New Directions for SLNResearch: 2009-2012

Peter SheaSenior Researcher for the SUNY Learning Network

Educational Theory and Practice & CCIUniversity at Albany, SUNY

Where we have been – some lessons learned Where we are going (maybe) New people, research questions, methods Publications/presentations Example of current topics, questions We need your help!

Where we have been with SLNResearch: Early results In the late 1990s the questions were more

concerned with “can we really do this?” Will students accept online learning? Will faculty accept online learning? Will it work for some disciplines and not others? Will age, gender or other demographics play a big

role?

Where we have been with SLNResearch: Early results Students loved online learning: reported high

levels of satisfaction and learning “a great deal” Happiest students reported highest levels of

interaction with faculty and other students(quantity and quality)

Happiest students more concerned withinteraction with instructors than other students.

More early lessons learned The discipline of study did not play a big role in

satisfaction or reported learning Appeared that students in many different

disciplines could be satisfied with online learning Gender played a small but significant role with

woman reporting somewhat higher satisfaction,fewer technical difficulties, more learning…

Looked like this thing could take off…

BackgroundGrowth in complete online courses offered

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Certificates

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Baccalaureate

Graduate Degree

Growth in complete online degree programs

Learning Effectiveness In several surveys we asked students to compare

their level of learning online to a comparablecourse they had taken in the classroom

We found that the majority of student reported thatthey learned more online than in the classroom…

Quality of Outcomes: Results of Meta-Quality of Outcomes: Results of Meta-Analyses of OL vs. CIAnalyses of OL vs. CI

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Confirmed our earlyresults……

The question is “why”? Students report that they learn more online Studies of learning outcomes “confirm” that they

do. Why is this?

Need a theory (or theories) In 2002 we began work on Community of Inquiry

Theory Initially used Teaching Presence◦ Instructional Design, Facilitating Discourse, Direct

Instruction Students who had faculty who did teaching

presence training rated their courses better onevery component of that construct

Also reported learning more than students whoseinstructors had not taken such training

Led to additional research on CoI

Large scale inter-institutional effort to validate theCoI model

Publication of factor analysis of CoI survey Development of a model that outlined the

interactions of “presences” with each other

Current directions in CoI Research

Coding entire courses for instances of TeachingPresence, Social Presence, Cognitive Presence

Attempting to replicate research on “perceptions”of cognitive presence at individual course leveland learner level

Document the process of knowledge construction Document the outcomes of collaborative

knowledge construction

Some results Code “whole course” rather than just the threaded

discussion

Instructor TP by In/Out of Threaded Discussion

When we coded other artifacts outside the course, we see that Instructor B exhibitedhigher levels of teaching presence than the instructor who participated in the coursediscussion.

Instructor TP by Course Area

Instructor A utilized private folders as the primary means of communication whileInstructor B utilized email most often.

Further evidence that that the majority of instructor TP will be found outside thetraditionally coded area of threaded discussions.

Other “surprises” We coded for all the “presences” But CoI is a process model, so… We also coded for the Structure of Observed

Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxononmy Students didn’t score very highly on either Why? Difference instructional goals? Different

instructional/learning metaphors?

Issues with the CoI Model In coding “whole courses” issues arose Students are trying to accomplish goals that don’t

seem to fit in the model Coders can’t agree how many of the student

interactions should be coded Evidence that there is something going on that the

model doesn’t reflect

Course B Con 1

PRE POST

RemainingDisagreeme

nt ChangeDE-DE 0 5 +5DE-NC 0 0NC-DE 9 3 3 -6FD-FD 0 0FD-NC 3 3 3NC-FD 1 1 1DI-DI 1 3 +2DI-NC 0 0NC-DI 2 1 1 -1AS-AS 0 5 +5AS-NC 6 0 -6NC-AS 0 0NC-NC 20 21 +1

42 42 8

Course B Con 2

PRE POST

RemainingDisagreeme

nt ChangeDE-DE 2 2DE-NC 0 0NC-DE 1 1 1FD-FD 4 11 +7FD-NC 9 4 4NC-FD 2 0 -2DI-DI 4 5 +1DI-NC 1 0 -1NC-DI 2 0 -2AS-AS 0 2 +2AS-NC 5 3 3 -2NC-AS 1 0 -1NC-NC 25 26 +1

56 54 8

Necessary Negotiations and Remaining Disagreements in StudentDebates

Debates IRR – Course B

Cohen’s Kappa Holsti’s CRPre Post Pre Post

Con 1 -0.063 0.683 0.538 0.861Con 2 0.338 0.763 0.700 0.885

Need more research… To understand circumstances under which online

environments result in better learning outcomeswe need more research

More and better theoretical frameworks More people working on the question More settings for research More help from others

Getting started More experienced

Jason Vickers Lilia Cai-Hurteau Sedef Uzuner Jerry Lin Suzanne Hayes Prahalad Rangan Mary Gozza-Cohen Lenore Horowitz Ruchi Mehta Chun-Sau Li Anna Nolan Stacey McCall Temi Bidjerano Asil Ozdogru Anna Valtcheva Alexandra Pickett

Task has been to participate/contribute to an ongoingproject of research and co-author a paper/presentation

Shea, P. & Bidjerano, T. (in review). Understanding different learningoutcomes in hybrid and online environments: An empirical investigation ofthe Community of Inquiry Framework. Journal of Interactive LearningEnvironments.

Shea, P., Hayes, S., Vickers, J., Uzuner, S., Gozza-Cohen, M, Mehta, R. &Valtcheva, A., Rangan, P. (in review). A quantitative content analysis of twoonline course: Processes, outcomes, learning, grades. British Journal ofEducational Technology.

Shea, P., Hayes, S., Vickers, J., Uzuner, S., Gozza-Cohen, M, Mehta, R. &Valtcheva, A. (2010). A reexamination of the community of inquiryframework: Social network and quantitative content analysis. TheInternet and Higher Education, doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2009.11.002.

Shea, P. & Bidjerano, T. (2009). Community of inquiry as a theoreticalframework to foster "epistemic engagement" and "cognitive presence" inonline education. Computers and Education, 52 (3), 543 – 553.

Shea, P. & Bidjerano, T. (2009). Cognitive presence: A cluster analysis.Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 21(3), 199-217.

Community of Inquiry Model (Garrison et. al.) Diffusion of Innovation (Rogers) Chronotopes (time/space) (Bahktin) Self Efficacy (Bandura) – Self Regulated Learning

(Zimmerman, Pintrich) Epistemic Engagement (Lareamendy-Joerns) Need others…

How well does CoI framework describe/explain/predict onlinelearners attitudes and performance in online environments?

What factors motivate/undermine motivation of faculty to teachonline?

What motivates contributors to OER initiatives? How does LE (f2f, hybrid, online) shape quality of learning? Gender and online learning Language learning online K-12 online learning: stakeholder attitudes Interaction types: content interactions Self regulated learning and self efficacy Others – from you…

Surveys SEM Data Mining QCA Text analysis Design experiment Focus group/interviews

A new model for research SLN research associates partner with campuses

to investigate questions of mutual interest Design a research study collaboratively Develop research questions Collect data Analyze data Report results◦White papers, conferences, journals

ServicesAssistance with: Research design Data collection Analysis Reporting Publication Presentation opportunities Seeking additional external funding

Your thoughts? Are there questions you would like to investigate? Are there faculty on your campus who might like to

collaborate on online education research? What topics? What questions? Can we expand upon current pilot projects?