Arthur W. Bangert

The Influence of Social Presence and Teaching Presence on the Quality of Online Critical Inquiry.

THIS STUDY EXPLORED the use of Garrison, Anderson, and Archers (2000) version of Deweys (1933) practical inquiry model for assessing the influence of social presence and teaching presence on the quality of critical inquiry experienced by online learners. Students (N=33) enrolled in an online version of a graduate-level, educational statistics course were randomly assigned to either a control, social presence, or social presence combined with teaching presence experimental discussion group. Results showed that the social presence combined with teaching presence group posted significantly more responses at the highest levels of cognitive presence than either the control or the social presence discussion groups.

The Development of an Instrument for Assessing Online Teaching Effectiveness

Traditional student evaluations of teaching do not adequately assess the essential constructivist-based practices that have been recommended for effective online instruction. There is a need for student evaluation of teaching instruments that are specifically designed to provide online instructors with valid feedback about the effectiveness of their online teaching practices. This study was undertaken to develop and validate a student evaluation of online teaching effectiveness instrument based on Chickering and Gamsons (1987) Seven Principles of Effective Teaching. Eight hundred and seven students enrolled in WebCT courses at a mid-sized university in the western United States completed the Student Evaluation of Online Effectiveness (SEOTE) for this study. Results from an exploratory factor of analysis of a randomly selected sub-sample of SEOTE responses of online students yielded four interpretable factors: Student–Faculty Interaction, Active Learning, Time on Task, and Cooperation Among Students. Aconfirmatory factor analysis of the second subsample found that the hypothesized four-factor model fit the data well.

Identifying Factors Underlying the Quality of Online Teaching Effectiveness: An Exploratory Study

TRADITIONALLY CAMPUS-BASED COURSES rely on student evaluations to provide instructors with feedback about their teaching effectiveness. However, current student evaluations of teaching instruments do not adequately assess many of the essential constructivist-based teaching practices recommended for quality online learning experiences. One of the best known summaries of research-based instructional practices is the widely disseminatedSeven Principles of Effective Teaching authored by Chickering and Gamson (1987). The majority of learner-centered instructional practices which comprise the Seven Principles framework are clearly focused on constructivist-based teaching practices. This study was an initial effort toward the development of a student evaluation of online teaching instrument based on the Seven Principles framework. Four hundred and eighty-nine students enrolled in WebCT courses at Montana State University completed the 26 item instrument. TheStudent Evaluation of Online Teaching Effectiveness (SEOTE) was found to be highly reliable and yielded four interpretable factors. The four factors were interpreted as Student-Faculty Interaction, Active Learning, Time on Task, and Cooperation Among Students.

The Development and Validation of the Student Evaluation of Online Teaching Effectiveness.

ABSTRACT Traditional student evaluations of teaching do not adequately assess the essential constructivist-based practices that have been recommended for effective online instruction. There is a need for student evaluation of teaching instruments that are specifically designed to provide online instructors with valid feedback about the effectiveness of their online teaching practices. The studies described in this article were undertaken to develop and validate the Student Evaluation of Online Teaching Effectiveness (SEOTE). Items for the SEOTE were written to assess constructivist-based online teaching practices represented by Chickering and Gamsons (1987) Seven Principles of Effective Teaching. The first validation study was conducted by analyzing SEOTE responses from 498 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in online courses. Results from an exploratory factor analysis of SEOTE responses yielded four interpretable factors: Student–faculty interaction, active learning, time on task, and cooperation among students. A second study involving 809 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate courses was undertaken to provide further validity for the SEOTE. Results from this second validation study identified and confirmed the same hypothesized four-factor SEOTE structure identified by the first validation study.

Research Designs and Statistical Techniques Used in the Journal of Learning Disabilities, 1989--1993

One hundred seventy-four research articles published in the Journal of Learning Disabilities from 1989 through 1993 were analyzed and coded by the type of research design and statistical technique used. Eighty percent of the research designs employed were identified as nonintervention methods. Fifty-five percent of all statistical techniques in the research articles reviewed were coded as primary, 32% were found to be intermediate, and the remaining 14% were considered advanced. The most frequently reported designs and analyses were those that are typically taught in most introductory and intermediate courses in research methods and statistics. Thus, the study indicates that readers would need at least a strong conceptual understanding of basic and intermediate statistical procedures to interpret research reported in the Journal of Learning Disabilities.