Design Principles for K-12 Online Learning: Result of a National Validation Study

Elizabeth Childs, Royal Roads University; Susan Crichton, DICE; and Randy Labonte, CANELearn

Track: Learning experience design/ Volet: Conception des expériences d’apprentissage

Type: Research presentation

Rationale for the study:

During the various waves of the COVID-19 pandemic beginning early March 2020, emergency remote learning has been employed in a variety of ways by K-12 educators across the system (Barbour, M.K., et al., 2020). In February 2021 the Canadian eLearning Network (CANeLearn) began engaging educators across Canada in facilitated conversations about teaching in online learning environments starting in British Columbia in Spring 2020. The purpose of that study was to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of online educators and those who came to online education during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In March 2021 CANeLearn published the report Design Principles for Online Learning: BC Study (Crichton & Kinsel, 2021) which shared findings from the British Columbia study. In November 2021, the study was expanded to include educators from across Canada. This National Validation Study builds on the BC findings, using many of the same processes and approaches to assess the efficacy of the initial Design Principles for K-12 Online Learning in the broader Canadian context.

Research questions:

The purpose of the national study was to revisit the initial design principles developed by educators in early 2021 and test their efficacy and relevance with a national audience. Specifically, the research question that framed the study was, to what extent do the initial design principles for K-12 online learning resonate nationally?

Methodology:

The process for the National Validation Study followed a design thinking cycle and participatory research approach (Crichton & Kinsel, 2021). Design Thinking and Participatory Design approaches were chosen for this study as they invite engagement, feedback and open-ended responses from participants who are experiencing the phenomenon that is being studied. Both approaches allow for and encourage the participants to challenge, testing, and contribute to the revision of findings. Survey data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. An inductive coding procedure was used to analyze the data (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Corbin & Strauss, 2008).

References:

Barbour, M., Nagle, J. & LaBonte, R. (December 2020). Stories from the Field: Voices of K-12 Stakeholders During Pandemic A special report of the Canadian eLearning Network. Stories from the Field: Voices of K-12 Stakeholders During Pandemic A special report of the Canadian eLearning Network DO - 10.13140/RG.2.2.33552.64008. 

Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (3rd ed.). SAGE. doi: 10.4135/9781452230153. 

Crichton, S. & Kinsel, E. (March 23, 2021). Design principles for online learning: British Columbia study. Retrieved from https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.30/sgf.292.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/CANeLearn-BC-Study-Design-Principles-for-Online-Learning-March-23-2021.pdf

Crichton, S., Carbol, B., Childs, E., Labonte, R., & Porter, D. (2013b). Alberta Distance Education Review Project Literature Review. Edmonton, AB: Author. 

Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A.L. (1967). The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. Aldine.

A Virtual Education Intervention to Approximate Hands-on Learning

Mae Doran, Athabasca University

Track: Learning experience design/ Volet: Conception des expériences d’apprentissage

Type: Research presentation

Rationale for the study:

As yet, technology cannot offer online learners a way to physically touch real objects in a remote learning environment. The gap in provisioning hands-on learning online is widening due to the global population explosion and society's quantum move to a net-connected world. A conundrum is growing where organizations are bound to continue using existing equipment, labs, and worksites to teach physical hands-on skills yet need to move curriculum online. Further, the quality of the pedagogy vis-à-vis the needs of tech-oriented twenty-first-century learners, as well as wide accessibility to many demographics at minimal cost, are factors of great concern. Held against the three vectors of the iron triangle of distance education — quality, affordability, and accessibility — this study explored a pedagogical-technological intervention named the Human Avatar and Learning Online (HAVATAR) which approximates hands-on learning online.

Research questions:

What is the quality of HAVATAR as an online experience approximating real-world, hands-on learning via task-centred learning praxis? 

Was the skill attained correctly according to the attainment task prior to ever touching the physical objects? 

How important to the avatar experience was the task-centred learning pedagogy that organized it? 

What are the impacts or refinements to task-centred learning praxis and learning-by-doing in this online format?

Methodology:

The intervention was evaluated using design-based research methodology using mixed methods (QUAL and QUAN) collected in iterations informed by task-centred learning theory criteria (quality) conducted with remote learners via broadband connectedness (accessibility) while using existing real-world facilities and readily available retail technology (affordability). 

Engaging learners in online spaces: Asynchronous and synchronous preferences in higher education

Vanessa Dennen and Jaesung Hur, Florida State University

Track: Learning experience design/ Volet: Conception des expériences d’apprentissage

Type: Research presentation

Rationale for the study:

In non-pandemic times, modality choice is an important part of higher education, and an outcome of the pandemic is that more instructors and students have concrete experience with online learning interactions. These experiences have ramifications for future modality choices as well as instructional design choices that affect learner engagement.

This study builds upon the notion that transactional distance should be minimized (Moore, 1993) and social presence maximized (Lowenthal & Dennen, 2017; Richardson & Lowenthal, 2017) to support learning in online environments, and that learner satisfaction will drive learning-related behaviors (Weidlich & Bastiaens, 2018).This study investigates learner self-reported behaviors and preferences in both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments, which have implications for how instructors design online course interactions.

Research questions:

1. After the period of remote learning, how likely are students to enroll in future online classes? Does it differ by modality? 

2. What differences do students perceive across modalities? 

3. What learning behaviors do students report in each modality? 

4. What would increase student participation in synchronous and asynchronous class discussions?

Methodology:

This study was approved by the researchers’ Institutional Review Board. Participants were 200 college students at a large research university in the United States. Participants were recruited via a study pool in which students voluntarily participate in research for course credit. Alternate opportunities to earn the credit are offered to students who do not wish to participate in research, and the researchers had no relationship to the classes or students participating in the study pool. 

The data were collected in Spring 2021, at which time students had experienced a semester that started in person and ended remotely (Spring 2020), a summer term that was fully remote, and a semester that included a mix of campus and remote classes (Fall 2021). Remote learning was most often synchronous, with courses taught via zoom. In contrast, the university’s pre-existing online course offerings used asynchronous learning and relied on discussion boards for peer interaction. 

The online survey asked students to share information about their online learning practices and preferences. Data analysis focused on descriptive statistics for closed items and thematic clustering for open items.

References:

Lowenthal, P. R., & Dennen, V. P. (2017). Social presence, identity, and online learning: Research development and needs. Distance Education, 38(2), 137-140. doi:10.1080/01587919.2017.1335172

Moore, M. G. (1993). Theory of transactional distance. In D. Keegan (Ed.), Theoretical principles of distance education (pp. 22-38). New York, NY: Routledge. 

Richardson, J. C., & Lowenthal, P. (2017). Instructor social presence: Learners’ needs and a neglected component of the community of inquiry framework. In A. L. Whiteside, A. G. Dikkers, & K. Swan (Eds.), Social Presence in Online Learning: Multiple Perspectives on Practice and Research (pp. 86-98): Stylus. 

Weidlich, J., & Bastiaens, T. J. (2018). Technology matters–The impact of transactional distance on satisfaction in online distance learning. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(3).