This study investigated the perceptions of quality held by undergraduate students enrolled in an online degree program, and examined the connections between these perceptions and retention in an online learning environment. Three main research questions guided this study: (1) What are the characteristics of quality that are desirable for academic success in online distance education? (2) How well does the university manage selection and retention of students and control dropout rates in online learning environment? and; (3) How well does the university foster learning based on information about (a) student engagement, (b) the time and effort students devote to educationally sound activities (within and outside the classroom), (c) policies and practices the institution uses to induce students to take part in those activities, and (d) policies and practices at their institution, even if unintended, that hinder students' full participation? What are the connections between student perception of quality and retention in an online learning environment? A group of students at a medium-sized state university in central California composed of sophomores, juniors and seniors enrolled in a psychology course participated in interviews. The study employed a qualitative method to collect opinions and data from students who chose to learn in an online environment, examined students' experiences, determined those efforts that promote or hinder learning and higher student retention as perceived by the students, and presented from three main domains; (a) administration, (b) faculty, and (c) students. The findings of the study indicate that some of the characteristics of quality perceived by students as desirable include individual discipline and instructors that are more understanding and encourage students to learn. Administrative and technical support was also rated high on the list. Overall, students desired programs that were convenient and provided sufficient flexibility to accommodate other of life's challenges. The study confirmed expert opinions that when a student has positive personal experiences, possesses positive individual motivation, in an environment with positive attrition factors, it is predictable that the student could attain completion of course or program. The connections between the student's perception of quality and retention then are those personal experiences, individual motivation and positive attrition factors within the distance education learning culture. The quality of these connection variables determines a student's commitment to complete online education and commitment to the university.

The incorporation of the arts as an academic subject in the high school distance education delivery method is being reinvented as something new. Most of the current research is focused on college courses. Online high school curricula are most often placed in research studies as an afterthought. Perceptions of faculty members from high schools with traditional instructional delivery models as well as public online schools concerning online education as it relates to the arts in 5 different areas was the focus of this research; mentor, delivery method, satisfaction, student learning, and curriculum. Examining the perceptions of teachers gives a blueprint for future learning regarding course design to meet the unique online delivery method. Further, it reveals ways that curricula from areas of the curriculum traditionally perceived as difficult to teach in an online setting can be structured. The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the perceptions of high school faculty members of online instruction of visual arts compared to traditional face-to-face instruction regarding visual arts mentor, delivery method, satisfaction, student learning, and curriculum. Data collection techniques included the use of a survey with a 6-point Likert-type scale and collection of demographic information. Data were analyzed through a nonexperimental quantitative methodology further explained through 5 dimensions (mentor, delivery method, satisfaction, student learning, and curriculum). In faculty members age differences, gender, years of teaching, and subject area taught were investigated to see if there were any significant differences. The population included faculty members of online and traditional high schools in the southeastern United States. The following states were chosen for the study; Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. There were 490 participants in the online survey. This study revealed that there is statistical significance difference in several age groups and years worked in the delivery dimension. There is also statistical significance difference in the satisfaction and curriculum dimensions in the academic discipline grouping for fine arts. Curriculum dimension was also found to be significant in the online delivery method. The dimension of student learning was statistically significant in age groups. Findings also revealed that there was significance found in the mentor dimension in the delivery method of the traditional group. There was no significance difference found in gender with any of the dimensions.

Class of 2017 Abstract / Objectives: The aim of this project was to assess community-dwelling older adults’ knowledge of prescription and Over-the-Counter (OTC) medications associated with fall risk, then provide an online educational intervention tailored to older adults on the topics they answer incorrectly. The knowledge assessment of the missed questions will be repeated after the online education to detect the effectiveness of the online intervention in increasing the knowledge of community-dwelling older adults. Methods: This study used an interventional design with pre-test, post-test survey method to quantitatively analyze community-dwelling older adults’ knowledge on medication-related fall risk. The persons taking the survey were community dwelling older adults, 65 years of age and older, living in the greater Tucson and Phoenix areas. Data was obtained through an online Qualtrics questionnaire between February 1, 2016 and February 1, 2017. The survey respondents answered questions regarding prescription and OTC medications associated with fall risk. For the questions they answered incorrectly, an online educational intervention tailored to older adults was provided immediately. The knowledge assessment of the missed questions was repeated after the online education to detect the effectiveness of the intervention. Results: Questionnaires were completed by 302 community-dwelling older adults. The mean age of the participants was 79 (range 65 to > 96), and majority were women (61.2%). A majority of respondents (53.87%) reported falling once in the last 5 years. Of the total participants, 50% were taking between 5 and 9 prescribed medications and 56% taking 0 to 4 OTC medications. The primary outcome of this study is that online education was effective in educating community dwelling older adults on medication-related fall risk. Patients whose pharmacist had previously educated them did not directly correlate with better performance on the pretest than those who did not receive counseling. Participants that received online education during the survey improved their score from 69% before education to 84% post education. Conclusions: The online educational intervention on medication-related fall among older adults was effective and informative. Such educational strategy may be used by pharmacists to educate older patients using medications that may increase fall risks.

Supporting retention, student success, and online enrollments are some of the most significant and challenging topics in higher education today. Students who fail to succeed early in their studies are less likely to be retained, and students in the online environment are more likely to fail than their campus counterparts. Motivational techniques have been shown to support course retention and success, but studies of online motivational course support methods are limited. Some evidence exists that motivational messages can affect student performance in online courses, but the message format that is most effective has yet to be definitively established. A survey research design was employed and quantitative and qualitative data were collected to determine how motivational messages and message type affect student performance and retention in an introductory online community college course. The population consisted of students in three sections of an introductory online IT course. The data included student course grades, final course scores, responses to three surveys, and the researcher's reflexive journal of motivational message design decisions made throughout the course. Due to low course participation levels and low survey return rates, only the descriptive data were reported. Additional exploration of the literature to explain low participation was sought. Potential causes for low survey return rates included low course participation, survey length, the number of survey contacts, inaccurate estimates of survey completion time, and the number of surveys deployed. To explain the low course participation, best practices with regard to online course design were identified in the literature and compared to the design of the course used in this study. Qualitative survey results and a reflexive journal of the researcher's design decisions are also presented. The results suggest that students liked the motivational messages. The reaction was stronger for the personalized messages than for the general, but this was not a conclusive finding. To the contrary the findings suggest that motivational messages (regardless of type) are not by themselves effective at engaging and retaining students and should not be used as a stand-alone motivational technique.

In the past decade Higher Education Institutions have experienced tremendous growth in enrollments. To meet this demand, many higher education institutions have embraced online education and its requisite technologies. Online education has matured, and studies focusing on the cognitive domain indicate that distance education is as effective as the traditional face-to-face instructional modality. However, there is a scarcity of affective domain studies due to: a) the need for the institutions of higher education to perform quantitative studies to establish the quality of online education b) the affective domain's inherent subjective nature, and c) the educational research environment has slow recognition of the validity and value of qualitative research. This scarcity of research has created a reluctance to engage in online education on the part of a large number of private and public mission-driven educational institutions. Historically these institutions place great emphasis on the affective domain and currently believe that the affective domain cannot be effectively promoted in the online environment. Therefore, the conclusion is drawn that if online education cannot provide the affective component, then it is counterproductive to the mission of the institution desiring to provide a transformative education. This reluctance threatens the existence of many mission-driven institutions by falling behind in the distance education market place. Quality research is needed in the area of the affective domain in distance education to convince these institutions that the affective domain can effectively be taught in the online environment. This grounded theory study of an established online Bachelors of Radiography Program has developed a theory as to why students report a strong sense of mission when compared with other like institutions in the Mission Engagement Consortium for Independent Colleges (MECIC). Through a series of interviews with eight students, two alumni, four faculty, and the requisite coding, six contributing pedagogical phenomena and three central categories emerged. The three central categories, Instructor Persistence, Synchronous Encounters, and Integrated Institutional Mission, when working together, were found to have created continued and significant impact on the affective domain for the students of the Radiography program. Further research will be needed to quantitatively test the theory developed in this study and establish a baseline of best practices in promoting the affective domain in the online learning environment.

<div>Circulation studies, as the theory of ecological spread of information, impacts public perception of knowledge-making, and digital circulation (i.e. online information sharing) impacts what people expect online knowledge-making and online education is or should be. Online education is becoming a new norm for students and universities at a time when economic pressure is pushing both to be more austere and expedient; at the same time, circulation collapses together the complex ways we communicate, making them harder to differentiate. This dissertation responds to these conditions by focusing on the labor behind circulation and Online Writing Instruction (OWI) in order to study knowledge-making online. Through focus groups with instructors, case studies, and surveys of students in online classes, this dissertation identifies strategies that benefit both teachers and students and improve Online Writing Classes. This work intersects with recent considerations of how mis- and dis-information spread online, the impact of Data Science and Information Theory on communication and knowledge-making, and how to make universities accessible to more people.</div><div><br></div><div>Chapter 1 overviews the history of Distance Education (DE) and Online Education (OE) as well as the relevant disciplinary distinctions OWI makes for itself. Chapter 1 also identifies theoretical and practical challenges OE finds for itself and overviews recent shifts in OE student populations. Chapter 2 contextualizes the challenges OE and OWI face in a larger ecology of Information Theory, Rhetoric and Composition theory and practice, Technical Communication theory and practice, and Neoliberal economics, positing ecological links between modern data science, digital circulation, and economics. In doing so, Chapter 2 offers a rhetorical interpretation of the DIKW pyramid and definitions of data, information, knowledge, and wisdom (D, I, W, and W respectively) for rhetorical practitioners. Chapter 3 follows up on Chapter 2’s arguments to respond with research on teacher and student labor in online classes with methods for such inquiry, through focus groups, case studies, and surveys. Chapter 4 presents data from all stages of that inquiry, and Chapter 5 connects together observations from the data with theory from Chapters 1 and 2 to draw more concrete conclusions.</div><div><br></div>

The advent of the internet has resulted in the development from mail, radio and telephonic modes of delivery to electronic mode of delivery in distance education. It has been predicted that the impact of the internet on distance and online education will result in benefits such as wider reach of learners who might be disadvantaged by geographical locations and distance, greater flexibility and increased convenience for distance and online learners. However, the envisaged benefits seem to be elusive as a result of a range of impediments, including issues related to the digital divide. In this case study, focused on on-line students at a college of distance and open education in Botswana, students perceptions’ of both the benefits of and the impediments to their study are described, together with their perceptions of support strategies. Findings indicate the need for support strategies consistent with the nature of online learning in the 21st century. In particular, the findings of this study suggest that Web 2.0 technologies have the potential to enhance learner support, and that there is a need for careful exploration of the ways in which such technologies can be exploited and applied in support of on-line learners.

Este trabalho traz os resultados de uma investigação de caráter qualitativo, apoiada em descrições provenientes de um curso online de capacitação baseado na abordagem colaborativa de aprendizagem. Esta investigação comprova a tese de que a didática realizada em cursos a distância online, orientados pela abordagem colaborativa, favorece a participação, comunicação e interação entre os participantes, e, desta forma, possibilita maior aprendizado. As referências teóricas buscaram situar os conceitos centrais que envolviam a proposta. A prática observada no curso trouxe elementos que aprofundaram a reflexão sobre os novos caminhos da didática, viabilizadas pelas atividades colaborativas desenvolvidas em ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem. A proposta do curso desafiou os conhecimentos e conceitos já assumidos pela didática, e orientou a ação para a incorporação de novos conceitos e pressupostos, na fronteira entre comunicação e educação. As inovações tecnológicas, no entanto, mostraram novos aspectos e possibilidades que vão além da comunicação didática, no sentido apresentado pelos teóricos estudados. As possibilidades oferecidas pelos ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem, para interação e comunicação entre todos os participantes dos cursos online, a qualquer hora e em qualquer lugar, mudam significativamente o potencial das estratégias de ensino-aprendizagem que podem ser utilizadas. A escolha das abordagens colaborativas como orientação metodológica, para o desenvolvimento das estratégias e procedimentos desencadeados no curso estudado, agregou aos aspectos tecnológicos as condições ideais para que o processo didático de aprendizagem baseado na interação e comunicação fosse ampliado. Em termos de resultados - no que diz respeito aos objetivos de aprendizagem desejados pelo curso e os almejados pela pesquisa - a proposta do curso alcançou suas finalidades. Para a pesquisa, a vivência, a participação, a interação e a comunicação dos alunos no curso validaram e superaram as hipóteses mais audaciosas em relação ao fazer didático em cursos online colaborativos, postas pela investigação. / This work brings the results of an investigation of qualitative character, supported by descriptions from an online training course based on the collaborative approach of learning. This investigation proves the thesis that the didactic held in distance online courses, guided by the collaborative approach, favors the participation, communication and interaction among the participants, and this way enables higher learning. The theoretical references looked for to place the centrals that involved the proposal. The practice observed in the course brought elements that deepened the reflection on the new ways of the didacticism, made by the collaborative activities developed in virtual atmospheres of learning. The proposal of the course challenged the knowledge and concepts already assumed by the didacticism and it guided the action for the incorporation of new concepts and presupposed on the border between communication and education. The technological innovations, however, showed new aspects and possibilities that are going besides the didactic communication in the sense presented by the theoretical ones studied. The possibilities offered by the virtual atmospheres of learning for interaction and communication among all the participants of the courses online, at any time and in any place, change significantly the potential of the strategies of teaching-learning that can be used. The choice of collaborative approaches as methodological guidance for the development of strategies and procedures unchained in the studied course, joined to the technological aspects the ideal conditions for the teaching-learning process based on interaction and communication were expanded. In terms of results - with regard to the learning objectives desired by current and desired by the research - the proposal of the course has achieved its purposes. For the research, the experience, participation, interaction and students\' communication in the course validated and outperformed the hypotheses in relation to do the didactic in collaborative online courses, putted by the investigation.

As interações dos estudantes com os Objetos de Aprendizagem (OAs) disponibilizados por meio dos Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem (AVAs) produzem uma quantidade significativa de dados. Estes dados deixam rastros que podem ser analisados para responder as seguintes questões: Como os estudantes circularam pelos AVAs? Quando o estudante entrou em um AVA? Quais os trajetos percorridos? Quanto tempo levou para executar uma atividade? Qual a ordem de execução das atividades? Qual a Trajetória de Aprendizagem (TA) percorrida pelo estudante? Um grande desafio na atualidade é desenvolver mecanismos de monitoramento e visualização das Trajetórias de Aprendizagem (TAs) comparando com o desempenho avaliado do estudante. Devido à grande quantidade de dados gerados, quanto mais compacta for a visualização das TAs, melhor será, não apenas para os estudantes, mas, também, para os professores envolvidos. Nesse contexto, a presente Tese se concentrou, primeiramente, nos estudos de diversas técnicas de visualização de grande quantidade de dados e, em seguida, propôs uma técnica de visualização de trajetos relacionados com a TA de cada estudante, contendo as atividades inerentes à aprendizagem pretendida. As TAs são compostas por trajetos, que podem ser seguidos conforme a sugestão do professor através de Roteiro Guiado (RG) ou conforme a escolha do estudante através de Roteiro Livre (RL), desde que o estudante possua os pré-requisitos para tal escolha. Certamente, existe, para o estudante seguir, uma ordem mais recomendada para a execução das atividades, que lhe seja mais conveniente para a apropriação ou construção do conhecimento pretendido. Assim, se é possível visualizar todos os dados sobre a realização ou não dos trajetos, tanto pelo professor quanto pelos estudantes, os próximos passos dessas atividades de aprendizagem serão melhores escolhidos Desse modo, a tese propõe um modelo gráfico espaço-temporal para a visualização dos trajetos e das TAs dos estudantes, resultantes das interações necessárias para a realização das atividades inerentes de cada trajeto em AVAs. A ideia básica é utilizar os dados obtidos das interações dos estudantes nos AVAs e gerar gráficos que serão visualizados como meio para se obter uma maior compreensão e apreensão dos Processos de Aprendizagem (PAs), de forma a buscar extrair desses dados, na medida do possível, ideias ou conhecimentos ainda poucos trabalhados nas pesquisas acadêmicas que abordam o tema. Esta pesquisa desenvolveu uma abordagem para a implementação de uma pratica pedagógica usando o sistema de visualização de informação para a representação de padrões de interação dos estudantes dentro de um espaço conceitual, no contexto educacional, tendo como embasamento as teorias da aprendizagem significativa e da autorregulação da aprendizagem Para a materialização da proposta foi desenvolvido dois experimentos sendo um na Universidade Federal Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) no Brasil e outra na Universidade Pedagógica (UP) em Moçambique nos quais foi feita a comparação da forma de interação dos estudantes dentro da TAs seguindo os dois roteiros propostos pelo professor o que permitiu acompanhar melhor os experimentos realizados. As análises dos resultados obtidos pelos referidos experimentos permitiram visualizar e comparar os processos de aprendizagem através das interações/navegações em OAs, da ordem de utilização dos mesmos, das Trajetórias de Aprendizagem (TAs), do tempo para percorrer a TA e também através do pré e pós-teste. Como resultado, observou-se um melhor aproveitamento pedagógico no processo em que os estudantes usaram o RL em relação aos estudantes que interagiram de forma sequencial (RG). O estudo contribui com um sistema de visualização dos trajetos realizados pelos estudantes, que permite realizar o mapeamento das atividades em AVAs, e com uma nova proposta de validação de questões de avaliação (pré-teste e pós-teste) como forma de propor melhorias nos processos educacionais. / Student's interactions with Learning Objects (LO) that are available through Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) produce a significant amount of data. These data leave traces that can be analyzed to answer the following questions: How did students interact through VLE? When did the student enter in the VLE? What are the trajectories? How long did it take to perform an activity? What is the order of execution of the activities? What is the learning trajectory (LT) fulfilled by the student? A major challenge now is to develop monitoring and visualization mechanisms of the Learning Trajectories (LT) compared to the student's assessed performance. Due to the large amount of data generated, as more compact the visualization of the LT can be, the better it will be, not only for students, but also for the teachers involved. In this context, the present thesis focused primarily on the studies of several techniques for visualizing large amounts of data and then proposed a technique for visualizing trajectories related to the LT of each student, containing the activities inherent to the intended learning. The LT are composed of routes, which can be followed according to the teacher's suggestion (Guided Roadmap - GR) or according to the student's choice (Free Roadmap - FR), provided if the student has the prerequisites for such a choice. Certainly, for the student to follow, exists a more recommended order for the execution of the activities, which is more convenient for the appropriation or construction of the knowledge intended. Thus, if it is possible to visualize all data about the accomplishment or not of the routes, by the teacher as well as the students, the next steps of these learning activities will be better chosen. Thus, the thesis proposes a space-time graphic model for the visualization of the student's paths and LT, resulting from the necessary interactions from inherent activities of each path in VLE. The basic idea is to use the data obtained from student interactions in VLE and generate graphs that will be visualized as a means to obtain a greater understanding and apprehension of the Learning Processes (LP), in order to seek to extract from this data, as possible, ideas or knowledge still few worked in the academic researches that approach the subject. This research developed an approach for the implementation of a pedagogical practice using the information visualization system to represent patterns of student interaction within a conceptual space in the educational context, based on theories of meaningful learning and self-regulation of learning. For the materialization of the proposal, two experiments were carried out, one at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil and another at the Pedagogical University (UP) in Mozambique, in which the interaction of the students within the LT was compared in two scripts proposed by the teacher that allowed to follow better the realized experiments. Analysis of the results obtained by these experiments allowed to visualize and compare the learning processes through the interactions/navigations in LO, the order of their use, the Learning Trajectories (LT), the time to go through the LT and through the pre and post-test. As a result, a better pedagogical use was observed in the process, in which the students used the FR in relation to the students who interacted sequentially (GR). This study contributes with a visualization system of the trajectories taken by students, which allows mapping of activities in LT, and with a new proposal validation of evaluation questions (pre-test and post-test) as a way of proposing improvements in educational processes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate faculty and administrator perceptions of online learning compared to traditional face-to-face instruction by exploring the factors that impact online instruction. Strategies that can lead to effective online learning environments were explored. Faculty and administrators working with online education at 6 traditional, regionally accredited, degree granting higher education institutions were included in the study. The number of participants consisted of 169 from the public university, 98 from the private institutions, and 33 from the community college. The survey used a Likert-type scale, and had 4 dimensions (student engagement, student-student interactions, faculty engagement, and academic dishonesty) to measure faculty and administrator perceptions of online education. It contained 17 statements and 9 demographic questions. Statistical analyses of the data revealed: (1) No significant difference in the perceptions of faculty and administrators as measured by mean scores on the 4 dimensions of the survey by type of higher education institution, (2) No significant difference in the perceptions on the 4 dimensions of the survey between administrators and faculty, (3) No significant relationship in participants’ years of service and mean scores on the 4 dimensions of the survey, (4) No significant difference in the perceptions on the student-student interactions dimension between faculty who teach primarily online and those who teach primarily face-to-face, and a significant difference in the perceptions on the other 3 dimensions, (5) A significant difference in the perceptions of faculty towards academic dishonesty dimension depending on the percentage of online classes taught by the faculty (25% or less, about 50%, about 75%, and 100%). Group 1 (25% or less) had significantly lower mean score than the groups 2 (about 50%), 3 (about 75%), and 4 (100%), (6) A significant positive relationship in the perceptions on the academic dishonesty dimension based on the number of years teaching online courses, (7) No significant difference in participants’ mean scores on the 4 dimensions based on faculty members’ and administrators’ age, and (8) The perceptions of male faculty and administrators on student engagement tended to be significantly higher than the perceptions of female faculty and administrators.