This study examined the meaning of effective teaching and instructional flexibility at the post secondary level to see where instructional flexibility fits into the frame of effective teaching. Five hundred college students and fifteen instructors participated in this study. Student participants shared their perceptions of instructional flexibility and effective teaching through open-ended questions using an online survey. Instructor participants shared their concepts of both constructs through one-on-one interviews. Given that the focus of this study was on the perceptions of college instructors and students of what effective teaching and flexibility in teaching encompass, all collected data were analyzed using a grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). The emergent model of effective teaching and instructional flexibility comprised four themes: (a) teaching for the progress of learning; (b) a teacher’s role as the “human” persona; (c) teaching to bridge the gap from facts to understanding; (d) a teacher’s role as content expert. These four themes could be seen as representing the concept of instructional flexibility (Themes 1 and 2), and the concept of effective teaching (Themes 3 and 4) at the postsecondary level. Results indicated that a flexible teacher was portrayed as someone who was responsive and attentive to the needs of individual students whereas an effective teacher was described as someone who was successful in helping students understand important course concepts. Further, results showed that instructional flexibility was considered to be an important component of effective teaching both by college students and instructors. Regarding the association between teaching effectiveness and instructional flexibility, metacognitive teaching played an important role as an overlapping component of both constructs. / text

Distance learning is one of the most important forces driving educational reform today. Headlines touting the benefits of educational technology are commonplace in journal articles and newspaper and television reports. In the past five years, we have seen an explosion in the number of computer-mediated courses offered at two- and four-year institutions. An area of particular growth has been that of asynchronous online instruction. This growth has spurred the development of a new construct, the study of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL). Research on collaborative learning within the setting of online instruction is limited and anecdotal at best. Emergent research on CSCL shows learners in this learning environment are not isolated. It is a vibrant network of people--an interactive learning community--that is not limited by time, place, or the constraints of a classroom. Examination of the practical application of this theory is critical, especially when withdrawal rates for distance learning courses can range from 30-80%. Therefore, there is a need to understand the experiences and perceptions of distant learning students and the instructional strategies used by faculty within the online classroom where the social and cultural context of the learning community is created. The purpose of this qualitative study was to observe the pedagogical practices used by online instructors and examine the perceptions and characteristics of those students taking community college online courses. Then, compare this finding to what research says is needed for online instruction to support and foster computer supported collaborative learning. This study focused on four community college instructors who teach web-based courses in English, developmental mathematics, history and management. The study also examined the demographics of the students taking these online courses in order to provide a descriptive background of the participants and to assess their perceptions and experiences. The research questions addressed in this study were: 1) What pedagogical strategies do instructors teaching online courses use?; 2) How do online instructors promote collaborative learning communities?; and 3) What are the learning experiences of the students who take online courses? / text

The purpose of this study is to identify and compare the perceptions of practicing teachers and college instructors toward four components of inservice education programs: content, organization, format of presentation, and participant involvement in the teachers colleges in Thailand. The comparison is based on the demographic variables of sex, age, educational background, and teaching experience in the institution. The "In-Service Education Attitude Survey" by Yesuratnam, Basimalla at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois in 1982 was used to gather data for this study. It was distributed to a sample of 380 practicing teachers and college instructors in 19 randomly selected teachers colleges in Thailand; 368 usable instruments were returned (97.15%). The data were treated to produce numbers and percentages. The t tests for two independent samples were computed to determine any statistically significant differences between the respondent groups of practicing teachers and college instructors, and between the practicing elementary and secondary school teachers. The F tests were also utilized to determine any statistically significant differences among the variables of practicing teachers and college instructors.

Instructors' use of e-learning systems in higher education institutions is a central concern of researchers, academicians, and practitioners. Higher education institutions are investing substantial resources to incorporate and maintain the infrastructure of e-learning systems; however, instructors' use of e-learning systems in two-year colleges is relatively limited. In this context, the goal of this study was to investigate the factors that may affect instructors' intention to use e-learning systems in two-year colleges. Based on literature review on technology acceptance, this study proposed a theoretical model predicting instructors' intention to use e-learning systems in two-year colleges based on their resistance to change, perceived value of e-learning systems, computer self-efficacy (CSE), and attitude toward e-learning systems. Consequently, this study investigated the effect of four independent variables on the dependent variable, intention to use e-learning systems. A Web-based survey was designed to empirically assess the effect of aforementioned constructs on instructors' intention to use e-learning systems in two-year colleges. The Web-based survey was developed as a multi-item measure using Likert-type scales. Existing validated scales were used to develop the Web-based survey. The target population of this study was instructors of public and private two-year colleges. The sample for this study was 119 (over 41% response rate) full-time, part-time, and adjunct instructors in different academic departments at a two-year college. Two statistical methods were used to formulate and test predictive models: Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Ordinal Logistic Regression (OLR). Both MLR and OLR results showed that the theoretical model was able to predict instructors' intention to use e-learning systems. All four independent variables have significant effects on the dependent variable. Results of both analyses were consistent on resistance to change as having the greatest weight on predicting instructors' intention to use e-learning systems, while CSE in both analyses was found to have the least weight. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing empirical results for the key constructs that affect two-year college instructors' intention to use e-learning systems. Results of this research may also help IT practitioners to concentrate their efforts on ways to address resistance to change as it was found to be the most significant factor affecting e-learning accepted by two-year college instructors.