Over the past decades, online learning has contributed to a large percentage of educational success in higher education and K-12 learning environments. It has not only allowed a number of opportunities for students to receive education due to flexibility, reachability, but also additional course offerings and educational advancement. As K-12 online learning has continued to soar as an option for educating students, concerns relating to students’ success in these courses have arose. Due to the concerns relating to student success, researchers have sought to determine what attributes can contribute to student success in online courses offered to students in elementary and secondary education. Therefore, this study examined the relationships between academic success and demographic characteristics of high school students enrolled in online courses in order to determine the predictability of various academic and demographic characteristics on students’ success. The demographic and academic characteristics examined in the study included: gender, ethnicity, attendance, grade level, GPA, previous online experience, and lunch code (free, paid, or reduced lunch). The population for this study included 987 students who enrolled in online high school courses at central and southern Alabama high schools between the semesters of fall 2015 through spring 2017. After the data were coded and analyzed using a multiple logistic regression, four variables -- GPA, gender, grade level, and lunch code were found significant in the predictability of students’ success in an online high school course. The results showed: a) students with high GPAs, b) upper-grade level high school students, c) female students, and d) students who paid for their lunch -- tend to be more successful in completing an online high school course. The findings of this study can benefit school enrollment counselors, principals, administrators, and advisors to better assist with student enrollments in online high school courses. Future research is recommended to examine if any relationship existed between online high school student’s success and other academic and demographic characteristics such as students with learning disabilities, economic status of parents, number of disciplinary infractions, etc.

Distance education is an innovative delivery method that is gaining a great deal of attention on university campuses across the United States, as well as worldwide. While this attention may seem to be newfound, the earliest record of the practice of distance education traces back to Biblical times and was later referred to as correspondence. Land-grant institutions in the United States were among the first to offer correspondence courses to students who may otherwise not have been able to attend traditional university classes. While online education programs and courses across the United States have grown, from 1.6 million students enrolled in the fall 2002 semester to 5.6 million students in the fall 2009 semester, only 4.5% of those were offered in the natural resources discipline. Identification of inhibitors and motivators for engagement in online education opportunities with regard to university administrators, faculty, and students in the natural resources is the next step to understanding why the discipline is poorly represented. Three surveys were conducted in cooperation with 50 institutions listed in the Society of American Foresters (SAF) Accredited and Candidate Forestry Degree Programs to identify inhibitors and motivators, real and perceived, of university administrators, faculty, and students regarding their levels of engagement, if any, in online education activities. SAF, the accrediting body for undergraduate forestry programs, has recognized these institutions as having met the criteria for a professional degree in forestry. While this research cannot be generalized to each discipline within the field of natural resources, it does expand upon the existing research on perceived inhibitors to and motivators for participation in online education and also highlights unique characteristics and challenges of natural resource administrators, faculty and students. The research designs utilized similar techniques previously implemented on the disciplines of business, education, agricultural economics, and agribusiness and it was determined that responses by natural resources administrators and faculty coincided with their peers from other disciplines. Additionally, results indicate that natural resource students are enrolling in online courses to supplement their degrees; however, they are not enrolling in online degree programs.

Nontraditional students continue to grow as a population in universities across North America. These individuals are characterized as twenty-five years of age or older, have taken time off from school, and usually hold a job outside of their school duties. With our increased immersion in online environments, many individuals earning an educational degree through online participation, and previous studies calling upon further research, we decided to investigate this line of research. Specifically, the present study seeks to understand the motivational factors seen between traditional and nontraditional students, with an emphasis on intrinsic motivation. The results suggest that nontraditional students are primarily motivated by intrinsic motivators, while traditional students are driven by intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. These findings are further examined in the discussion.

This dissertation presents knowledge translation processes regarding the Do-Live-Well (DLW) framework for Canadian occupational therapists (OTs) and consists of five chapters. The first chapter explains why this DLW educational research was needed and provides a description of the theoretical frameworks used in the DLW educational project, including knowledge translation, program evaluation, and adult education frameworks. In chapter 2, I described the process of developing the equivalent online and in-person educational workshops that were evidence- and theory-based. Three phases were undertaken to develop the DLW workshops: (1) understand DLW training needs, (2) develop educational content and apply the problem-based learning approach, and (3) conduct a usability test of the online workshop website. The findings from each phase were used in DLW online and in-person workshops. In chapter 3, findings of a mixed-methods study are presented. The study was designed to (1) compare the effectiveness of online education with in-person learning regarding the DLW framework for Canadian OTs and (2) further explore workshop participants’ experience in both learning formats. While there were no statistically significant differences in knowledge gained, the in-person group was more satisfied with their learning. Participants in both groups valued the importance of personal interactions in learning; the online learners said online learning did not provide the same quality of in-person interactions that in-person education provided. In chapter 4, I explored workshop participants’ experiences of using the DLW framework in practice three months after DLW workshops by asking about benefits, facilitators, and barriers of using the DLW framework in practice. Participants valued the importance of the DLW framework, but there were challenges of using the DLW framework, associated with structural, organizational, provider, innovation, and patient factors. In chapter 5, the contributions of the DLW educational project are discussed by providing insights related to knowledge translation using Knowledge-To-Action cycle. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The purpose of this dissertation is to present the processes of how knowledge about the Do Live Well (DLW) framework, a Canadian health promotion approach, has been disseminated and applied in Canadian occupational therapy practice. This dissertation presented three major contributions: (a) It describes the detailed processes of developing theory- and evidence-based educational workshops regarding the DLW framework for Canadian occupational therapists (OTs) that could be replicable in continuing education for health care professionals. (b) It compares the effectiveness of an online DLW workshop compared to a traditional in-person DLW workshop for Canadian OTs and explores learners’ experiences in participating in the two different educational workshops. (c) It offers an understanding of workshop participants’ experiences and perspectives on the use of the DLW framework in practice after they completed the workshops.

This study aimed to explore and understand the University of Cape Town student perceptions and lived experiences of Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL) during COVID-19. COVID-19 is a communicable disease instigated by a novel virus (SARS CoV-2 virus). After the inevitable subsequent national lockdown of South Africa, the university placed ERTL measures in place for the second quarter of the first semester to curb the impact of the virus on its students while also enabling learning and teaching activities to continue remotely. ERTL meant that learning and teaching activities were ‘rapidly' shifted from face-to-face learning to remote learning. This study reports on the 707 students who responded to an online survey while engaged in their online courses. The Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) and Andersons' Online Learning Model were used to engage with students on the use of technology that enabled their interaction with lecturers, each other, learning and teaching activities, and other remote learning resources. Understanding the student experiences was achieved through a mixed-method study approach that involved undergraduate and postgraduate students. The Google form online surveys, with both open and closed ended questions with some using the 5-point Likert scale ratings, were distributed using social media platforms and university email system to students in order to collect the data. MAXQDA and Excel software were later utilised to analyse and code the data. Findings for this study indicate that the ERTL experience of the participants during the COVID-19 pandemic presented both opportunities and barriers. Some of the perceived opportunities by students were flexibility and convenience, pedagogical improvements, time saving, self-directed learning (working anytime they want and creating and managing their working schedule), and spending time with family. Interestingly enough, some of these benefits turned out to be challenges for some of the students. Hence, some of the barriers students perceived were distractions, internet connectivity and technical issues, inequitable living and environment conditions, lack of hands-on experience and how this made their degree feel incomplete and difficult, mental health issues, and many other barriers. The disciplinary faculties that experienced most of the obstacles and difficulties associated with ERTL were those whose academic experience depended on practical work in labs and studios or needed software that can only be accessed through labs and would need a specific operating system. The carrying out of this research will help ensure the effectiveness, investment, and continual integration of technology in future programs that involve learning and teaching.

An estimated 33% of all college students take at least one online class (Allen & Seaman, 2013). Online classes are offered across a wide range of domains, including courses designed for spiritual development. Little research exists examining students' experiences in these types of classes. The purpose of this research is to help address this gap by describing the phenomenon of spiritual growth in an online religious education course. Brigham Young University-Idaho (BYU-Idaho) offers online courses designed to help students grow spiritually. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten students who took one of these classes and who reported positive gains in spirituality as a result of the course on an end-of-course survey. Interviews focused on two major ideas: First, how did students describe the difference between previous face-to-face religious education experiences and their experience in the online course? Second, what elements of the online course encouraged spiritual growth? Ideas from each interview were combined to create some key observations and a potential model for online religious education that reflects these observations. Findings suggest participants took a great deal of ownership of their own spiritual journey. The online course encouraged this through a curriculum that was flexible enough for students to explore, yet at the same time provided a structured environment for growth. Reflection through writing appeared to be important for students' success. Participants felt online instructors played a less prominent role in their spiritual journey than face-to-face instructors. The online course appeared to change the traditional role of the instructor from one who provides direct instruction into one who acts more as a guide and a facilitator. Interactions between students appeared to have minimal impact on spiritual growth as this particular course was designed, but some interviews suggest this is an area for potential impact.

Despite the continued growth of K-12 online learning, there remains a need for additional research addressing roles of online facilitators and how they can improve the sense of community at K-12 online schools. The first article of this dissertation presents a case study illustrating how online facilitators can provide the same level of support for their students that on-site facilitators provide students in blended environments. Data was gathered from teachers at Mountain Heights Academy (MHA), a fully online high school. MHA implemented a "Shepherding Program" to provide student with online facilitators. Each teacher, or shepherd, was responsible for 20 to 25 students. Teacher focus groups and one-on-one interviews were used to examine the perceived effects of a shepherding program on shepherd-student relationships. Additionally, the teacher roles in the shepherding program were compared to the roles of on-site facilitators. Teachers were largely satisfied with the perceived impact of the shepherding program on their relationships with their students. Findings also highlighted strong similarities between the support the shepherding program provided online students and the support on-site facilitators provide blended learning students. The second article was a continuation of the case study from the first article. A key addition to the case study for the second article was the inclusion of student interviews. This article examined how teachers and students perceived that the shepherding program influenced instructor-student relationships. The analysis exposing similarities and differences between teacher and student perspectives of the shepherding program was conducted based on the four dimensions of Rovai's online sense of community: spirit, trust, interaction, and learning. Findings illustrated shepherd-student relationships consisting of all four elements of community in some degree.

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Attention during lectures often declines due to high cognitive demands, challenging student learning. The increasing popularity of online education, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, has added to the attention-sustaining difficulties students face during lectures. Online lecture breaks are a promising intervention to enhance attention and learning; however, there is limited research on how they should be designed. In the current study, I investigated the effects of break duration and frequency (Experiment 1) and break activity (Experiment 2) during an online lecture on student attention and learning. In both experiments, undergraduate students watched a 50-minute video-recorded online lecture and then completed an immediate comprehension quiz and a post-lecture survey that included questions about their lecture engagement and experiences. In Experiment 2, attention was measured through probes during the lecture, and a second comprehension quiz was administered one week later. Contrary to my predictions, findings from Experiment 1 revealed that taking three 2-minute open-ended lecture breaks led to significantly lower performance on the immediate quiz compared to taking one 6-minute open-ended lecture break or no breaks. Interestingly, participants in the combined break(s) conditions reported engaging in significantly more media multitasking behaviour and decreased levels of motivation during the lecture compared to the no breaks condition. Consistent with my predictions, Experiment 2 demonstrated that taking stretching breaks during an online lecture significantly improved immediate quiz performance compared to taking social media breaks or no breaks. These findings suggest that structuring online lectures with well-designed breaks can enhance learning outcomes, with stretching breaks showing particular promise. However, further research is needed to explore other factors that influence the quality and effectiveness of lecture breaks, as poorly designed breaks may inadvertently hinder learning. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / Maintaining attention during online lectures can be particularly challenging for students, which ultimately impacts their learning. Lecture breaks are often recommended as a tool to help improve attention and learning, but there is limited guidance on how they should be designed and implemented. In this study, I examined the effectiveness of different types of breaks in an online university lecture among university students. Surprisingly, frequent short open-ended breaks led to lower quiz scores compared to one longer open-ended break or no breaks. Interestingly, students who took at least one break engaged in more media multitasking and had reduced motivation to learn during the lecture. However, stretching during these breaks resulted in better quiz performance compared to using social media or taking no breaks. Therefore, while breaks can be poorly designed and unintentionally hinder learning, they can also be strategically integrated into online lectures by incorporating stretches to promote learning.