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Accessibility is a very important criterion to make online learning inclusive to students with different abilities. According to Burgstahler, Corrigan and McCarter (2004) unless design of the courses are accessible to all students, including those with disabilities, the ultimate goal of distance learning to make education available to everyone cannot be accomplished. However, accessibility is rarely a priority for online course developers and students with disabilities are not considered as a large group (Treviranus and Roberts, 2006). This exploratory case study investigated the experiences of the students with visual impairment in online learning environments with regards to media used in their courses with the intent of providing suggestions for accessible media design. Media included text, visuals (pictures, diagrams, charts, and graphs), audio, and multimedia (video and animation) used in online learning environments. This study used a purposive sampling technique and participants who are visually impaired, who had an online course experience, and who are older than 18 years old were included in the study. A semi-structured interview protocol was developed and participants were asked about challenges they experienced and what worked well for them in terms of media in online learning environment. Because of the lack of scientific research examining design of online learning for students with visual impairment, this dissertation fills an important research gap and also makes contributions to the field of Instructional Design and Technology by providing students' perspectives and suggestions for accessible design. Suggestions provided in this study is valuable in terms of designing accessible online courses and that there is a lack of information and guidance for answering the needs of students with visual impairment in online learning environments. / Ph. D.

This study examined the perceptions of satisfaction, engagement, comfort, and confidence level with Web 2.0 technologies as learning strategies in online courses, as well as differences based on gender, age, race, income, and a correlation among these factors and digital skills. The researcher survey design was used for this study, and was sent to all adult learners enrolled in an undergraduate degree-completion or graduate program. The population of 2,100 adult learners was asked to participate in the study, and 134 adult learners completed it. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted in order to address the research questions. The analysis consisted of one sample t tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) in order to determine the level and differences in perception of Web 2.0 use and correlation. One sample t test indicated that respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were satisfied, engaged, comfortable, and confident with Web 2.0 technologies. There were no significant differences among participants based on gender, age, income, or race in their overall satisfaction. When looking at individual survey items, results indicated that a female's comfort level in virtual meetings in online courses was significantly lower than males. The findings also showed that the Hispanics and other ethnic race groups' comfort level using social networking sites was significantly higher than that of the Caucasian and African American participants. However, the Caucasian groups' comfort level was significantly higher in social networking sites and instant messaging than that of African American groups. Moreover, both Caucasian and African American participants' confidence levels were significantly higher using Web 2.0 technologies at work than Hispanics'. Additionally, the study checked for correlations among digital literacy, satisfaction, engagement, comfort, and confidence, and positive correlations were found. An increase in confidence and satisfaction was associated with an increase in engagement, and increases in satisfaction were associated with increases in comfort. To summarize, most adult learners can learn and acquire digital literacy skills based on their satisfaction, engagement, comfort, and confidence in using Web 2.0 technologies in online learning. Digital literacy skills are needed for adult learners to participate in a digital and global society.

Doctor of Education / Department of Educational Leadership / Teresa N. Miller / The purpose of this study was to identify current student preferences in order to improve distance education curriculum delivery of the distance education program of the United States Army Command and General Staff College (USACGSC). In this age of rapidly changing contemporary operating environments facing the United States Army, soldiers need up-to-date curriculum in a timely and flexible package with access from remote locations worldwide. This study offered analysis and results from the students’ viewpoints of distance education at the USACGSC. The main research question was: What are student preferences for the delivery of the USACGSC distance education curriculum? To answer this research question, sub-questions needed to be answered. These sub-questions were: (1) What are student preferences for course material delivery? (2) What are student preferences for instructional methods? (3) What are student preferences for collaboration with other students? And (4) What are student preferences for research? The survey data were used to answer the research question and the sub-questions. The data were analyzed using the USACGSC Quality Assurance Office (QAO) standard approved by the USACGSC Deputy Commandant. Based on this study, the researcher recommended making a portion of the USACGSC advanced distributed learning courses face-to-face; making all course material downloadable or issuing course material in print and CD; making coursework self-paced; and making faculty available to all online students.

The purpose of this research was to examine the connections between personality types as illustrated by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and the desire for social presence components within a technology based learning environment. Participants in the study were undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in an educational technology program at a public university in the State of Texas. The study employed a mixed-method qualitative approach that utilized a paired comparison evaluation, a personality assessment, and semi-structured interviews. Results showed that the components of organization and feedback were thought to best foster social presence in technology based learning environments and that there was no real difference between the personality types of introverts versus extroverts and judgers versus perceivers.

The study of job satisfaction for professors in the work place has been prevalent in the research for decades (COACHE, 2007). As online education grows exponentially each year (Allen & Seaman, 2006), this aspect of professorial teaching is emerging as an increasingly critical factor. Many professors that teach in the online sector have taught or are currently teaching in a face-to-face setting as well (Preziosi & Gooden, 2003). Also, many of the professors teaching online courses in the higher education arena are being hired as adjunct instructors. There is a lack of literature dealing with the satisfaction of the educator in online teaching. Therefore, the goal of this study is to fill that gap pertaining to job satisfaction for online adjunct instructors. A phenomenological study using Herzberg‘s two factor theory was undertaken to examine the job satisfaction of a group of online adjunct instructors at a medium sized private university in the southeastern United States. Participants noted that they experienced issues with barriers in communication due to the lack of face-to-face interactions with students, found it more difficult to ensure student success, noted a lack of student readiness and it was difficult to form meaningful relationships with students online. Overall the participants noted that they would continue to teach online despite the overwhelming mention of job dissatifiers. The major conclusion of the findings yielded that flexibility was the number one reason that these participants taught online.

With the rapid and exponential growth of Internet use worldwide, online learning has become one of the most widely used learning paradigms in the education environment. Yet despite the rapidly increasing cultural diversity of online learners, few studies have investigated the effectiveness of cross-cultural Online Learning Systems (OLS) using a suitable measurement to answer the question, "Do culturally different learners perceive OLS effectiveness differently?" In this study, Hofstede's theory on cultural dimensions and Levy's Learners' Value Index of Satisfaction (LeVIS) framework are applied as a foundation for studying how culturally different learners perceive OLS effectiveness. The aim of this comparative study was to gain a better understanding of OLS effectiveness in a non-western culture by comparing cultural dimensions and learners' perceived effectiveness of OLS (across the four pillars: technology/support, course, professor, & learner) among American and Malaysian learners. Learners from American and Malaysian universities were surveyed and a factorial analysis of variance (factorial ANOVA) was used to determine any significant differences among participants regarding perceived OLS effectiveness across the four pillars of OLS based upon Hofstede's cultural dimensions. Results indicated significant differences in perceived OLS effectiveness between American and Malaysian learners in the course and professor pillars based on Hofstede's five cultural dimensions. However, the technology/support and learner pillars showed no significant differences between American and Malaysian learners' perceived OLS effectiveness. The main contribution of this study is its findings regarding the effect of culture on perceived OLS effectiveness. This study examined American and Malaysian learners' perceived effectiveness of the technology/support, course, professor, and learner pillars of OLS based on Hofstede's five cultural dimensions. Based upon analysis of the survey results, it was determined that American learners perceived a slightly higher OLS effectiveness in terms of the course and professor pillars than Malaysian learners. In other words, the survey indicated that the cultural dimensions distinguishing American and Malaysian learners influenced those two groups' perceived effectiveness of the course and professor pillars of the OLS. Another contribution of this study is its recommendation, based upon the survey results, that Malaysian OLS course designers develop and implement course content and activities in the online learning environment to alleviate the apparent conflict between current online learning and Malaysian cultural characteristics. It is further recommended that Malaysian professors using OLS also strive to develop an instructional method more suitable to the cultural norms of Malaysian society. On a general level, it is hoped that this study will also contribute to a better awareness and understanding of the important and unresolved issues surrounding cultural attributes and learners' perceived OLS effectiveness. Based on this study, recommendations were made for future research in order to broaden, reenforce or adjust its findings. These included, 1) replicating this study in another setting, such as in the collaborative environment of international organizations; 2) including additional independent variables, such as academic major, enrollment status (full or part time), first language, graduate student status, and grade point average; 3) replicating the current study using a larger sample with multiple locations and cultures, and 4) replicating this study at a future date to reflect potential changes in culture, technology, and OLS design.

The primary goal of this quantitative study was to investigate the connection between instructor self-concept and prosocial behavior and its impact on student learning; thus, gaining more knowledge about assessment of instructor fit for online, undergraduate, business first-year experience (FYE) courses. If an instructor’s selfconcept is related to the degree of prosocial behavior exhibited, then an instructor with a higher likelihood of exhibiting prosocial behavior may be a better fit for an online, undergraduate, business FYE course. The study failed to reject all null hypotheses, showing no correlations between faculty self-concept and degree of prosocial behavior exhibited to online business firstyear students. The results did show a correlation between instructor self-concept (RSCQ score) and tendency to exhibit prosocial behavior (PTM score), which is outside of the scope of this study, but informed future research considerations discussed in Chapter 5. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Online learning appeals to busy professionals and project managers (PMs) since demands from work, family, and personal interests compete with the desire to engage learning and finish courses. The thesis critically analyzes adult learning literature, then develops models, and tests the approaches at a commercial university. The professional learning model overcomes the gap in applied online learning design and delivery theories through a perspective transformation of the fundamental educational psychology principles, to shift the philosophy towards an integrated humanistic-constructivist paradigm. The key principles emphasized in this new approach are andragogical motivation, self-schema, self-efficacy, and self-regulation. A repeated-measures quasi-experiment was designed and conducted in a university online MBA program (n=48), using a scientific research methodology (that controlled confounding factors) to empirically test the professional learning factor model. Paired-treatment tests, factor covariances, coefficient of multiple determinations, and cause/effect multiple regression findings were statistically significant at the 95% confidence level (most tests exceeded 99%). A linear mathematical predictor and systemic model was substantiated from the concept testing, to quantitatively explain 66%(r²) of cause-effect variance between the contextual factors and dependent variables. These findings were compared to, and were in agreement with similar studies. The limitations of the quasi-experiments are small sample size, natural selection (as opposed to pure randomization), and generalizability to other contexts (models not yet replicated). The research makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to four stakeholder domains - Project Management (PM) professionals, adult educators, academic research community, and the PM body of knowledge. The first value claim consists of empirically proven online learning design and delivery guidelines, that can be applied and/or replicated. Secondly, the research multi-methods to decrease time-to-market for these multi-year experiments. Lastly the research evidence might promote the development of more 'soft-skills' content in PM

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / This thesis argues that it is only through understanding the multiple facets of technology that we are able to determine whether any particular manifestation of technology is educational. The reconstruction of educational technology in this thesis begins by building an understanding of the concept of experiential technology from the work of Heidegger, Dewey and Popper. This provides the conceptual architecture required to research the influence of educational technology in universities, which is interpreted in light of the wider theory of modernisation of society developed by Jürgen Habermas. The critical theory of technology formulated by Feenberg provides the methodological basis for reconstructing an understanding of technology and its impact on student learning. A reconstructive analysis requires a number of situational critiques, which in this thesis review the advice given to academic staff about the use of educational technology. It is through a synthesis of these critiques that this thesis examines whether higher education is undergoing a process of colonisation that has reduced its potential to discuss the values of university teaching and learning. Online learning is taken as a case example that has been embraced by academics for dealing with increasing student numbers and the increasing importance of work-based learning. By shifting from the theory of technology to the practice of the Australian Technology University, this thesis demonstrates that one approach to coping with change in the higher education context is to incorporate business values, have increasingly flexible curricula and focus on workplace skills. This thesis concludes that universities could go a lot further to incorporate the values of higher education into educational technology. In the case of the online learner this would support those distinctive characteristics that encourage a deep approach to learning. Following arguments put forward by Feenberg, it is argued that it is through student participation in technical design that we have the greatest chance of influencing technology’s development to emphasize the values of higher education. As long as academics continue to control the technological decision-making, the delivery and management of information is likely to remain the most common use of online technology. The legitimacy of the academic’s decision to use technology in their teaching increases where there is only a narrow gap between the values of the participants and the reality of their practice. Thus, to be morally just and provide students with the developmental opportunities that will serve them in their later professional and citizenship roles, the online classroom needs to ensure that it provides an autonomy-supporting environment.