The Effectiveness of Distance Education across Virginia's Community Colleges: Evidence from Introductory College-Level Math and English Courses

Xu, Di; Jaggars, Shanna Smith

doi:10.3102/0162373711413814

Cited by 180 publications

(173 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Students in online university courses have higher attrition rates compared to face-to-face courses (Carr, 2000;Xu, 2014;Xu, 2011). Because there is no cost to enroll in a MOOC and registration is a simple process, completion rates for MOOCs are low compared to traditional online and face-toface courses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coursera’s introductory human physiology course: Factors that characterize successful completion of a MOOC

Engle¹,

Mankoff²,

Carbrey³

2015

IRRODL

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Since Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are accessible by anyone in the world at no cost, they have large enrollments that are conducive to educational research. This study examines students in the Coursera MOOC, Introductory Human Physiology. Of the 33,378 students who accessed the course, around 15,000 students responded to items on the pre-course survey about their age, educational background, proficiency in English, and plans for participating in the course. We categorized students who completed the pre-course survey into groups based on the number of exams completed and corresponding course achievement level. We used Chi-square goodness of fit tests to analyze the distribution of students' responses on the pre-course survey and associated achievement level. Of the students who responded to the pre-course survey and passed with distinction, a larger percentage self-identified as fluent in English while a smaller percentage self-identified as beginners. Students with graduate degrees were more likely to pass the course or pass with distinction than students with only some college experience or a bachelor's degree. Students who completed either some or all exams were more likely to selfreport intention to complete all course activities than students who did not take any exams. A greater proportion of students who passed the course or passed with distinction posted two or more times on the course discussion forum. Understanding MOOC students and the characteristics that lead to their success will enable modification to courses for increased student achievement and may also inform teaching in the traditional classroom.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coursera’s introductory human physiology course: Factors that characterize successful completion of a MOOC

Engle¹,

Mankoff²,

Carbrey³

2015

IRRODL

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“…Studies found that students who took online course at community colleges had a lower performance on average. Xu and Jaggars (2011;2013; and Hart, Friedmann and Hill (2015) conducted separate studies in community colleges in Virginia and California and they found similar results that students enrolled in online courses performed not well as compared to their peers in face-to-face courses. On the other hand, there are also studies at four-year colleges reporting no or few differences in student performance in the two different delivery formats.…”

Section: Assessment Of Online Course and Student Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 86%

Development, Implementation, and Effectiveness Analysis of an Online Course With Intensive Technical Contents

Zhang¹,

Kashef²,

Kashef³

2016

UCER-A

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Industries' demand for sufficiently trained engineers and technologists is increasing in order to remain competitive in manufacturing globalization. The development of educational technologies powered by high-speed computers and networks has enabled many universities to offer online and hybrid courses/programs to accommodate the educational needs. However, there is still a challenge to provide quality teaching and effectiveness when courses containing intensive technical contents are offered online. With support from different departments at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI), the course TECH 3142 Statistical Quality Control (TECH 3142), which intensively involves statistical calculation, reasoning, and software demonstration, was developed and delivered online by applying Quality Matters' (QM) online course quality assurance principles. Analyzing the qualitative and quantitative data collected, this paper presents a case study on the development, implementation, and student learning effectiveness evaluation for TECH 3142 online course with comparison to the face-to-face instruction. The experience shared in the paper may bring references to the distance learning community to improve the quality of online courses.

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“…Xu and Jaggars present evidence that online courses negatively impact the outcomes in maths and English courses 80 . The same authors returned to the issue in 2013 in Washington State community colleges and concluded in a further study that specifically analysed the influence of online learning on course grade and student persistence.…”

Section: The Us Community College Sector -A Possible Model For Strongmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning by MOOC or by crook

Heller

2014

Medical Journal of Australia

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The Effectiveness of Distance Education across Virginia's Community Colleges: Evidence from Introductory College-Level Math and English Courses

Cited by 180 publications

References 21 publications

Coursera’s introductory human physiology course: Factors that characterize successful completion of a MOOC

Coursera’s introductory human physiology course: Factors that characterize successful completion of a MOOC

Development, Implementation, and Effectiveness Analysis of an Online Course With Intensive Technical Contents

Learning by MOOC or by crook

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