Exploring Community College Students Perceptions of Online Learning: A Community of Inquiry

August 31, 2010 - 3:13pm | by rtbrown
Presenter(s)
Terry Morris (Harper College, US)
Session Information
November 4, 2010 - 4:30pm
Track: 
Learning Effectiveness
Session Type: 
Poster Session
Session Duration: 
60
Abstract

This poster session presents the results of a qualitative study that explored community college student perceptions of online learning within the theoretical construct of the Community of Inquiry model, which describes the manner in which the elements of social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence interact within an educational experience.

Extended Abstract

Successful completion of online courses by community college students is an issue both at the national and local level. This poster session presents the results of a qualitative, phenomenological study that explored community college student perceptions of online learning within the theoretical construct of the Community of Inquiry model, which describes the manner in which the elements of social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence interact to create an educational experience. An online questionnaire, interviews, artifact review, and researcher journal were employed in the study. Interpretive analysis was utilized to identify themes and provide insights into student perceptions of satisfaction and success with online learning. The findings of the study provided information about community college student perceptions of online courses, related these perceptions to the social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence components of the Community of Inquiry model, and provided examples of successful instructional design and course facilitation techniques utilized in the online courses. The study findings provided insights about student perceptions related to communication and interaction, isolation, preferred course activities, and the positive impact of prompt and helpful instructor feedback. Recommendations for practical applications by instructional designers and instructors are provided.

Final Presentation: 
application/pdf iconTerryAnnMorrisSloanCposter.pdf
Lead Presenter

An Associate Professor at Harper College, Dr. Terry Morris has developed and taught online courses since 1999 in the subject areas of web design, web accessibility, e-commerce, and instructional technology. Terry has also developed and taught professional development workshops for the faculty at Harper College. Terry has written several web development textbooks. Her most recent work is the 5th edition of Web Development & Design Foundations with XHTML (http://webdevfoundations.net) published by Addison-Wesley. Dr. Morris has received the 2008 MERLOT Business Classics Award, the Instructional Technology Council’s 2008 Outstanding e-Learning Faculty Award for Excellence, and the 2006 Blackboard Greenhouse Exemplary Course Award (Online Course Category). Academic credentials include a B.A. in Mathematics Secondary Education from Northeastern Illinois University, an M.S. in Information Systems from Roosevelt University, Master Online Teacher Certificate from the Illinois Online Network at the University of Illinois, and a Doctor of Education with a specialization in e-learning and teaching online from Northcentral University.