Barbara A. Frey

Web 2.0 Technologies and Back Channel Communication in an Online Learning Community

Communication, collaboration and community development are processes that contribute to student satisfaction and learning in online courses. This paper describes a study that investigated how campus and distance graduate students in a library science program communicated with one another outside the official boundaries of their courses. We conducted a survey to answer two research questions: 1) What Web 2.0 technologies do students use to communicate with one another outside of the formal structure of their online courses? and 2) What do they talk about in such communication? The results showed that, while students used a variety of technologies to communicate with one another, those enrolled at a distance made greater use of technology to communicate with one another. Moreover, clear preferences emerged according to age. Younger students preferred mobile technologies while older students experimented with a wider range of web-based technologies. We interpret these results and offer recommendations for practice based on our interpretation.

Changing a Culture: Evaluation of a Leadership Development Program at Mellon Financial Services

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an internally developed and delivered Leadership Development program conducted at Mellon Financial Services. The 9-month program integrated action learning/action science strategies into 13 modules. Program effectiveness was measured using instruments and statistics that already existed in the organisation—employee satisfaction surveys, annual employee turnover statistics, and regional scorecard results. In addition, the training participants completed midpoint and end-of-training feedback forms. Results of the evaluation showed that the impact of the training transferred to the participants’ job performance through increased job satisfaction, decreased turnover, and improved scorecard statistics.

Distinctive Distance Education Design: Models for Differentiated Instruction

Distinctive Distance Education Design: Models for Differentiated Instruction attempts to gather the traditional models of teaching and learning and present them in a way that is useful to both new and experienced online teachers in a manner that can assist in increasing the overall effectiveness of online courses and training sessions and provide a greater impact for both the teacher and the learner.

Examining the Relationship Between Course Management Systems, Presentation Software, and Student Learning: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

This research examines the relative impact of students’ in-class behaviors (i.e., attendance and participation) by assessing student perceptions of the value of instructional technologies, such as eCollege course management systems and instructors’ PowerPoint presentations. The results of the study through exploratory factor analyses revealed that 13 items were divided into three factors (electronic presentations, onlinecourse management, and effective classroom behavior) with 53 percent explained variance in instructional technologies’ impact on student learning. ANOVA results indicated significant differences in online-course management and perceived impact of electronic presentations on students’ classroom behavior among respondents who used the online-course management system. Respondents who used multiple onlinecourse management features viewed it more favorably and did not believe that it had a negative impact on classroom behaviors, such as attendance or class participation compared to those who used fewer features. Implications for construct refinement and future research are discussed.