Any of several online communications strategies, such as name recognition or classroom demeanor, which replace non-verbal communications in the traditional classroom. These strategies are associated with subjective evaluations about the “presence” of the teacher. These are linked, in turn, to learners’ positive feelings about the course and instructor.
Published in Chapter:
Using Gagné's Events of Instruction to Analyze Online Course Quality
Marc R. Robinson (Next Generation Learning, USA)
Copyright: © 2009
|Pages: 8
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-198-8.ch330
Abstract
Student perceptions of online courses are likely influenced by two overarching aspects of quality: instructor quality and course design quality (Ortiz-Rodriguez, Telg, Irani, Roberts & Rhoades, 2005). Both of these forces in online education may be analyzed using a well-known model of instructional design - Gagnés instructional design and cognition theory, the centerpiece of which are the nine events of instruction (Gagné, Wager, Golas, & Keller, 2004). Multiple studies positively correlate learner attitudes and perceptions of the online course to instructor quality. Early studies evaluating instructor quality attempted to correlate instructor quality with the attitude and perception of the learner, but not directly to learner success or course design quality. Researchers of online courses, such as Palloff & Pratt (2003), discussed the role of the instructor in depth while neglecting the roles of the learner, the institution, and course design. The main focus remained instructor-centered, and highlighted key instructor tasks such as understanding the virtual learner in terms of roles the learner plays, fostering team roles for the learner, designing an effective course orientation, and identifying potential legal issues the instructor might face (Palloff & Pratt, 2002, p. 16). A distant secondary focus was on effective course design. This highlighted instructor tasks in building an effective online learning community without highlighting the roles effective communication tools would play.