Credibility of Online Learning Video Presentation

Annotated References

Allen, E., & Seaman, J. (2013). Changing course: Ten years of tracking online education in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group and Quahog Research Group, LLC.

            Presents the research findings on the state of online learning in the United States.  This was the tenth year this research has been conducted.  Surveyed items include the growth in online education, perceptions and acceptance of online learning by faculty, as well as the effectiveness of online education in comparison to traditional educational settings.  Statistical graphs portray the changes occurred during the varying time frames.

Raj, S., & Al-Alawheh, M. (2010). A Perspective on Online Degrees Vs. Face-to-Face in the Academic Field Proceedings of the Fifth Conference of Learning International Networks Consortium. Cambridge, MA; LINC.

            Described the perspectives of employers in regards to the acceptability of online distant education programs of online doctoral degrees.  Delivers insight into the minds of hiring officials from multiple fields depicting the uncertainties surrounding online graduate degree programs.  Suggests new approaches to instructional design for online courses could improve these perceptions.

Richardson, J. (2010). Online Credentials: A State of Wariness. School Administrator, 67(8), 18-22.

            Discusses the skepticisms found in personnel directors towards individuals with a graduate degree that was primarily obtained online.  School districts are noted as being reluctant to hire administrators without a traditional education.  Research suggests that individuals with a degree obtained online are viewed as under qualified to potential employers.

Shelton, K. (2011). A Review of Paradigms for Evaluating the Quality of Online Education Programs. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume IV, Spring 2011(Number I).

Sinow, R. &.-B. (2012). The Value and Acceptability of an Online Degree in Hiring Gatekeepers’ choice for Employment in the Multimedia Production Industry. Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 1918-1927). Chesapeake: AACE.

            Describes the acceptability of online degrees in the multimedia production industry.  Studies show that individuals with experience in online learning are more likely to accept online degrees.  Hiring personnel from technology-based fields find online degrees more credible than that of management fields.  Limitations to peer interaction is viewed as a weakness of online education.  General acceptance of online degree programs rises.

Udegbe, I. (2012, March). Attitudes of Prospective Human Resource Personnel towards Distance Learning Degrees. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, XV(1).

            Discusses the attitudes of human resource personnel towards obtaining online degrees.  The majority of those surveyed believed traditional campus-based universities provided a more rigorous experience.  Nearly 43% of respondents stated that they would not hire someone with an online degree.  Overall, only a third of employers surveys had favorable attitudes towards online learning.

Vukelic, B. &. (2011). Employers' evaluation of online education. Annals Of DAAAM & Proceedings, 1471-1472.

            Research studies conducted in Austria discovered employers held negative opinion towards applicants with online degrees.  90% stated that online degrees did not provide adequate skills and/or knowledge for successful potential employees.  It was noted that often it is difficult to differentiate between degrees obtained online and degrees earned from a traditional academic setting.

Zain-Ul-Abdin, K. &. (2010). The acceptability of online degrees in teacher training and hiring. Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2010 (pp. 995-1000). Chesapeake, VA: AACE.

            Provides research findings on high school principals’ acceptance of potential teachers with licensure degrees obtained online.  Findings showed that 95% of those surveyed would not hire a teacher with an online degree.  Meanwhile, 99% stated they would choose an applicant with a traditional education over one with an online degree.  The participants’ reasoning was that online programs could not provide adequate socialization required of effective teachers.

Additional Resources

Todd Oppenheimer clips retrieved from YouTube: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYPLM4PoZSU&feature=share&list=PLDNCUyHEfxsAG3Wg9HDiEnvFbMIWGKlqm

Images retrieved from:

www.openculture.com 

www.123rf.com

www.franklin.edu

www.onlineuniversities.com

www.geteducated.com

Assessing Collaboration

Module 3

In distance education, designing instruction that incorporates a collaborative learning community can be a difficult task.  However, assessing individual student contribution on the given task can be a greater challenge.  While it is acceptable to alter instructional methods to meet the demands of our ever changing society, we hold tight to the traditional methods of assessment.  However, as we’ve grown to learn that traditional lecture-based instruction is not always (or mostly) the best method to maximize student achievement and performance, educators have vastly remained stagnant in assessing.  This unbalance may be why assessing collaboration or “group work” so difficult for educators in kindergarten through grad school.

In order to prepare our students to meet the demands of our ever-changing society, our philosophical shifts must occur within instruction AND assessment.  Building learning communities that foster collaboration requires student participation (Palloff & Pratt, 2007).  The amount of information recall as student obtains is no longer our main concern.  However, the ways in which students use their knowledge to improve the overall success of the group is key.  Collaboration is often product focused, but assessing the final product does not give a fair or clear picture of individual student performance.  George Siemens offers multiple suggestions on how to change our assessment models to match our instructional goals (Laureate Education Inc., 2008).  Peer and self-assessment provide instructors with insight on how individual contributions lead to final product.  Educators need to assess collaboration work based on the contributions made by individual students and how those students fostered interaction throughout the group (Laureate Education Inc., 2008).  Wikis and learning management systems can track individual contributions throughout the entirety of a project and assist in accurately assessing participation in collaboration efforts.  This can help ensure that the product was completed collaboratively by all members of the learning community.

Not everyone openly embraces collaboration in a learning community.  Often, individual accomplishments were acclaimed in the past and due to the definition of collaboration, some can have a “loss of self” mentality (Laureate Education Inc., 2008).  This can lead to failure for not only the individual but the group.  Jeffery Hammond reminds us in his blog of the significance of communicating the individual importance of each group member.  Without individual participation, the group will be unsuccessful.  Instructors and learning communities can take measures to prevent this from occurring.  In the very beginning, instructors need to ensure that every student feels welcomed and clear and direct expectations are provided, and learning communities should create a team charter that explicitly defines individual roles and expectations from within the group (Palloff & Pratt, 2007).  If this fails, the instructor should step in to mediate without dominating the group or relinquishing control from the active members (Palloff & Pratt, 2007).  Regardless of preventative measures, there will be times when a student refuses to participate or participates in a negative manner.  This is why clear and concise expectations given at the start is so important.  The groundwork is laid and assessments should be given based on the initial expectations and charter.  Active participants should not be negatively assessed based on these behaviors.  The instructor may need to reconstruct groups in order for the active participants to be successful. 

Collaboration is an effective and meaningful instructional strategy that will provide students with the skills needed to collaborate in the corporate world.  Designing appropriate assessments for collaboration is essential for successful and productive collaboration learning communities.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Blog replies to:

LeAnn Morris
http://leannmorris.blogspot.com/2013/01/assessing-collaborative-efforts.html?showComment=1358101719892#c5821701707820266493

Karen Wagoner
http://wagzz1.blogspot.com/2013/01/assessing-collaborative-efforts.html?showComment=1358102334829#c4082333498262476745

Module 3 Storyboard

The Credibility of Online Learning
Introduction to Dr. Kaye Shelton

Narration	Visual
Introduction to online learning
Growth of online learning	Graph of expansion
Public’s perception	Image(s) of individuals
Introduce Kaye Shelton	Picture of Kaye Shelton
Online Credentials: A State of Wariness	Human Resources
Kaye Shelton’s work	http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring141/shelton141.html
Research findings by Monica Jeancola	Data
Do online degrees meet the needs of employers?
Best Practices	Video on tips for students and employers
GetEducatedDotCom	Video Clip from GetEducatedDotCom
Diploma Mills	Signs to spot them
Accreditation	Images of nationally or regionally accreditation
Sloan-C Quality Scorecard	Different indicators from score card
Student perspective	Video clips of students describing their satisfaction with online degree/traditional degree.
Conclusion	Future of online universities

 Blog replies to:

Lori Dodd
LeAnn Morris
http://leannmorris.blogspot.com/2013/01/module-3-video-storyboard.html?showComment=1358101984852#c7745180229869516553

Karen Wagoner
http://wagzz1.blogspot.com/2013/01/story-board-draft-1-wagoners.html?showComment=1358102599849#c2096970535602520804