Conducting Research in Online and Blended Learning Environments

New Pedagogical Frontiers

Charles D. Dziuban, Anthony G. Picciano, Charles R. Graham, Patsy D. Moskal

• Verlag: Routledge
• Jahr: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317804987
• Auflage: 1
• Thema: Education
• Thema: Education General

Conducting Research in Online and Blended Learning Environments examines various perspectives, issues, and methods for conducting research in online and blended learning environments. The book provides in-depth examinations of the perspectives and issues that anyone considering research in online or blended learning will find insightful as they plan their own inquiries. Grounded in educational research theory, this is invaluable to both the serious researcher as well as the occasional evaluator.

Conducting Research in Online and Blended Learning Environments provides comprehensive, useful information on research paradigms, methodologies, and methods that should be considered in designing and conducting studies in this area. Examples of the most respected research in the field enhance each chapter's presentation.

Chapter 1 Research in Online and Blended Learning

New Challenges, New Opportunities

Anthony G. Picciano

DOI: 10.4324/9781315814605-1

In April 2014, I received an email from a colleague, an assistant professor at the George Washington University who has been instrumental in leading blended learning course development projects in the School of Health Sciences. She was emailing to ask my opinion on research and publication possibilities for her and her colleagues who were in the midst of collecting data on these projects. Specifically, she envisioned at least four studies based on data they were collecting on blended learning and communities of practice, blended learning and reflective practice, and blended learning and increased interaction in relation to higher levels of learning.

In May 2014, I was at North-West University in South Africa to lecture and conduct workshops on online and blended learning in higher education. North-West University was under a federal government mandate to expand higher education opportunities to its citizens and had asked the public universities for strategies for doing so. Among the strategies being considered was to expand the use of online and blended learning technologies. The specific topics of my workshops related to conducting research in instructional technology, design of blended learning environments, massive open online courses (MOOCs), and technology planning. For the workshop on conducting research in instructional technology, the participants represented a group of fifteen (mostly younger) faculty members who were contemplating conducting studies related to work they were doing in their own courses and with their own students. Their topics related to student outcomes, faculty workload, and blended learning in large section classes. They were interested, and had expertise, in qualitative and/or quantitative research methods, but had never published in the area of instructional technology.

On the sixteen-hour flight to South Africa, I started reading a recently published book, entitled Learning Online: What Research Tells Us Whether, When, and How, sent to me by the authors, Barbara Means, Marianne Bakia, and Robert Murphy. I was familiar with their earlier work, a meta-analysis on “evidence-based practices” in online learning they conducted for the U.S. Department of Education, and published in 2010. The purpose of their new book was to describe the available research on online learning, and specifically on how best to implement different forms of online learning for different kinds of students, subject areas, and contexts (Means, Bakia, & Murphy, 2014).

As I reflected on the above, all of which occurred within a thirty-day period between April and May 2014, I thought how it would have been unheard of to consider any of these scenarios as little as twenty years ago. The Internet was just beginning, and no one predicted the rapidity with which it would permeate all aspects of society, including education. Since the mid-1990s, a significant change has occurred in the delivery of instruction in schools and colleges throughout the world. Traditional face-to-face courses are being redesigned and augmented by online and blended learning modalities. Teachers and students can meet at any time and in any place to participate in a class. In the United States in 2013, more than seven million students, or approximately one-third of the higher education population, were enrolled in fully online college courses (Allen & Seaman, 2014). Millions of additional college students were enrolled in blended courses. However, accurate data on the extent of blended learning in American higher education is nonexistent, mainly because of problems with a standardized definition and accurate data reporting at the individual college level. Fully online colleges, both for profit and not for profit, have been the fastest growing segment of the higher education market. Since 2008, MOOCs have appeared in higher education programs that enroll as many as 150,000 international students in a single course. Accurate data in primary and secondary schools are sketchy. Picciano and Seaman (2007, 2009, 2010) conducted a series of national studies on the extent and nature of online learning in American K–12 schools. They extrapolated that by 2016 as many as six million K–12 (mostly secondary) students would be enrolled in online or blended learning courses (Picciano & Seaman, 2009). However, since the above extrapolation, state legislatures have been accelerating the promotion of online learning in their public schools. Most states have provided support for some form of virtual schooling at the K–12 levels. The Florida Virtual School, for example, is among the most successful, with enrollments in excess of 100,000 students per year. Several states have established requirements stating that every high school student take at least one online course in order to graduate. As a result of this activity the six million–student enrollment figure cited above may be a low estimate.

Clearly, online and blended learning approaches are becoming commonplace in education throughout the world. These phenomena also represent a whole new area of research that examines a variety of issues related to learning effectiveness, student and faculty attitudes, access, workload, and cost benefits. There are a number of journals, such as The Internet and Higher Education (IHE), Online Learning (formerly the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, or JALN), The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, and the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT), that devote themselves exclusively to issues and research related to the various modes of online instruction. A plethora of studies have thus been published that seek to explore the best practices, effectiveness, satisfaction, and challenges of teaching and learning online. For example, an extensive search of databases and citations for a meta-analysis project returned 1,132 abstracts on student outcomes in online and blended learning for the years 1996 to 2008 (U.S. ED, 2010). Although these abstracts only reflected research in student outcomes, there are numerous other studies on faculty satisfaction, student access, policy issues, and cost-benefit analysis in online and blended learning environments. In addition to formally published studies, numerous unpublished evaluations that are not indexed in public databases have been conducted by college and school administrators seeking to determine the effectiveness of online modalities in their own institutions. However, even with all of this activity, a good deal more research needs to be done. For example, in the area of K–12 education, there is a dearth of quality research in this area (U.S. ED, 2010). Even in higher education, because of the controversies that raise questions about the quality of online learning, “research-based guidance regarding effective online learning practices and their implementation in different contexts is strongly needed” (Means, Bakia, & Murphy, 2014, p.6).

Purpose

The purpose of this book is to examine various perspectives, issues, and methods for conducting research in online and blended learning environments. It provides in-depth examinations of the perspectives and issues that anyone considering research in online or blended learning will find insightful as they plan their own inquiries. This book is grounded in educational research theory and practice and would be of assistance to both the theory-based researcher and the evaluator investigating her/his own courses and programs. A comprehensive treatment has been undertaken that provides useful information on research paradigms, methods, and methodologies, which should be considered in designing and conducting studies in these areas. Lastly, examples of the most respected research in the field enhance each chapter’s presentation.

Pedagogical Frontiers

The title of this book, Conducting Research in Online and Blended Learning Environments: New Pedagogical Frontiers, was chosen because it was the authors’ conviction that online technology has opened up new possibilities for how teachers teach and how students learn. Online technology allows teaching and learning literally to occur at anytime and anyplace, and no longer shackles one to the time and place constraints of a physical classroom. Critical aspects of instruction, such as media-infused content, group interaction, reflective practice, simulation, and assessment, are augmented with online technology. A course discussion never ends, students must prepare to interact with colleagues in online forums where all can and are expected to contribute, and facilitated collaborative learning is commonplace. The new technologies have opened up many “frontiers” for pedagogues to explore as they convert or redesign their courses.

Another important aspect of the title is its emphasis on pedagogy and not technology. Even though we live in a technology-infused world, when it comes to teaching and learning, it is the pedagogy that should drive technology and not the other way around (Picciano, 2009). Faculty, with the assistance of instructional designers, are rethinking how they can use the technology to achieve their pedagogical goals and objectives. As a result, the 1990s and the first part of the 21st century have seen a plethora of new programs, courses, and course modules that approach teaching in ways that did not exist in the past. For example, a simple blog can extend course discussions for days, allowing for rich, reflective interactions that were rarely possible in the confines of a typical fifty-minute in-class period. Collaborative learning that was a logistical bane for many students can be initiated gracefully using wiki software that allows for ongoing online interaction, group project development, and media-infused presentations. More complex instructional activities involving gaming, simulations, and multi-user virtual environments challenge faculty, instructional designers, and students in ways never possible in a brick and mortar environment. Furthermore, these technology-based approaches can be used as standalones in fully online courses or can be blended with traditional class materials.

All of this pedagogical development has also unleashed the need for the careful evaluation of its benefits. A fundamental aspect of instructional design, and what many consider the crucial culminating step, is evaluation (Gagne, 1977; Dick, Carey, & Carey, 2011; Kemp, 1985). Unfortunately, this last crucial step is not always conducted, or conducted in ways that are much too brief and informal. For decades, faculty were basically on their own to develop courses and rarely took the time to formally evaluate their techniques and innovations. With the exception of faculty in schools of education, very few college faculty were familiar with the pedagogical theories behind instruction. However, as more of them became involved with technology, they were exposed to formal instructional design techniques and theories, and came to appreciate the importance of evaluation. In addition, the interest in evaluation led to a greater interest in formal research based on pedagogical theory and model-building. As indicated earlier in this chapter, thousands of studies have now been conducted examining all aspects of pedagogy in technology, and especially the newer online environments.

Online learning environments have also expanded interest in instructional design as a career and an area of professional research. Enrollments in graduate instructional technology and design programs have swelled as the demand for professionals in this area has increased. Instructional design has evolved to the point where many colleges and school districts have created departments and centers that now employ staffs to assist faculty with their course and program development needs. These departments were not common twenty years ago, or were modestly funded so that their impact was minimal. As part of their initial training and ongoing professional development, instructional designers are increasingly conducting research on the work they do and studying their techniques and approaches. In many cases, they are partnering with the faculty with whom they work. Centers on the scholarship of teaching have mushroomed to support these efforts. As a result of this activity, substantive new knowledge has been added to the knowledge base of pedagogical principles and applications. It is the hope of the authors that this book will be of assistance to those faculty, aspiring and veteran instructional designers, and researchers who are contemplating studying online and blended learning.

Definition of Terms

A basic rule of research is to carefully define key terms to minimize ambiguity on the part of readers. For this book, it is important that several key terms be defined as early as possible. If we start with the title, Conducting Research in Online and Blended Learning Environments: New Pedagogical Frontiers, four key terms (pedagogy, research, online learning, and blended learning) are included, for which definitions are provided below.

Pedagogy

Pedagogy refers simply to the art or science of teaching. It considers especially the instructional methods used in a course or learning module. Students in teacher education programs typically will take coursework that examines pedagogical principles and theories developed by the likes of Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, John Dewey, and Robert Gagne. Many of these theories focus on the cognitive and social development of the learners. However, when applied to adult learning, Malcolm Knowles’s theory of andragogy frequently comes into play. Knowles distinguished pedagogical theory as focused mostly on children and young people’s learning, which is different than how adults learn. He posited that adults bring to the instruction process extensive life experiences that need to be considered in instructional design. Assumptions and insights based on the adult learner’s knowledge and interests are used to develop meaningful instructional activities (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2011). Since online and blended learning have become so commonplace in higher education, andragogical as well as pedagogical principles are assumed that come under the um...