CCE Theses and Dissertations

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Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Dissertation - NSU Access Only

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Computing Technology in Education (DCTE)

Department

Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences

Advisor

Steven R Terrell

Committee Member

Martha M Snyder

Committee Member

Maxine S Cohen

Keywords

Instructional Practices, Online Faculty Development, Online Faculty Traininng, Pedagogy, Seven Principles of Good Practice, Student Evaluation of Online Teaching

Abstract

The substantial growth of online education has increased the demand for faculty who possess online teaching skills. Many institutions of higher learning offer training programs to teach faculty ways to facilitate online learning. However, the literature on online educations lacked studies demonstrating how those who complete training programs apply their newly acquired knowledge and skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate how online faculty apply the training principles and strategies learned in an online faculty-training program and how students perceive teaching effectiveness.

Using a case study approach and collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data determined the: (a) frequency with which faculty applied effective teaching practices learned in an online education training program; (b) barriers to using effective teaching practices in online teaching after completion of an online faculty-training program; and (c) perceptions of online students concerning faculty teaching effectiveness. The researcher used the Instructional Practices Inventory (IPI) to collect information from faculty concerning their online teaching strategies, including frequency and ease of use and proficiency of application. The researcher employed the Student Evaluation of Online Teaching Effectiveness survey (SEOTE) to determine student perception of teaching effectiveness. Data included follow-up faculty interviews, the IPI, and the SEOTE responses to create an in-depth investigation of the application of the strategies learned in the online faculty-training program.

The IPI faculty survey identified the frequency of use, the ease of use, and level of proficiency of instructional strategies using the Seven Principles of Good Practice. Faculty tended to use principles that related to the online course they taught and identified time constraints as a major barrier to incorporating some of the instructional strategies. Means for instructional strategies were generally higher on ease of use and level of proficiency than they were on frequency of use. Follow-up faculty telephone interview confirmed this finding. The SEOTE results determined student perception of faculty use of the Seven Principles of Good Practice. Principle 3, active learning, ranked highest and Principle 2, cooperation among students, ranked lowest. Due to the small sample size, the finding of this study should not be generalized to other institutions.

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