A Tale of Two Courses: A Case Study of Transition from a Traditional to an Online Course

Research Questions

For this study, the following research questions were used to guide the inquiry:

• 1.

  What were the factors that prompted seminary leaders to offer an online course?

• 2.

  How was the traditional course adapted to fit the online course format?

• 3.

  How do assignment grades for students in the fall semester traditional course compare with grades for students in the spring semester online course?

• 4.

  What recommendations can be made based on data gathered about the transition from the traditional course to the online course?

Background

Since the inception of the Internet, online programs have grown exponentially in higher education. In 1990, only 15% of households owned a computer in the United States (U.S. Department of Labor, 1999). In 2005, that number had jumped to 78%, with an estimated 88.9 million U.S. households owning a computer. Of those, 81.4% had Internet access (Carol, Rivera, Ebel, Zimmerman, & Christakis, 2005). By 2002, almost 2 million students had taken at least one course online. One quarter of those students were enrolled in completely online programs (Shelton, 2005). With the growth of online access, universities and colleges across the country vie to meet consumer demand for online programs (Song, Singleton, Hill, & Koh, 2004). Thompson (2009) noted, “information technology has revolutionized the way many people work and interact, but the evidence is that many further education and skill training providers need to pick up the pace of adopting new [online] developments” (p. F4). Fully two-thirds of colleges and universities assert that online education is the most significant development in higher education, as it offers students flexibility and convenience, while a minority indicate that distance learning programs are inappropriate and inadequate substitutes for traditional, face-to- face instruction (Shin & Lee 2009).