical MOOC research has soared since 2020 and has maintained a continuous upward trend. CONCLUSIONS: High-quality medical MOOCs have been launched rapidly since the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The number of participants and online interactions of medical MOOCs peaked during the initial spread of COVID-19 in 2020. MOOCs are reliable and valid digital sources that facilitate medical higher education and play irreplaceable roles in emergency management.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Education, Distance , Humans , Pandemics , COVID-19/epidemiology , Educational Status , China/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Introduction Just-in-time education has been described as rapid dissemination of accurate, up-to-date information accessible during or soon after a crisis and is recognised as an effective strategy to assist during crisis management. Background The COVID4NURSES program was developed and delivered ‘just-in-time' as a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), to upskill nurses in Victoria, Australia to support delivery of safe patient care (Wong et al., 2022). Academics collaborated with the state department of health and practicing nurses to develop the program, which enabled the spread of workload and best use of expertise during the pandemic. Method The MOOC was delivered to over 2000 nurses from all levels and specialties and across a large geographically disparate region. A mixed methods study was undertaken following program delivery to measure knowledge improvement and to explore the confidence of nurses working in a COVID-19 environment. Data were collected through a pre-test post-test Multiple Choice Quiz, and qualitative data were collected from the asynchronous online discussion forums from 801 participants who consented to the study. Findings Findings indicated improvements in nurses' knowledge and confidence after undertaking the program. Conclusion Implementing a just-in-time MOOC during a crisis is a valuable initiative for rapid dissemination of scientific evidence to support nursing practice and positive patient outcomes.
ABSTRACT
In recent years, the number of online courses in India has skyrocketed especially due to the Covid pandemic. The most significant increments have happened in degree colleges, where 85% concur that internet based courses are important for their drawn-out procedure when contrasted with 60% in 2015. The distribution of online courses has evolved dramatically as technology has advanced. Web-based platform provides new challenges for both teachers and students. Teachers should be clear about the effectiveness of online learning in teaching students. For that, the possibilities of online learning should be compared with traditional learning. Students are evaluated based on their focus on online learning. This study aims to determine the efficacy of online courses by predicting student performance in an e-learning system. These research findings evaluate modern learning methods, highlight students' potential and help teachers understand how to assess and lead students on online platforms. © 2023 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
E-Learning has shown to be an important resource, particularly in recent times due to the limitations in the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic. Several ways to deliver lessons through the Internet were used but both instructors and students complained about visual outputs. An evaluation of the most proficient techniques to create video-based lessons is highly relevant and critical. Seventy-eight students participated to 30 h of university online courses delivered through MS Teams, in which OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) Studio was used to create the lessons. The software allowed merging: a) MS Powerpoint slides, b) the instructor through a webcam, c) pictures of background sceneries. After the end of the courses, students filled in a questionnaire evaluating pictures taken from different e-learning sceneries. The OBS-based situation obtained the best evaluation in all measures (fruition, attention keeping and promotion of learning) and the highest rank when participants were asked to compare all the sceneries. These results confirm that students prefer reality-based sceneries, in which the most informative aspects (face, body and voice of the instructor, and the slides used for the lesson) are all present. Beside other obvious factors related to the quality of teaching, e-learning should also definitely consider visual features. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
ABSTRACT
In recent years, with the rapid development of Internet technology, a large number of online learning resources have emerged. Especially affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, online learning has become a very effective learning means. However, a large number of learning platforms and massive online teaching resources have the following three problems: 1) The quality of these courses is uneven and the evaluation standards are different;2) There are so many similar courses that it is difficult for learners to distinguish them;3) These classes are lack of unity and integration, and it is hard to recommend any hierarchical, coherent and systematic course resources to learners. Therefore, a recommendation model based on TF-IDF algorithm is designed to extract personalized-featured courses, use the nearest neighbor similarity to cluster the similarity of similar courses, and conduct the featured portrait of learners to realize online courses recommendation. Combined with the model design, this paper presents a tag-based online course resource recommendation system, which can fully explore learners' explicit and implicit preferences according to course tags, and recommend satisfactory MOOC resources for them with good application value. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed many educational institutions to adopt online learning models for most or all of their courses. As a result, the effectiveness of remote learning is more important now than ever before. In this paper, we report on work that was conducted in the Spring of 2021 at Utah Valley University. We explored the use of Discord as a delivery mechanism for online course content during the 2020-2021 school year. We also developed a Discord bot to autonomously track attendance. Based on our experience to date, the Discord bot appears to enhance remote learning. We describe the design, implementation, and deployment of our bot. We also discuss what worked well, as well as areas for improvement. In future semesters we plan to collect data by which we may begin to answer fundamental questions about the impact of such bots on remote learning. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction. The rapid development of digital technologies, online format of the educational process due to the spread of Covid-19 have actualized online learning in universities. The combination of work and postgraduate studies by young scientists, limited time frames, low motivation make it necessary to find the optimal ways to organize the educational process in a foreign language. The considered online course provides young scientists with the opportunity to improve the level of foreign language communicative competence in academic and research fields. Purpose of the article: to improve the effectiveness of the online foreign language course for young scientists. Research methods. The experiment involved 445 first- and second-year graduate students of South Ural State University. To determine the effectiveness of the online course in the program of foreign language study in graduate school and increase the level of foreign language communicative competence the following methods were used: method of pedagogical experiment, method of observation, econometric method of mathematical statistics Difference in Differences (DID). The method of questionnaires was used to identify the educational needs of graduate students. The B.D. Jones's MUSIC® Model of Motivation was chosen as the methodological basis for the redesign of the online course. The relevance and completeness of the strategies of the B.D. Jones's MUSIC® Model of Motivation according to graduate students' opinions were tested using a parametric Student's t-test with dependent sampling. Results. As a result of the experiment aimed at improving the effectiveness of the online foreign language course for graduate students, positive dynamics in the level of foreign language communication competence of graduate students in the experimental group compared with students in the control group was verified by the Change criterion, which reflects the difference in the results of the PhD Foreign Language Exam of graduate students, recorded by DID: "excellent" – (Change > 12%), "good" – (Change < 9.5%), "satisfactory" – (Change < 2.5%). Discussion and conclusion. It was proved that the identified factors to improve the effectiveness of the online course for young scientists (redesign of the online course, taking into account the educational needs of graduate students) determined the positive dynamics of the level of foreign language communication competence of graduate students. © 2023 LLC Ecological Help. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
With the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic, many higher education institutions have had their hands somewhat forced into diversifying their programs by rapidly transitioning to largely unplanned online delivery of their courses. While this may not have been the case for all higher education providers, the efficacy and quality of the delivery of the online courses rely heavily on their design for the online environment and quality assurance evaluation processes. These processes monitor and review the student experience and their attainment of the intended learning outcomes. Each registered higher education provider in Australia is required to meet the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency's (TEQSA) Higher Education Standards Framework (HESF) (2021). According to TEQSA, academic governance incorporates a range of strategies that monitor and review the implementation and effectiveness of institutional policies to quality assure the providers' academic activities, such as the delivery of online education. Notwithstanding the required regulations, policies and standards, traditional teaching requires a paradigm shift in both the design and delivery of educational programs. The methods inherent in synchronous and asynchronous online learning make the transition from face-to-face to online courses quite challenging, not least because of access to fast and reliable internet service and emerging digital technology, and the use of private and public learning spaces, but also the robust delivery, assessment, feedback, and evaluation of such online courses. Ensuring that higher education providers consider the elements that contribute to the design of online pedagogy, the role of academic governance becomes pivotal. A high level of academic governance enables the rigorous scrutiny and peer review of the transition to online pedagogy, and of the staff who are directly engaged. This chapter will revisit six (6) keys in 'flipping the curriculum' from the FlipCurric framework, developed by Professor Geoff Scott, as part of an Australian Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) National Senior Teaching Fellowship, with the intention to review and monitor quality. The framework can be utilised to assure achievement standards and the quality of assessment in our universities and colleges are consistently maintained. © 2022 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Background: Mindfulness-based interventions have gained popularity as a means of reducing stress and increasing resilience among the preclinical population. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of an online mindfulness-enhanced course on stress reduction in teachers, especially since online learning and teaching have been frequently applied to respond to emergencies such as COVID-19-relevant school suspension. Methods: The study consisted of two phases. Phase 1 aimed to explore the relationship between teachers' perceived stress and mindfulness traits. In total of 6,252 teachers completed assessments of stress symptoms using the Chinese Perceived Stress Scale (CPSS) and occupational stress sources, as well as mindfulness using the Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). Phase 2 aimed to examine the effectiveness of the online mindfulness-enhanced course. In total of 132 teachers were randomly assigned to either receive a 3-week online mindfulness course specifically designed for stress reduction and emotion regulation (N = 66) or a matched active control group (N = 66) and their pre-training and post-training self-reported states (e.g., perceived stress, mindfulness level, practice time) were measured. Results: The detection rate of Health Risk Stress (≥26 scores) was as high as 61.72%, and a negative association between the score of FFMQ and perceived stress level was found. Importantly, compared to the control group, the mindfulness training group showed a significant decrease in perceived stress and negative emotion, as well as an increase in understanding of the core mechanisms of mindfulness after training. Additionally, individual improvement in FFMQ scores was predicted by practice time. Conclusions: The study showed a high percentage of teachers experiencing stress, and the data supported the reliability and validity of the brief online mindfulness-enhanced course designed to reduce stress and regulate emotion for frontline teachers.
ABSTRACT
Many researchers investigated university students' behavioural intention to undertake online courses during COVID. However, few examined how students' intention might change throughout COVID by incorporating their learning capability and approaches. The universities in China went through a process from lockdown in February to reopening in September 2020. It provided a unique context for university students in China to experience emergent online learning for approximately six months before returning to normal face-to-face or blended learning on campus. The researchers conducted a questionnaire survey among 193 Chinese university students to investigate the changes in their behavioral intention to learn online throughout COVID. Additionally, the researchers explored the relationships between the participants' behavioral intention and the factors of learning capability in general, application of specific online learning strategies, online course engagement levels, and academic performance. It was found that the participants' intention to study online significantly increased during COVID and then slightly decreased after the university reopened. The participants' intention of online learning after COVID was predicted by their prior intention, learning capability, application of online learning strategies, and online course engagement. The participants' perceptions about online learning revealed that, when choosing future course delivery modes, they would a) reflect on their own disposition, capability, and needs, b) compare different learning modes, and c) examine course quality and teachers' competency. The participants also shared advice regarding their expectation of future online courses which may help shape university educators' pedagogical practices and provide insights for university online and blended course delivery from learners' perspectives. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10639-022-11320-0.
ABSTRACT
Online teachers are an under-researched population, but their perspectives are crucial to the successful implementation of online education. A fully online section of an established face-to-face (F2F) two-semester undergraduate anatomy course with a prosection laboratory commenced in 2012 at The University of Western Ontario, Canada. Professors' lectures for F2F students were broadcast in live and archived format to online students using Blackboard Collaborate (BBC) video conferencing software. Teaching assistants (TAs) delivered online laboratories using BBC and three-dimensional (3D) anatomical computer models. This study explored the common experiences and issues faced by the course teachers from 2012 to 2014. Transcripts from open-ended, individual interviews with professors (n = 4) and TAs (n = 5) were coded and analyzed thematically. The teachers' concern for their inability to see the students during sessions to assess class engagement and their teaching effectiveness, and to develop social relationships, was the main finding. However, video conferencing software and email were sufficient communication methods for the students' questions and the teachers' answers. The TAs noted usability challenges and anatomical inaccuracies in the 3D models compared to cadavers. Due to limitations of BBC's screen sharing function, live manipulation for the 3D computer models was not possible; however, the TAs found pedagogical value in using screen captures of the models for drawing activities with the students. Overall, preparation time for teaching online was longer than for F2F. The study's findings provide science educators with issues to consider when preparing for online teaching and recommendations to optimize the teaching experience.