Among the challenges facing online program administrators and instructors is meeting the varied needs of students, particularly from the perspective of course technology, crucial to the success of students and programs in the online environment. This session will explore how using multiple technologies enhances student engagement in the online classroom.
In mid-February of 2016 the Babson Survey Research Group released its 13th and final Online Report Card – Tracking Online Education in the United States. Even though this ongoing series reported a threefold increase in the number of students taking at least one online course over the last 13 years, the decision to end the reports came in part as a result of the “Maturation of distance education programs in higher education” and the Group’s assertion that “When more than one quarter of higher education students are taking a course online, distance education is clearly mainstream” (Allen, Seaman, Pouline & Taylor Straut, 2016).
Aside from simply adding online elements to face-to-face courses or transitioning a single course online, fully online degree granting programs are becoming more common in many disciplines as a result of trends in online education nationally. There is little doubt that online courses and online degree programs will continue to increase.
As the demand for online education continues to increase, program administrators and faculty must develop and assess a delivery model that maintains or improves the quality and integrity of face-to-face instruction. While a growing majority (71.4%) of academic leaders in higher education rate learning objectives in online education equal to or superior to those in face-to-face instruction (Allen et al., 2016), there is still much work to accomplish. Maintaining the relevance and quality of online programs requires consistent evolution based on student needs, technological innovation, and pedagogical best practices.
One of the challenges facing online program administrators and instructors is to meet the varied needs of students, particularly from the perspective of course technology, crucial to the success of students and programs in the online environment. Courses and programs that rely solely on the base technology of a Learning Management System are missing an opportunity to expose students to a wider array of technological tools that can be used by the student, not only in the course and program’s classrooms, but also in the student’s professional life. As well, the use of only one type of online course technology or system, is likely not meeting the diverse learning styles and needs of the student audience.
This presentation will explore the use of a variety of technological tools that are used in a fully online Master’s Degree program. Specifically, the use of Turnitin, VoiceThread and Google++ within online classes will be discussed and demonstrated. In addition, students’ reactions and evaluations of those tools will be presented.
Reference
Allen, I., Seaman, J., Pouline, R., & Taylor Straut, T.. (2016, February). The online report card: Tracking online education in the United States. Online: Pearson. Retrieved from http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/online-report-card-tracking-onl... on 17 February 2016.