Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Education

Abstract

Higher Education has been under considerable scrutiny for many years. The capabilities of graduates have been the subject of many studies. Science and technology-related classes are content-rich areas involving concepts important for students to understand. In several studies, graduates of higher Education have not been able to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the concepts from the classes completed in their degrees. The Internet has facilitated tremendous changes to Education. Many schools are offering a large number of classes and sometimes entire degrees in an online format. With these changes come new challenges in regard to how material is presented to the student and how the objectives of classes are met. In many cases, the instructional design that was employed in a face-to-face class does not work the same way in an online class. Online classes typically need to be designed to meet the objectives of the class and to ensure that a deep understanding of the material is acquired by the students. The objective of this study is to identify best practices in engaging student learning in online classes, a factor that more traditional methods of assessment may not be well suited to expose. The data were applied to the Taxonomy Table as a means of exploring the instructional methods, student perception of learning, and Blooms Taxonomy. This exploratory study utilized qualitative and quantitative data with an elevated emphasis on the case study method. The sample size was three fully-online Education programs in technology-related fields. The data was used to identify the characteristics that are thought to support critical thinking in an online learning environment. Multiple sources of data were used to provide a more complete and accurate picture of the context and methods of the online programs included in the study. Data was collected through interviews, documentation, and student surveys. The data was used to develop theories related to the research questions. The learning objectives from the class documentation was used to classify them on the taxonomy table. The study addresses the research questions and emergent themes as well as an in-depth look at the learning objectives of the programs in the study. Practices were identified that are believed to significantly influence the effectiveness of online Education in meeting its intended goals. The results related to learning objectives provided insight into what types of student activities best support students in the acquisition of higher order thinking skills. The creation of student projects and the level of specificity in their requirements can be considered as important factors in the support on high order thinking and learning objectives. One of the practices identified as critical to successful online programs is a high level of interaction. The study yielded findings beyond the research question that help complete the picture of what successful online Education may entail. The need for more research into specific areas of online Education is discussed.

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