Browsing by Author "Stein, David S."

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    THE EXPERIENCE OF LEARNING IN A WEB-ENHANCED COURSE
    (2005-09-27T17:34:37Z) Stein, David S.; Calvin, Jennifer
    Web based courses are being offered at more and more colleges and universities. In many instances, students do not have a choice whether to enroll in an online course. However, little research has looked at the experiences of these students as they learn in an online environment. This qualitative study used in depth interviews with volunteers from a web-enhanced course to examine the experience of learning online from the students’ perspective. Particular attention was paid to the impact of course structure and interaction and dialog among the students and instructor. The study found that lack of experience with the technology, frequency of feedback, language barriers, group size and subject matter all impacted students’ learning in this webenhanced course.
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    Faculty Mentoring At A Distance: Coming Together In The Virtual Community
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Stein, David S.; Glazer, Hilda R.
    This mixed-methods study explores how faculty in a virtual university experience the role of mentor working with doctoral students at a distance. This study uses faculty narratives to identify faculty actions that might be different from mentoring traditional doctoral students in a face to face program. In the new working adult universities, learners are not necessarily seeking initial careers through doctoral study but are enhancing established careers. The study investigates the mentoring skills on line faculty bring to the virtual learning space and describes how a graduate faculty teaching in a virtual learning space perform the role of mentor.
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    Presence And Interaction In An Inquiry-Based Learning Environment
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2004) Stein, David S.; Wanstreet, Constance E.
    This mixed-methods study examined how interactions facilitated cognitive, social, and teaching presence in inquiry-based learning in a course where learners had the option to choose whether to conduct group work online or in person. Findings suggest that the knowledge learners gained from the course resulted from chats and discussions within their small groups and not from threaded discussions with the entire class. Results also indicate that learners with a high degree of social presence within their small groups developed a relationship that appeared to overshadow their relationship with classmates in other groups. Teaching presence may be affected by whether learners choose to collaborate in person or online and by where they choose to collaborate. The further the group moved away from the instructor’s online or physical presence, the lower the degree of teaching presence the learners felt.
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    The Role Of Community In Online Learning
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Stein, David S.; Wheaton, Joe E.; Calvin, Jennifer; Overtoom, Christine
    This project examined learners’ perceptions of the learning community construct, whether learners’ online and face-to-face interactions led to the development of learning communities and whether the process of building community was different in face-to-face and web-based courses. Courses requiring learners to interact on a personal level early in the course were more likely to develop into learning communities. The degree of distance within the course did not make a difference in whether these learning communities developed. Rather, a sense of trust and of shared hardship as they worked through the course assignments were seen as more important by these learners. In situations where communications were considered inappropriate, developing communities were derailed or development never began. A definition of community emerged from the data that identified characteristics of shared learning goals, exchanging ideas, assisting each other, and an element of trust among the learners within the community.
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    Role Of Social Presence, Choice Of Online Or Face-To-Face Group Format, And Satisfaction With Perceived Knowledge Gained In A Distance Learning Environment
    (Midwest Research-to-Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education, 2003) Stein, David S.; Wanstreet, Constance E.
    This mixed-methods study examined factors that contributed to satisfaction with perceived knowledge gained in a distance learning environment where collaboration represents a major portion of the course structure. Giving learners authority over the physical learning environment and offering different formats for collaboration, either online or in person, contributed to the learners’ overall satisfaction with the course. Results indicate that social presence may not have played a role in choice of distance learning format.