With more than 5 million college students taking at least one online or blended college course, (Seaman et al, 2018) and 5 percent of K-12 students taking an online or blended course (The Evergreen Education Group), research regarding student success in blended and online classes has begun to emerge and shed light on potential trouble spots. This chapter uses an action research model to further examine binge studying in two, beginning university Korean classes in relation to success on exams, overall course grades, language recall after a four-week break, and continued enrollment in Korean. Findings indicate a correlation between overall page views and course grade, between overall page views in 101 to retention in 102 and a correlation was also evident between binge studying and 102 assessment. A negative correlation was seen between binge studying and 101 final exam scores. The strongest correlation appeared to be between non-binge studiers, or those which dispersed their study throughout the semester, and language retention in Korean 102.
TopIntroduction
Significant attention has been given in the literature to the trend of increasing rates of online education. Because of its widespread availability, convenience to students and instructors alike, and accommodation for diverse groups of students, online classes are offered more widely and more freely, with online education available at a majority of degree-granting institutions in the United States (Allen & Seaman 2016; Ryan, Kaufman, Greenhouse, She, & Shi, 2014). Similarly, blended learning, which integrates online and face-to-face components, is also on the rise in the United States and is frequently offered as an option for students to integrate into their learning experience (Bonk & Graham, 2006). As of 2014, 70.7% of institutions providing higher education offered distance courses in some form, whether that was fully online or blended (Allen & Seaman, 2017).
Not only are online classes widely and readily available, but increasingly more students are taking advantage of this opportunity: Allen and Seaman (2016) indicate that while only 9.6% of undergraduate students were taking at least one distance course in 2002, by 2016, this number had risen to 29.7%. The range of courses offered online and in blended formats is expansive: almost any course can be found offered online, including world languages. Enrollments in online and blended world language courses are also on the rise, though the number is still modest in comparison to the number of online courses offered across the world (Martin-Monje, 2017).
This chapter starts by exploring the distance education landscape broadly, including important elements that may contribute to success in online courses. Next, typical online student profiles, including characteristics which may impact student success in online courses, are discussed in order to give contextual meaning to the research questions and conclusions in this study. The methods section details the setting, sample, and hypothesis/research questions for the study. Finally, findings are evaluated and implications for action are considered in the results and discussion sections of the chapter.
Distance Education Landscape
Who is offering online/blended coursework, and who is taking the courses? A handful of universities are significant contributors to online/blended course offerings in higher ed. For instance, Southern New Hampshire University, Western Governors University, Brigham Young University-Idaho, University of Central Florida, and Grand Canyon University were among the leaders of universities offering distance education, earning the top five spots of distance enrollments from 2012-2015 (Allen & Seaman, 2017). In general, however, public universities lead out, both in in terms of number of students enrolled in distance courses as well as number of distance courses offered. Additionally, larger institutions (i.e. those with over 15,000 enrollments) consist of the most students participating in online classes (Allen & Seaman, 2016).
With the continual development of new technology, online teaching techniques have progressed rapidly, allowing students to participate in the learning process through recording audio, editing photos, completing multimedia projects, working on collaborative documents, and utilizing other online resources (Jabeen & Thomas, 2015). These applications and tools have revolutionized the course of online and blended teaching and allow students and instructors to participate in their education more actively and regularly. Despite the access to many tools and applications, some researchers question whether these resources used in online and blended settings produce significantly different results than those provided in the traditional classroom setting. Previous attempts to understand the effectiveness of online courses and their teaching tools and methods have involved examining course learning outcomes, student satisfaction, and student perception of learning (Weldy, 2018). Fendler, Ruff & Shrikhande found that some studies reveal online learning produces inferior outcomes, some show online produce equivalent outcomes, and yet others show online produces outcomes superior to those of traditional classroom counterparts (2016). Whatever these outcomes and opinions indicate about the effectiveness of online courses, the fact remains that an effective course, whether online or face to face, is influenced by a wide range of factors.