DTheses (Athabasca University)
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Barriers to the Rural Women of Ranong, Thailand to Accessing Education Using Information and Communication Technology. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textThe purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of rural women's barriers and challenges to education an access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the province of Ranong, Thailand. For women in rural areas education is an opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills for their rapidly changing world. ICT is an effective means of delivering such education. Due to the interactive nature of ICT, women have the opportunity to access education not otherwise available, and a voice in the development of education programs that address their unique needs. For this reason, a primary hypothesis held by the international community is that access to information and communication technologies will contribute and enhance women’s lives. ICT are considered a crucial tool for distributed learning, networking, collaboration, e-commerce and e-government. The Government of Thailand has developed a National IT Policy Framework, IT 2010. This policy prioritizes the development of good practices with information and communication technologies to address the growing digital divide between developed and developing countries. Equitable access to education for all is also stressed in Thailand's educational and ICT policies, yet the reality is more difficult to attain. The premise of this study is that rural women need to be consulted and be key participants in the design, development and implementation of education and ICT programs. One hundred women throughout the province of Ranong were interviewed regarding their educational barriers and their access to ICT. The women ranged in age from 19 to 70 and came from various ethnic, religious, geographical and socio-economic backgrounds. This research concludes by presenting the difference between international and the Thai government's education and ICT policies and the reality of rural women's lives regarding education and ICT access. This research is an initial process in understanding what needs to be in place for rural Thai women to command and make their own opportunities in ICT and education development.200
SideBars: Case study of an online community approach to professional development. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textThe rapid growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web has dramatically increased the need for educational practitioners to upgrade their skills and knowledge through professional development activity. This study explores the effectiveness of SideBars, an online learning community at the British Columbia Institute of Technology, in helping educators to upgrade their professional practice in online and distributed learning. Using evaluative case study within an action research framework, the study found that a majority of the users had minimal interest in a communal experience with SideBars but valued it as a reliable source of information. While low participation proved to be a formidable obstacle to communal learning, a smaller group of users, referred to as “contributors,” showed evidence of mutual engagement by virtue of their willingness to contribute to the learning of the group as a whole. The study concluded that design strategies aimed at encouraging the activity of contributors may be effective for building community online.200
Factors affecting successful student completion in a career oriented program. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textResearch has been conducted over the past several decades to review conceptual models, assessment instruments and other methods to discover factors and find solutions to high rates of lack of completion in distance education programs. This thesis explores unusually high successful completion rates in a Career Practitioner Certificate Program operated by the Open Learning Agency in British Columbia. The research was conducted to investigate the following problem statement: What are student perceptions of the factors that contribute to successful completion of courses within the OLA Career Practitioner Certificate Program? Five themes were developed that formed a set of questions which served as discussions items during the participant interviews: alignment of the course objectives to career goals; course design and delivery features; personal characteristics and supports; support from instructors and effectiveness of administration systems and processes. Fourteen students were interviewed using in a qualitative study involving exploration and discussion of the five themes. These participants identified student personal characteristics and the most important success factor in their course completion(s). Course content and support from instructors were also identified as important factors. The study concluded that, when combined with program design and course content that had a direct relevance to the students’ career goals, personal characteristics and supports appeared to be the most substantive component of the high successful completion rates in this program.200
Learner perceptions of barriers in corporate online training. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textThe purpose of this thesis is to investigate the perceptions and experiences of corporate employees prior to, during, and at the conclusion of their first self-paced, asynchronous, web-based course. Previous studies on barriers have been quantitative in nature at the organizational level, or student perceptions of their first online course focused on instructor-led online courses in an academic setting. Recent literature has identified the barriers faced by novice online learners and the need to conduct more studies focused on learner perceptions and attitudes. The sample for this study consisted of thirteen adult employees participating in a corporate training program who were about to engage in their first asynchronous, self-paced, web-based corporate training class. Subjects completed pre-course/post-course self-assessments ranking their confidence in the areas related to skills needed for successful online learning, and three surveys consisting of closed and open ended questions to gather data on learner perceptions of the barriers to corporate online learning. Analysis of the data revealed that, of the four barriers most commonly identified in the literature, subjects perceived limited self-direction abilities to be the greatest barrier throughout the course, followed by support from help desk/ supervisor/organization, computer skills, time management (identified as an additional barrier by study subjects), and absence of face-to-face contact. Subjects also identified another eleven additional factors that they perceived to be barriers, as well as recurring issues that persisted throughout the course to impede their learning efforts. Despite these barriers, subjects were unanimous in their desire to engage in another self-paced online course.200
Relationships among transactional distance variables in asynchronous computer conferences : A correlational study. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textThe purpose of this exploratory study with quantitative data was to examine the relationships, in the context of computer-mediated asynchronous conferences, among indicators for the main variables in Moore’s Theory of Transactional Distance. It also examined the relationships between indicators for transactional distance and students’ learning success in classes that utilized the conferences. Participants in the study were students enrolled in distance education courses at a major distance education university in Canada in the fall term of 2002. All participants were volunteers. They completed a questionnaire to describe their perceptions of dialogue, course structure, transactional distance, and their autonomy in their courses. Results of this study partially supported the predicted relationships between variables. Results inconsistent with theory were in the form of correlations too small to be statistically significant rather than being of opposite sign. There was a relatively high proportion of statistically significant correlations between dialogue and transactional distance; they showed high dialogue corresponded with low transactional distance. Structure variables separated into two groups; one appeared unrelated to transactional distance and the other showed positive correlations with it. There were few significant correlations between autonomy and transactional distance, autonomy and structure, or structure and dialogue indicators. One group of dialogue indicators showed a high proportion of significant correlations with autonomy indicators, all of which were positive; the rest showed very few. There were no significant correlations between transactional distance and student learning success indicators. The results of this study were consistent with Moore’s statement that dialogue, structure, autonomy and transactional distance refer to clusters of variables.200
Trigger analysis in computer mediated conferencing. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of trigger messages that initiate discussion in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) asynchronous text conferencing. A total of one thousand and twenty-eight messages from the text transcripts of three different graduate level courses were analyzed. Two text analysis models were used to investigate observed on-line interaction behavior: the Text Analysis Tool (TAT: Fahy 2001;Fahy 2002a; Fahy 2002b), and the Community of Inquiry model (Anderson, Rourke, Garrison, & Archer, 2001; Archer, Garrison, Anderson & Rourke, 2001; Garrison, Anderson & Archer, 2000; Garrison, Anderson & Archer; 2001; Rourke, Anderson, Garrison, & Archer, 2001). While triggers were found to be distinguishable by the presence of open-ended questions, the occurrence varied significantly among the courses. Two of the courses had seven times the number of true triggers than the other course. Further analysis of instructor and student messages revealed evidence of significantly more interpersonal communication. Although other factors could exist, it was argued that the variation in the proportion of triggers and level of interpersonal communication was an indication of the maturity of the CMC communities.200
Quality assurance in the in-service teacher education program in Northern Namibia: a case study. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textThis study examined the in-service department of a college of education to find out the measures used for quality assurance. This four-year diploma program is offered to the unqualified and under-qualified teachers in Namibia. Through ‘case study’ and by using a set of general criteria for knowledge, skills and attitudes and six questions this study was started. The questions were to know what mechanism s are in place for assuring quality in this program. In addition, it enquired about the internal and external obstacles to ensuring quality. A number of Current year 1 and year 4 inset students/teachers, graduates, tutors, principals, and administrators responded to questionnaires and interview questions. The study’s findings point out to the availability of the quality measures, but found it inadequate at the present to deal with the enormity of the task. The department of the in-service has to do a number of tasks. They are responsible for the logistical aspects since there are three contact sessions. They are also responsible for other tasks as deemed necessary. There are subject coordinators to foresee that the internal mechanisms for quality are in place. But they have other duties to perform that make it difficult to concentrate on their duties. The principals and mentors at the schools are to ensure that the inset teachers are supervised for parts of their activities. The quality assurance measures need to be very clear and those assigned should be able to do their responsibilities accordingly. The support systems that are in place play a crucial role for the maintenance and assurance of quality, but they lack adequate training for the fulfillment of their duties.200
Faculty assessment of the quality and reusability of learning objects. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textThe research explored the process of selecting learning objects and how it differs from choosing learning resources in a traditional teaching environment. The study was designed to identify the challenges educational practitioners face when designing, developing or selecting learning objects. Using an existing tool for learning object evaluation, Learning Object Review Instrument (LORI), I studied a) critical factors that determine the selection of educational material; b) the criteria educators use for selecting and evaluating leaning objects; and c) the participants' perception of validity of learning object evaluation due to the collaborative evaluation process, and the increase in quality. A number of research strategies were applied in order to answer the research questions. The educators'comments on learning objects and criteria for selection of digital teaching material were examined. The subjects were asked to participate in a learning object evaluation process. Interviews were conducted after the process to investigate if any changes appeared in the instructors'perceptions regarding the above issues. A review of current literature on learning objects and faculty development was executed to examine the innovative solutions to the research questions that have occurred in the process of conducting this study, if any. The results obtained from the survey questionnaires illustrate that the main criterion educational practitioners use for selecting learning objects is meeting prescribed learning outcomes. In regards to the question on collaborative assessment and the validity of that assessment, the results show that the participants recognized the necessity of collaboration in the design of complex online teaching and learning, and welcomed the presence of various expertise. Different perspectives do not automatically bring quality, but they increase the likelihood for quality to be high.200
A formative evaluation model for online teachers. Master of Distance Education project, Athabasca University
No full textTeachers are often frustrated with conventional evaluation practices normally used to establish their effectiveness, permanent status and promotion. Educators tend to take a dim view of evaluation because ultimately it is their teaching ability and expertise that is being scrutinized. In practice, however, ability and knowledge are often secondary to classroom management skills that are, or are not, exhibited during the evaluation process. Both summative and formative evaluations require time, observation, and competence of the examiner. Regrettably, the time taken to perform the evaluation is often rushed. Fairness demands that those teachers in need of more specific professional growth be given a chance before they are dismissed. There exists a multitude of literature dealing with the notion of teacher evaluation. To date, there is very little published research dealing specifically with the formative evaluation of web-based instruction. For teachers working in an online environment, the existing Rocky Mountain School District summative system is woefully deficient, as it does not consider the implications of asynchronous learning environments. The lack of an existing formative evaluation leaves teachers without an evaluation structure from which professional development can be obtained. Ignoring the uniqueness of teaching online while assuming that present systems are appropriate and transferable is unidirectional and educationally myopic. This study offers a formative evaluation model for use with adult educators who teach at a distance with web-based instruction. The model rose from the results of a literature review and a survey presented to adult educators using web-based instruction. The literature indicated, among other things, that an evaluation method utilized should be appropriate for a given situation. The survey determined that the present evaluation system was considered to be unsatisfactory and that the subjects would consider utilizing a formative evaluation model.200
In transition: the journey of adult educators from traditional teaching into teaching online. Master of Distance Education thesis, Athabasca University
No full textAs adult educators travel the asynchronous, online frontier they face many exciting challenges and opportunities. The realities facing adult educators, new to teaching online, include learning new technologies, adapting pedagogy, understanding the online roles of teachers and students and working collaboratively with their organizations to develop legacies of support and training for colleagues preparing to join them on their online journey. This study explored the question “What are the realities facing adult educators in the initial stages of the role as asynchronous, online teachers? This research utilizes a qualitative case study design. Using a semi-structured interview format, four adult educators that had facilitated a minimum of one online course were interviewed. Additional required characteristics were experience as an adult educator in a traditional classroom setting and, as a group, presented a range of experience in online teaching. Patterns in the data were identified using the constant comparison method, until a picture of similarities and differences emerged. Two sets of key findings emerged. First, four major elements or roles affect the transition to teaching online. These roles are interdependent because each role affects or is influenced by the online teaching and learning process, work together to create the greater e-learning community. The four roles are: the role of the teacher, the role of technology, the role of the learner and the role of the organization. Second, upon further analysis, a pattern of three groups of learners surfaced. These groups are: students as learners, teachers as learners and organizations as learners. It is surmised that how well these learning groups are supported and trained will influence how each learning group is affected by or influenced by the other learning groups. Recommendations for further study include a longitudinal study of a traditional organization transitioning into online teaching and learning to explore how the greater e-learning community is affected by or influences the online teaching and learning process. Adult educators transitioning to teaching online require: personal comfort and competence with related online technologies, an organization knowledgeable and sensitive to distance teaching and learning, initial assessment and training in the knowledge, skills and attitudes required of online teachers, and opportunities to access support and training to meet emerging needs.200