My previous memo described a study in which the quality of online learning in courses using Course Management Systems (CMSs, i.e. Blackboard, WebCT) would be studied. However, after placing my research questions in the matrix along side my goals, it seemed that by studying online learning in general would meet my goals more completely. With online learning now a mainstream option in higher education, I believe it is imperative that universities understand the impact of their online course on student learning.
Just as the literature of the past focused on quality of education in traditional face to face classrooms, many articles have been written on the characteristics and criteria necessary for building quality online learning environments. With so many online options available in higher education, the concern has become that the recommendations for building online learning coursework that elicits positive student outcomes have been largely ignored by those who are using online learning with students. Higher education institutes are providing the tools to faculty to create online learning environments, however, the knowledge of creating quality online environments eludes faculty. The matrix process allowed me to see more clearly that my questions matched my research goals to assess the impact of online learning in higher education.
The matrix also provided me an opportunity to visualize my questions about what I wanted to study in light of my goals. This led to several revisions of my questions (and of course I am still not sure of the exact wording of my research questions) and I was able to resolve several wording problems in my questions that more accurately reflected my goals. For instance, I had thought that my goal was to study the importance of online learning in universities programs, but after viewing questions and goals side by side, I realized that I wanted to study the impact online courses had on the learning of students.
Using the matrix ignited my thinking on what kind of data I would collect for each question. My overarching research problem is to assess whether or not faculty are creating what the literature calls, “quality online courses” and a more important issue, are students learning from online courses? It was clear to me previously that I would administer a survey. The scope of the research study is quite large. I justify the use of a survey because it is the best possible instrument to use to attain this amount of data. However, I see the value of offering an open-ended question in this study to allow for students to share additional thoughts without the constraints of a Likert scale survey. This may provide me with an opportunity to find information not covered in the survey.
I will develop the survey with help from several sources. An established survey used frequently to assess student perceptions in four domains is available. These domains include:
Access: convenience, efficiency, autonomy
Interaction: flexibility, reflection, interaction, feedback, collaboration
Response: enjoyment, confidence, accomplishment, success, frustration, tedium
Results: clear objectives, planned activities, appropriate content, material design and layout, logical structure
This survey, called the Web-Based Learning Environment Inventory (WEBLEI) (Chang & Fisher, 2001), however, does not specifically meet my needs. I will draw on pieces of this survey and develop my own questions in order to obtain the data needed to answer my questions. The literature on online course development has various studies which recommend criteria for quality online courses. I will collect these criteria and develop a list of quality online course criteria that will represent the recommendations in the literature. My research created survey will then ask students to indicate which quality criteria were present in the online course in which they participated and respond to the effectiveness of those criteria in their learning on a Likert scale of criteria effectiveness.
Participants will also be asked on the survey to provide contact information if they would like to volunteer to provide more information. These participants will be interviewed in order to see if more information emerges and also to triangulate with the data from the survey.
In order to ensure high survey return rate, I will only survey students who are participating in courses identified as hybrid courses, those courses that have both an online and face to face component. In this way, I can administer the survey in person during a face to face session and collect the surveys upon completion. I have also thought about how I will actually get access to the faculty and students across the University. This will be a critical issue. This may entail forming a relationship with the Office of the Provost.
Another question that I have been considering is to assess the difference between the quality of graduate online courses and those at the undergraduate level. Do you have a sense of the number of UG courses with online components? I did not add this to my matrix because I am not certain of the value of this question. Just as this matrix has gone through several iterations over the past week, I continue to view it as a tool to structure and probe my thinking on my topic. I’m thankful for the availability of word processors because I see that my matrix will continually change. I believe that my next addition to the matrix is a column for validity. See the Module 3 assignment. I did not yet feel comfortable addressing this issue at this time because the process of matching questions, goals, data collection, and analysis needed to be more concrete in my mind before attending to additional issues.
Note: This assignment included the development of a matrix.
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