Investigating Teaching and Learning Processes of An online Course From Multiple Perspectives

Abstract

Online teaching and learning continues to expand within higher education, and with this growth are challenges. For example, empirical research shows a lack of sustained interaction and participation, a low level of group knowledge creation, and a low level of student satisfaction of learning experiences in online education. Online teaching and learning that emphasize interaction, participation, engagement and collaboration are of critical importance to advance the quality of online education. This three-paper dissertation investigated interaction, participation, engagement, and collaboration processes in an online course entitled, Online Learning Communities from different perspectives, with a purpose to provide theoretical, methodological, pedagogical, technological implications for design, research and practice of online teaching and learning. The first study, The influences of an experienced instructor’s discussion design and facilitation on an online learning community development: A social network analysis study, examined the development of an online learning community using a social network perspective, specifically analyzing how the instructor’s discussion design and facilitation shaped the community development. Results showed that students gradually formed an interactive online learning community where the instructor, in the overall course level, played a facilitator role, but changed her social participatory roles in different discussions over time throughout the course. Methodological implications for online learning community research, and practical implications for designing and facilitating discussions that foster online learning communities were proposed. The second study, The relationship between students’ social participatory role and cognitive engagement level in online discussions, focused on student engagement within this online learning community, specifically analyzing the relationship between students’ social interaction patterns and cognitive engagement levels. Results showed that students’ social participatory role was a critical indicator of cognitive engagement level. Socially active students made more cognitive contributions to knowledge inquiry and knowledge construction. Students also had a tendency to keep social-cognitive engagement patterns throughout the course discussions. Based on the results, this study proposed implications for collaborative learning theory, pedagogy support and tool development. The third study, Instructor-student collaborative partnerships within an online learning community, examined teaching and learning processes within this online learning community. This study used the Community of Inquiry framework in a less dualistic fashion to investigate shared online presences between the instructor and students in an online course. Results indicated that the instructor and students started to become co-inquirers of knowledge, co-designers of learning, and co-creators of environment, but they contributed in different ways and at varied levels. Results from this study provided theoretical, practical implications for design, research and practice of instructor-student collaborative partnerships.