Michael Corry

User-centered design and usability testing of a web site: An illustrative case study

Administrators at a large midwestern university recognized that their World Wide Web site was rapidly becoming an important factor in recruiting new students. They also expected this Web site to serve many different types of information needs for existing students, faculty, staff, and alumni. an interdisciplinary team of faculty, graduate students, and staff was formed to evaluate the existing Web site. A group from this team first conducted a needs analysis to determine the kinds of information the target population was seeking. This analysis led to the creation of a new information structure for the Web site. Usability tests of the both the new and old designs were conducted on paper. Users were able to find answers to frequently asked questions much more rapidly and successfully with the new information structure. This structure was further refined through additional usability tests conducted on the Web itself. This descriptive case study illustrates the value of user-centered design and usability testing of World Wide Web sites.

Building Active Online Interaction via a Collaborative Learning Community

Abstract Online interaction creates a desirable learning situation. Transferring traditional instruction to an online environment usually does not generate effective interaction for learning. This paper discusses theories and practices for an interactive collaborative learning community in an online environment. Three theoretical constructs-interactivity, social context, and technologiesare discussed to provide a theoretical foundation. Effective online interactive strategies and activities, communications, online discussions, technology selections, peer evaluations, team moderations, team projects/presentations, and online learning specialists are recommended to maximize online learning interaction.

Understanding Online Teacher Best Practices: A Thematic Analysis to Improve Learning.

The purpose of this study was to examine brick-and-mortar and online teacher best practice themes using thematic analysis and a newly developed theory-based analytic process entitled Synthesized Thematic Analysis Criteria (STAC). The STAC was developed to facilitate the meaningful thematic analysis of research based best practices of K-12 education delivery options. In the study, data for the thematic analysis consisted of published research about best practices in both brick-and-mortar and online education. The use of both brick-and-mortar as well as online teacher best practices provided an opportunity to identify commonalities among these modes of delivery. Based on these commonalities, the thematic analysis detected emergent themes, which could be used as a foundation upon which online teachers might build specialized practice. As well, research-validated teacher best practice themes generated from this study may be considered a starting point for defining teacher best practices in online education and for their development. Emergent themes were discussed in the context of the data and the environment of online education. The STAC analytic process provides a foundation for analysis and may be used by researchers for other thematic analyses in the future.

An examination of dropout rates for Hispanic or Latino students enrolled in online K-12 schools

As the number of online K-12 educational offerings continues to grow it is important to better understand key indicators of success for students enrolled in these classes. One of those indicators is student dropout rates. This is particularly important for Hispanic or Latino students who traditionally have high dropout rates. The purpose of this study was to better understand dropout rates for K-12 Hispanic or Latino students enrolled in online schools in Arizona. This was accomplished by examining the effects that the independent variables of time, school type (charter vs non-charter) and delivery type (blended vs fully online) have on dropout rates. A quantitative analysis of data from 32 online schools was performed. The results of this study show that dropout rates are indeed declining for the period of 2013–2015. This decline is mirrored by national dropout rates for all students and specifically for Hispanic or Latino students. While the declines are positive news, the dropout rates for Hispanic or Latino students are still among the highest measured. The dropout rate gap between other demographic groups and Hispanics or Latinos is still substantial and worth continued research along with efforts to reduce these dropout rates and foster increased student success.

A Capability Approach for Online Primary and Secondary Students with Disabilities.

A capability approach was used to identify and synthesise research studies about online students with disabilities in primary and secondary school (aged five to 18 years) in an attempt to describe the experience from an empirical perspective. A capability approach is intended to maximise agency and can be used to describe the extent to which individuals are able to use limited resources to build a satisfying and enjoyable life. In this analysis, a derived capability set was used to narrow the larger body of research about primary and secondary students in online education in order to consider only studies that described ways in which students successfully used online education to maximise agency. The derived capability set was: autonomy, judgement, practical reason, affiliation, high school graduation and a desire to help others. A method for deriving the capability set and ways in which a capability approach fails to describe this experience are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transforming and Turning around Low-Performing Schools: The Role of Online Learning

This review of the literature examines online learning as a core strategy for bold, dramatic curricular reform within transformational or turnaround models in improving low-performing K-12 schools. The analysis of the literature in this area found benefits of online learning in transforming and turning around low-performing schools to include: (a) broadening access for all students and providing opportunities for students to recover course credit, (b) the potential to motivate and engage students due to the flexible and self-paced nature of online learning, and (c) providing highly individualized and differentiated environments allowing for personalized learning. As a number of schools and school districts move to online learning, it can be used not only as a curricular reform, but also as a tool to improve student achievement and turning around low-performing schools.

Introduction: Distance education: What works well

The field of distance education has changed dramatically in the past ten years. Distance education, structured learning in which the student and instructor are separated by place, and sometimes by time is currently the fastest growing form of domestic and international education. What was once considered a special form of education using nontraditional delivery systems, is now becoming an important concept in mainstream education. Concepts such as networked learning, connected learning spaces, flexible learning and hybrid learning systems have enlarged the scope and changed the nature of earlier distance education models. Web-based and web-enhanced courses are appearing in traditional programs that are now racing to join the “anytime, anyplace” educational feeding frenzy. In a 2002 survey of 75 randomly chosen college distance learning programs, results revealed an astounding rate of growth in the higher education distance learning market (Primary Research Group, 2002). In a time of shrinking budgets, distance learning programs are reporting 41 percent average annual enrollment growth. Thirty percent of the programs are being developed to meet the needs of professional continuing education for adults. Twenty-four percent of distance students have high speed bandwidth at home. These developments signal a drastic redirection of traditional distance education. With the rise and proliferation of distance learning systems has come the need to critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of various programs. A majority of new programs have been developed to meet the growing needs of higher education in responding to demands for flexible learning environments, continuing education and lifelong learning. David Noble, the Ralph Nader of Distance Education, has written a series of papers examining what he calls the private, commercial hijacking of higher education. He makes the case that the banner touting cheap online education waved in front of administrators has resulted in much higher costs than expected. The promotion of online courses, according to Noble, has resulted in a huge, expensive infrastructure that he describes as a technological tapeworm in the guts of higher education (Noble 1999, November). In a later piece, Noble describes the controversy in 1998 that developed at UCLA over its partnership with a private company, the Home Education Network (THEN). The controversy, over public and private partnerships and great expectation of financial returns, he says, is fueled by extravagant technological fantasies which underly much of today’s enthusiasm for distance education. Noble describes this expectation as a pursuit of what appears increasingly to be little more than fool’s gold (Noble 2001, March). Noble is one of a growing group of scholars becoming increasingly disillusioned with the commercialization of distance learning, particularly in the United States. They call for educators to pause and examine the enthusiastic claims of distance educators from a critical perspective. With the recent developments in hybrid combinations of distance learning, flexible learning, distributed learning, web-based and web-enhanced instruction, the questions facing educators are how to examine new learning technologies from a wider perspective than we have in the past, and to examine how distance education fits into the changing educational environment. Scholars are exploring information technologies from the critical perspectives of politics, hidden curriculum, pedagogy, cost effectiveness, and the global impact of information technologies on collective intelligence (Vrasidas, & Glass, 2002).