Showing posts with label social engagement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social engagement. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

A Current Study: An Assessment of Online Instructor’s Perceptions on Using an Introductory Video


Purpose/Significance
Dr Andree Swanson and Dr Maria Minor, research partners, are conducting a qualitative study to identify the views of online faculty on whether using an introductory video will be of assistance to increase social engagement.  Faculty want to ensure that students have a sense of connection and engagement (e-connectivity) with the faculty.  Increased e-connectivity will improve retention, reduce attrition, and help to keep the student engaged in the classroom (Swanson, Hutkin, Babb, & Howell, 2010, p. 121).  The study will seek the opinions of online faculty using social media such as Linkedin, Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.
Significance Statement
The significance of this study is that faculty want to ensure that students are engaged in the online classroom.  Studies have been completed that identified the need for:
1)      Achieving a social connection (e-connectivity) with their students (Muirhead, 2000; Slagter van Tryon & Bishop, 2006)

2)      Increasing interactivity that “will help the students' with their understanding” (Swanson, Hutkin, Babb, & Howell, 2010, p. 121).

Swanson et al. (2010) stated,

Participants in a study agreed that faculty should be warm, available to answer questions; hold students to a high standard, remain flexible to adult learners; honest in all of their interactions, and demonstrate a caring nature in the online classroom. (p. 119)

Slagter van Tryon and Bishop (2006) as cited in Swanson et al. (2010) defined the unique term e-immediacy as the feeling of social connectivity between two online individuals whether instructors or classmates).  Engagement and the feelings of social connectedness are what the students’ desire (Slagter van Tryon & Bishop, 2006; Swanson et al., 2010).  Student engagement can be increased by including, at a minimum, instructor welcome videos in the online classroom.  The addition of introductory videos will enable the faculty members to engage in the proposed study to share their personality and enthusiasm for the topic.       
Benefits
This is an introductory research project. The benefits of this study may result in data that participants can use.  If the results show a positive outcome, participants make look into adding a welcoming video into their own classroom.  The benefits are to the online learning community may result in increased retention in online classroom and may result in reduced attrition.  The results from this survey may present significant data to conduct further research on the addition of video in the classroom which may benefit higher education and learning in society.

Participate in Study
You are invited to participate in a 12-question research study Using an Introductory.  Please go to this link, complete the informed consent, and take the brief survey.  Please go to http://www.minorswanson.info/#!current-research/ch6q then click on the link at the bottom of the page.

Dr. Andree Swanson and Dr Maria Minor

References

Slagter van Tryon, P. J., & Bishop, M. J. (2006). Identifying “e-mmediacy” strategies for web-based instruction: A Delphi study. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 7(1), 49-63. Retrieved July 11, 2009, from ProQuest database.
Swanson, A., Hutkin, R., Babb, D., & Howell, S. (2010, Sep). Establishing the best practices for social interaction and e-connectivity in online higher education classes. Doctoral dissertation, University of Phoenix, Arizona. Publication Number: 3525517. Retrieved from http://gradworks.umi.com/3525517.pdf