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The Department of Special Education at West Virginia University offers an online graduate certification and/or degree program in six areas of specialization: (a) Autism Spectrum Disorders; (b) Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education; (c) Gifted Education; (d) Low Vision/Blindness; (e) Multicategorical Special Education; and (f) Severe/Multiple Disabilities. All courses in all program options are offered entirely online, using a combination of live online class sessions from 5-7 pm Eastern Time on alternate weeks plus multimedia content modules and other learning activities available on demand with scheduled due dates across the semester. Field and clinical experiences are arranged in the students’ home communities, with on-site supervision by local personnel and online supervision by university faculty. Students do not need to come to campus for any part of the program; they apply for admission, register, take courses, complete field and clinical experiences, seek advising, and apply for graduation online and can even participate in the graduation ceremony through a live webcast. Although this program was designed to serve prospective and practicing teachers throughout the state of West Virginia, it also enrolls students from many other states and several international locations.

The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative case study was to compare the academic success of community college students over three academic years (2016-17 through 2018-19) before the onset of COVID-19 based on final grades and the influence of student factors, class size, and faculty characteristics using archival data from selected online and on-ground classes at a Middle Tennessee community college. Student factors reviewed include gender, full-time or part-time status, and age (traditional or non-traditional status). Instructor characteristics reviewed included full-time or part-time (adjunct) teaching status and tenure or non-tenure status of faculty. Institutional data for this study consisted of 44,568 student records comprising 34,006 on-ground classes and 10,562 online classes. For the percentages provided, audit and incomplete or missing data were excluded. In this study, the mean grade point average (GPA) of all students with prior GPAs was 2.7. Unique student registrations totaled 13,400 students and unique instructors totaled 198. Eight research questions were answered from these data using Chi-square statistical tests. The final study showed a variety of results. When comparing student success for online and on-ground, online students were generally more likely to be successful, while on-ground students were generally more likely to be unsuccessful. In online courses, female students, part-time students, and non-traditional students were more likely to be successful. Class sizes fewer than 11 were generally more likely to produce successful students. Successful students were generally more likely to be taught by full-time faculty and tenured faculty.

This phenomenological study addressed perceptions of virtual sorority recruitment and was conducted at a large, public university in the Midwestern United States. Data was gathered through interviews using a criterion sampling method in place for this study. Study participants fell into one of the following categories: new members, general members, chapter recruitment chairs, chapter presidents, chapter advisors, chapter recruitment advisors, or the fraternity/sorority advisor. Emerging themes and categories were identified by coding and analyzing the interview data. The themes that were identified were: the convenience of online meetings, reduced emphasis on appearance reduced emotional, financial and time strain, increased accessibility and safety, meaningful conversations, improved communication, the continuation of services, skill development, disruption in building relationships, imperfect implementation, and the grieving process. The findings may be useful for reflecting on virtual sorority recruitment or organization recruitment. The findings may help determine what recruitment functions can be helpful while recruiting in a fully virtual capacity.

LibGuides, as a method of creating pathfinders for instruction of information literacy and content management has long been used by academic libraries, but has not been widely used by school libraries. This article describes a collaborative plan between a distance education librarian and a professor of school library media using LibGuides to overhaul a print pathfinder project in a reference sources for youth course. The methodology, results of the products, and student feedback from the assignment are discussed. The project exemplifies potential collaborative efforts between academic distance education librarians and school library media instructors.

This panel from East Tennessee State University (ETSU) shared a wide variety of opportunities and challenges in moving well-established face-to-face programs to fully online delivery formats. The panel represented a rich history of professional experience and teaching in higher education administration, PK-12 administration, and program development and marketing. Originally scheduled as a roundtable discussion, the presentation was moved to a breakout session and was well-attended. Panel members shared discussion, comments, and audience questions. Content proximal to the presentation focused on four areas involved in the collaborative move to an online delivery of a doctoral program: Notification, Development, Approval, and Implementation. However, audience participation drove discussions into areas of adult learning constructs, tuition, accreditation, and much more. Notification as a central topic was a review of the political and historical perspectives leading to ETSU’s program change when the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) announced a state-level initiative to move programs to online formats. ETSU had a fortyyear history of delivering a strong and well-respected Doctor of Education program, but. as the state-level movement continued, it was clear that ETSU would lead the way with its program. Development was the process of moving a rigorous program from the classroom to a fully online program. During this phase additional instructors were hired and resources were provided for training and curriculum change to accommodate non-traditional delivery models. Because of the state support and interest in moving this project, the program change occurred over an amazingly short time frame — approximately eight months. Approval as a phase occurred in concert with development as course work had to meet online guidelines and many courses were reviewed through processes in the department of educational technology. Approval phase issues also addressed accreditation issues pertaining to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools requiring online courses to retain rigor and be equivalent in content to the same or similar course delivered in a traditional construct. Implementation emerged as a review of the issues and opportunities of practical change in delivery models. As we all have experienced, no amount of training or preparation can remove the classroom moment of loss of connectivity or the inherent difficulties of getting students comfortable with using tools in a virtual environment. Questions from the audience moved panel participants into discussions of the wide variety of university resources for graduate students in online programs, including but not limited to a myriad of library resources, technology help resources, and lower tuition rates through an online consortium that allows online students to have access to in-state tuition rates. In the panel dialogue with the audience, it appeared that the ETSU program migration, though swift, was very thorough. One area that seemed to engage all was a possibility of moving toward strengthening culture in online programming through resources for family members of graduate students in online programming.

Efectividad de un Curso de Formación Directiva en Modalidad B-Learning en una Universidad Tecnológica del Sureste de México. Sergio Roberto Preza Medina, 2015: Disertación Aplicada, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education. Términos Descriptores de ERIC: Ambientes Virtuales de Aprendizaje, B-Learning, Efectividad, Diseño Instruccional, Modelo de Kirkpatrick. Las autoridades de una Universidad Mexicana, desde hace algún tiempo, habían implementado cursos en modalidad B-Learning. No obstante, desconocían la efectividad de estos. Por lo tanto se estableció como propósito determinar la efectividad del curso de Dirección de Equipos de Alto Rendimiento en modalidad B-Learning. Para lograrlo, se empleó el Modelo de Kirkpatrick y Kirkpatrick (2007). Este sugiere cuatro niveles para su identificación: reacción, aprendizaje, comportamiento y resultados. La investigación se enmarcó en una metodología cuantitativa con un diseño transeccional descriptivo-longitudinal de tendencia. Considerando para ello dos muestras, la primera de 45 estudiantes que tomaron el curso, para medir los niveles de satisfacción y aprendizaje. Y la segunda de 10 participantes que cumplieron con el rol de líderes, para medir los niveles de comportamiento y resultados. En ese sentido, se plantearon cuatro preguntas de investigación y se administraron seis instrumentos válidos y confiables para la recolección de datos. La primera pregunta fue, ¿cuál fue la reacción de los estudiantes del curso Dirección de Equipos de Alto Rendimiento en modalidad B-Learning?, y el instrumento aplicado fue Cuestionario 1.- Satisfacción. La segunda pregunta planteada fue, ¿cuál fue el aprendizaje de los estudiantes del curso Dirección de Equipos de Alto Rendimiento en modalidad B-Learning?, y los instrumentos administrados fueron Cuestionario 2.- Conocimientos y Cuestionario 3.- Habilidades. Respecto a la tercera pregunta, ¿cuál fue el comportamiento del conocimiento adquirido de los estudiantes del curso Dirección de Equipos de Alto Rendimiento en modalidad B-Learning?, el instrumento aplicado fue Cuestionario 4.- Comportamiento. Y para dar respuesta a la cuarta pregunta ¿cuál fue el resultado de los estudiantes del curso Dirección de Equipos de Alto Rendimiento en modalidad B-Learning?, se administró el instrumento Cuestionario 5.- Resultados. El análisis de datos indicó que los participantes se sintieron satisfechos después de haber finalizado el curso. Así mismo, se observó que aumentaron su aprendizaje. Respecto al comportamiento, este presentó un ligero incremento que estuvo orientado hacia los niveles medios y altos de la escala. Así mismo, los estudiantes mostraron un incremento significativo en el nivel de resultados. Considerando lo anterior, se concluyó que el curso impartido en la modalidad B-Learning fue efectivo.