Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques

A wide variety of media can be used in learning, including distance learning, such as print, lectures, conference sections, tutors, pictures, video, sound, and computers. Any one instance of distance learning will make choices among these media, perhaps using several.

Multimedia in Learning

The theory of affordances

This article presents an introduction to the Health Belief Model (HBM). The HBM states that the perception of a personal health behavior threat is influenced by at least three factors: general health values, interest and concern about health; specific beliefs about vulnerability to a particular health threat; and beliefs about the consequences of the health problem. Once an individual perceives a threat to his health and is simultaneously cued to action, if his perceived benefits outweighs his perceived costs, then the individual is most likely to undertake the recommended preventive health action. Key words: health promotion, health belief model, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, self-efficacy. Content available only in Romanian.

Health Belief Model

Online education changes all components of teaching and learning in higher education. Many empirical studies have been conducted to examine issues in delivering online courses; however, few have sy...

Issues and Challenges for Teaching Successful Online Courses in Higher Education: A Literature Review

Online courses have become commonplace at many institutions of higher education. While the popularity on online courses is growing, there are still many questions regarding the effectiveness of such courses in facilitating learning outcomes. Using theories from mass communication and education, we designed an online lecture which employed a 2 (modality) × 2 (clarity) between-subjects factorial design to better understand how variations in the mode (text only; audio and text) and structure/clarity (high clarity; low clarity) of information impacted feelings of instructor closeness, credibility, and perceived and actual learning. Results indicated that online lectures presented in a multimodal format were better at facilitating positive student experiences with instructors, as well as perceived and actual learning than lectures that contained only one mode of information. Implications of these findings are discussed with a specific focus on instructional design and technology.

Online teaching and technological affordances: An experimental investigation into the impact of modality and clarity on perceived and actual learning

Online learning can be a lonely experience. Social presence and interaction are a few proposed ways to combat students’ feelings of loneliness from peers and their instructor. Given that online cou...

Exploring connections in the online learning environment: student perceptions of rapport, climate, and loneliness

With the increasing popularity of online learning in higher education comes a need to examine students’ perceptions about classroom climate in these environments. This two-part study proposes the online learning climate scale (OLCS) for doing so. Informed by both instructional communication and education, the scale consists of several variables related to teacher role(s) and behaviors, student characteristics, and course-specific structural issues to explain how students perceive climate within a computer-mediated classroom. Ultimately, this two-part study (a) constructed the OLCS and (b) established its factor structure and convergent validity.

The development and validation of the online learning climate scale (OLCS)

Instructional communication scholars have long been interested in creating and testing alternative approaches to measuring cognitive learning. One of the existing measures, the Cognitive Learning Measure (Frisby & Martin, 2010), has not yet been fully validated. This series of three studies examined the factorial and concurrent validity of the scale. Results revealed that a three-factor measurement model was a better fit to the data than the original unidimensional factor model. Concurrent validity was established with respect to student motives, affective learning, student interest, classroom participation, and out-of-class communication with their instructors. The measure is discussed as a viable option for both operationalization of cognitive learning and as a complement to other learning tests.

The Cognitive Learning Measure: A Three-Study Examination of Validity

Though scholars have identified a myriad of student characteristics and skills necessary to prepare individuals for online education, one notable gap in the literature is a focus on preparedness fo...

Renee Kaufmann

Papers

Online teaching and technological affordances: An experimental investigation into the impact of modality and clarity on perceived and actual learning

Exploring connections in the online learning environment: student perceptions of rapport, climate, and loneliness

The development and validation of the online learning climate scale (OLCS)

The Cognitive Learning Measure: A Three-Study Examination of Validity

Online Student Perceptions of Their Communication Preparedness.