Online Discussions: The Relationships Between Faculty

Attitudes, Demographics, and

Implementation

Dr. Kelvin Thompson, University of Central FloridaDr. Douglas Lynch, University of New England

Line of Inquiry “What is Actually Happening?”

• Actual faculty behaviors and attitudes vis-à-vis online discussions

• Structure of discussion assignments

• Documented expectations, rubrics, etc.

• Facilitation styles

• Why online discussions?

Agenda

• Institutional Profiles

• Research Agenda & Current Study

• Summary Data

• Data Relationships to Consider

• Discussion

• Apples to Apples

• Closing

Institutional Profiles

UNE• Founded 1831• Biddeford, Maine• 4,267 students• Comprehensive liberal

arts university• Started online 2007• 4 online degree programs

(graduate)• No formal faculty

development program for online instructors

UCF• Founded 1963• Orlando, Florida• 53,537 students• Metropolitan research

university• Started online 1995• 17 degree & 12 certificate

online programs (undergrad/grad)

• Robust faculty development program for online instructors

Phase 1: Multi-Institution Survey

• Exploratory approach• 39-item online questionnaire with optional

registration for follow-up• Faculty who taught at least one fully online

course during past three terms• “Think of one online course… keep it in mind…”• Emailed to 405 faculty (358 UCF and 47 UNE)• 31% response rate (27% UCF and 60% UNE)• 30 faculty registered for follow-up

Respondent Demographics

• 78% from UCF and 22% from UNE• 52% have taught online for 1-5 years• 48% have taught in HE for 10+ years• 63% in non-tenure earning positions

(adjuncts/instructors/lecturers)

• 49% taught graduate course• 70% taught course with 40 students or less• 47% from “Education” (with 19% “Social

Sciences” and 15% “Health Professions”)

Summary Highlights: Structural

• 95% of respondents used online discussions

• 87% of discussion-users required discussions

• 88% gave written general expectations

• 82% gave specific “prompts”

• 80% scored discussions

• 72% had scoring criteria (71% shared)

n=126

Summary Highlights: Behaviors

• 75% scored at end of each discussion

• 73% read all discussion postings• 37% posted multiple messages each

discussion (Note: 33% posted at least once each)

• 52% “facilitated” any discussions

n=126

Summary Highlights: Affect• 66% felt connected to students in

discussions (“very” or “somewhat”)• 56% perceived increased interaction over

f2f (“very” or “somewhat”)• 50% perceived higher quality interaction

than f2f (“very” or “somewhat”)• 80% noted discussions as greatest S-S

interaction source• 51% noted email as greatest I-S

interaction sourcen=126

Summary Highlights: Beliefs

• 76% believe they are skilled at facilitating discussions (“very” or “somewhat”)

• 91% believe it important to include online discussions (“very” or “somewhat”)

• 87% believe discussions have positive impact on learning (“very” or “somewhat”)

n=126

Relationships

• “Connectedness” related to – Quality of interaction (r=.77, p<.001)

– Facilitation skill (r=.33, p<.001)

– Degree of instructor posting (r=.20, p<.05)

• “Facilitation Skill” related to – Connectedness (r=.33, p<.001)

– Degree of instructor posting (r=.30, p<.05)

– Quality of interaction (r=.29, p<.05)

– Time commitment for scoring (r=.28, p<.05)

Relationships

• “Importance” and “Student Learning” strongly correlated (r=.75, p<.001)

• “Student Learning" related to– Connectedness (r=.56, p<.001)

– Quality of interaction (r=.51, p<.001)

– Facilitation skill (r=.40, p<.001)

– Class size (r= -.24, p<.05)

• “Importance" related to– Facilitation skill (r=.54, p<.001)

- Connectedness (r=.38, p<.001)

- Quality of interaction (r=.37, p<.001)

Ponder with Us

• Why isn’t “connectedness” related to reading student postings (e.g, getting to know them)?

• What contributes to one's self-perception as a skilled facilitator?

• Do instructors believe that discussions contribute to student learning because they are good at them and like them?

• Should online discussions be employed in larger enrollment courses?

What Do You Think?

• How might these results inform faculty practice in teaching online?

• What implications are here for faculty development?

• How could results such as these be shared with administrators for better online course planning (e.g., class size)?

Closer Look: Mixed Fruit

• UNE online courses are graduate, “Education” courses

• UCF’s undergraduate courses and varied graduate course disciplines might obscure relevant institutional differences

• Class size alone differs when viewed through an undergraduate v. graduate lens

Class size? All UG G

Less than 15 1.6

16-25 29.4 11.5 3.2

26-40 28.6 21.2 50

41-50 13.5 19.2 33.9

51-100 15.1 23.1 8.1

101-150 8.7 19.2 4.8

More than 150 3.2 5.8

Sneak Peak: Apples to Apples(Graduate “Education” Faculty)

n=41

Facilitation Skill? UCF UNE

Very skilled 1 10

Somewhat skilled 6 14

Neither skilled nor unskilled 4 2

Somewhat unskilled

Very unskilled 1

Total 12 26

Learn Facilitation? UCF UNE

Trial & error 6 13

Read about 1 9

Participated as student 4 11

Faculty development 7 8

UCF Faculty development X UCF Facilitation Skill (r=.46, p<.10)UNE Faculty development X UNE Facilitation Skill (r=.22, p=.30)

Future Plans

• Go deeper into these data.

• Follow-up with respondents who expressed interest (interviews or focus groups; examine artifacts)

• Collaborate with others to implement survey at other institutions (will trends change?)

Please Contact Us to Collaborate

Dr. Douglas Lynch (UNE)

Chair, Education Department

dlynch@une.edu

Dr. Kelvin Thompson (UCF)

Ass’t Dir., Course Dev. & Web Svcs

kthompso@mail.ucf.edu