The Student in Online Courses

1
The Student in Online Courses
Charles D. Dziuban Patsy D. Moskal University
of Central Florida
2
Resources

• Personality
• Emotional maturity
• Sophistication level
• Level of intellect
• Educational level
• Character development

3
Student outcome domains in blended learning
Student outcomes
Cognitive
Affective
Behavioral
Reactive behavior patterns
4
Some characteristics of the generations

• Matures (prior to 1946)
• Dedicated to a job they take on
• Respectful of authority
• Place duty before pleasure
• Baby boomers (1946-1964)
• Live to work
• Generally optimistic
• Have influenced policy products

• Generation X (1965-1980)
• Work to live
• Clear consistent expectations
• Value contributing to the whole
• Millennials (1981-1994)
• Live in the moment
• Expect immediacy of technology
• Question everything

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Technology is anything inventedafter you were
born
Gen - Xers
Millennials
Boomers

• TV
• Mainframes
• PLATO
• Telephones
• Party lines
• LPs

• Video games
• PCs
• Commands
• E-mail
• Mailing lists
• Cassettes

• The Web
• Mobile devices
• KWM
• interface
• IM, blogs
• Virtual
• communities
• CDs, MP3s

Alan Kay
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Rising expectations

• The rising expectations of technology-literate
  students are difficult to meet
• Service expectations
• Amazon.com and Google are their models
• They expect self-service,immediacy, and the
  abilityto customize
• Engaging learning experiences
• Satisfaction levels decreasingwith each
  successive generation

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Millennials the up side

• Goal oriented
• Positive attitudes
• Collaborative style
• Multitasking
• Technologically savvy
• Learn by tinkering

?Raines, 2002
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Millennials the down side

• Weak critical thinking skills
• Naïve beliefs regarding intellectual property and
  the authenticity of information found on the
  Internet
• Question everything
• High expectation levels / low satisfaction levels
• Technology preferences have no institutional
  context (IM, wikis, blogs, social networking
  sites)

Prensky, 2003
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The generations in blended courses
(N18,732)
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Online student academic course level by generation
Lower Undergrad
Upper Undergrad
Graduate
Percent
N99
N206
N182
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Changed approach to learning by generation
(N491)
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Web definitely made interaction easier
(N491)
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College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST)
English scores
953
782
548
n 1,268
n 8,861
n 6,164
14
College Level Academic Skills Test (CLAST) Math
scores
928
721
505
n 1,266
n 8,860
n 6,163
15
Upper undergraduate success rate
n447
n4,330
n2,172
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Students very satisfied with blended learning by
generation
(N491)
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Students positive perceptions about blended
learning

• Convenience
• Reduced logistic demands
• Increased learning flexibility
• Technology-enhanced learning

Reduced Opportunity Costs for Education
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Students less positive perceptions about blended
learning

• Reduced face-to-face time
• Technology problems
• Reduced instructor assistance
• Increased workload

Increased Opportunity Costs for Education
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A description of Long behavior types

• Aggressive Independent
• high energy
• action-oriented
• not concerned with approval
• speaks out freely
• gets into confrontational situations
• Passive Independent
• low energy
• not concerned with approval
• prefers to work alone
• resists pressure from authority
• non-communicative

• Aggressive Dependent
• high energy
• action-oriented
• concerned with approval
• rarely expresses negative feelings
• performs at or above ability
• Passive Dependent
• low energy
• concerned with approval
• highly sensitive to the feelings of others
• compliant and pleasing

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A description of Long behavior traits

• Phobic
• exaggerated fears of things
• often feels anxious
• often sees the negative side
• doesnt take risks
• Compulsive
• highly organized
• neat, methodical worker
• perfectionist
• strongly motivated to finish tasks

• Impulsive
• explosive
• quick-tempered
• acts before thinking
• frank
• short attention span
• Hysteric
• dramatic and emotional
• more social than academic
• artistic or creative
• tends to overreact
• compassionate

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Distribution of Long types and traits for fully
online students
75
PD 7
51
AI 21
AD 54
30
26
PI 18
(N1,437)
(N1,520)
22
Distribution of Long types and traits for
mixed-mode students
76
PD 8
54
AI 17
AD 52
32
23
PI 23
(N472)

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Distribution of Long types and traits for
Composition I students
PD 14
53
50
40
38
AI 20
AD 44
PI 23
(N1,054)

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Long types and traits for Web, mixed-mode, and
general education students
Types
Traits
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Faculty assessment at UCF

• Paul Goldwater, Accounting
• Aaron Liberman, Health Professions
• Steve Lytle, Health Professions
• Ran Pyle, Legal Studies

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Assessment resources available

• http//www.aahe.org/assessment/principl.htm
• 9 Principles of Good Practice for Assessing
  Student Learning AAHE
• http//www.educause.edu/books/educatingthenetgen/5
  989
• Educating the Net Generation, by Oblinger
  Oblinger
• http//www.gentrends.com
• Center for Generational Studies
• http//www.fctl.ucf.edu/tresources/assessment.htm
• UCFs Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning
  site on assessment
• http//www.tltgroup.org/resources/Assessment.htm
• TLT Group resources on assessment

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Why do research on assessment?

• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Publications
• Presentation
• Awards

http//www.fctl.ucf.edu/sotl/
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UCFs Research Initiative for Teaching
Effectiveness

• For more information contact
• Dr. Chuck Dziuban
• [phone]
• dziuban_at_mail.ucf.edu
• Dr. Patsy Moskal
• [phone]
• pdmoskal_at_mail.ucf.edu
• http//pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/rite