Restoring Washed Out Bridges so ELearners Arrive at Online Course Destinations Successfully

Ruth Gannon Cook

DePaul University School for New Learning United States.

DOI: 10.4236/ce.2012.34083                

Abstract

This study researched the impact of strategic navigation improvements in an online course selected for the study over one quarter (12 weeks) at a large Midwestern private university. The primary purpose of the study was to see if navigation enhancements and specific graphic enhancements (semiotic tools) in the online course selected for the study could make it easier for adult students to learn new course materials. The study also sought to see if these factors could contribute to increased positive learning experiences and to see whether there might be a higher percentage of completion rates in this enhanced online course than in other online courses at the university. While not generalizable, the findings could provide inferences about which factors could positively influence adult learning in online courses and contribute to increased course completion rates; the study could also provide recommendations on graphic enhancements and online course navigation that positively influence student learning in online courses.

Keywords

Elearning; Online Learning; Semiotics; Graphic Enhancements; Principal Components Analysis; Development Design; Adult Learners; Higher Education; Andragogy

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Ambron, S., & Hooper, K. (Eds.) (1990). Learning with interactive multimedia: Developing and using tools in education. Washington: Microsoft Press.
[2]	Baddeley, A. D. (1992). Working memory. Science, 255, 556-559. doi:10.1126/science.1736359
[3]	Berker, A., & Horn, L. (2005). Work first, study second: Adult undergraduates who combine employment and postsecondary enrollment. The Education Statistics Quarterly, 5, 2004.
[4]	Bradburn, E., Berger, R., Li, X. Peter, K., & Rooney, K. (2004). A Descriptive summary of 1999-2000 bachelor’s degree recipients 1 year later: With an analysis of time to degree. The Education Statistics Quarterly, 5.
[5]	Cabrera, A. (1994). Logistic regression analysis in higher education: An applied perspective. In J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (pp. 225-256). New York: Agathon Press.
[6]	Center for Law and Social Policy (20111). Statistics on nontraditional learners. URL. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Nontraditional-Students-Facts-2011.pdf
[7]	Chandler, P., & Sweller, J. (1991). Cognitive load theory and the format of instruction. Cognition and Instruction, 8, 293-332. doi:10.1207/s1532690xci0804_2
[8]	Chang, S. (2006). Online versus print reading: A cognitive load perspective. Association for Education Communications and Technology, Dallas, October 2006.
[9]	Cobley, P., & Jancz, L. (1997). Introducing semiotics. Royston, United Kingdom: Icon Books.
[10]	Colbeck, C., Cabrera, A., & Marine, R. (2002). Faculty motivation to use alternative teaching methods. The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, April 2002.
[11]	Cooper, G., (1998). Research into cognitive load theory and instructtional design at University of New South Wales (UNSW). URL (last checked 1 December 2006). http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/materials/clark/UNSW.htm
[12]	Forsyth, J. E. (1998). The construction and validation of a model for the design of community-based train-the-trainer instruction. Ph.D. Thesis, Detroit, MI: Wayne State University.
[13]	Gall, M. D., Borg, W. R., & Gall, J. P. (1996). Educational research. (60th ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman.
[14]	Gannon-Cook, R. (1998). Semiotics in technology, learning and culture. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 18, 174-179. doi:10.1177/027046769801800304
[15]	Gannon-Cook, R. (2008). Web 2.0: How signs, symbols and podcasts affect elearning. In T. Kidd, & I. Chen (Eds.), Wired for Learning: An Educator's Guide to Web 2.0. Charlotte, NC: InfoAge Publishing.
[16]	Gannon-Cook, R., & Crawford, C. (2007). What can cave walls teach us? In A. Edmondso, (Ed.), Globalized E-Learning Cultural Challenges. Minneapolis, MN: eWorld Learning.
[17]	Gobet, F., Lane, P. C. R., Croker, S., Cheng, P. C. H., Jones, G., Oliver, I., & Pine, J. M. (2001). Chunking mechanisms in human learning. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 236-243. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01662-4
[18]	Houle, D. Mezey, J., & Galpern, P. (2001). Interpretation of the results of common principal components analyses. Evolution, 56, 433-440.
[19]	Hudson, L., & Shafer, L. (2005). Undergraduate enrollments in academic, career, and vocational education. The Education Statistics Quarterly, 6.
[20]	Lashley, K. S. (1951). The problem of serial order in behavior. In L. A. Jeffress (Ed.), Cerebral mechanisms in behavior. New York: Wiley.
[21]	Mandl, H., Stein, N., & Trabasso, T. (Eds.) (1984). Learning and comprehension of text. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[22]	Maybery, M. et al. (2001). Grouping of list items reflected in the timing of recall: implications for models of serial verbal memory. Journal of Memory and Language, 47, 360-385.
[23]	McDonald, R. (1985). Factor analysis and related methods. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
[24]	Merenda, P. (1997). Methods, plainly speaking. A guide to the proper use of factor analysis in the conduct and reporting of research: Pitfalls to avoid. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 30, 156-164.
[25]	Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Online (2009). Definition of discourse. URL (last checked 20 July 2009). http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/semiotics
[26]	Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number deven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-97. doi:10.1037/h0043158
[27]	Nash, R. (2005). Course completion rates among distance learners: Identifying possible methods to improve retention. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 8. URL. http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter84/nash84.htm
[28]	National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (2002). A profile of participation in distance education: 1999-2000. URL (last checked 15 January 2002). http://www.nces.ed.gov/pubs02/
[29]	National Center for Educational Statistics (2007). The condition of education 2006: Distance education by postsecondary faculty. Washington DC: Institute of Educational Science, National Center for Educational Statistics.
[30]	Paas, F., Renkel, A., & Sweller, J. (2004). Cognitive load theory: Instructional implications of the interaction between information structures and cognitive architecture. Instructional Science, 32, 1-8. doi:10.1023/B:TRUC.0000021806.17516.d0
[31]	Pavio, A. (1990). Mental representations: A dual coding approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
[32]	Pintrich, P. R., Marx, R. W., & Boyle, R. A. (1993). Beyond cold conceptual change: The role of motivational beliefs and classroom contextual factors in the process of conceptual change. Review of Educational Research, 63, 167-199.
[33]	Popkewitz, T. (1997). A changing terrain of knowledge and power: A social epistemology of educational research. Journal of Educational Research, 26, 18-29.
[34]	Popkewitz, S. D. (1998). Review of the effects of research and practice. Journal of Educational Research, 35, 535-570. doi:10.2307/1163459
[35]	Popkewitz, T. (2004). The alchemy of the Mathematics curriculum: Inscriptions and the fabrication of the child. American Educational Research Journal, 41, 3-34. doi:10.3102/00028312041001003
[36]	Richey, R., & Klein, J. (2007). Design and development research. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
[37]	Sakai, K., Kitaguchi, K., & Hikosaka, O. (2003). Chunking during human visuomotor sequence learning. Experimental Brain Research, 152, 229-242. doi:10.1007/s00221-003-1548-8
[38]	Shiarella, A. H., McCarthy, A. M., & Tucker, M. L. (2000). Development and construct validity of scores on the community service attitudes scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 60, 286-300. doi:10.1177/00131640021970510
[39]	Stevens, J. (1996). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
[40]	Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12, 257-285. doi:10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4
[41]	Sweller, J. (1994). Cognitive load theory, learning difficulty and instructional design. Learning and Instruction, 4, 295-312. doi:10.1016/0959-4752(94)90003-5
[42]	Tabachnick, B., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using multivariate statistics (4th ed.). NY: HarperCollins College Publishers.
[43]	University Data (2012). Adult student requisites. URL (last checked 23 February 2012). http://www.depaul.edu/admission-and-aid/types-of-admission/Pages/adult-transfer-student.aspx
[44]	Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. doi:10.1037/11193-000
[45]	Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
[46]	Wertsch, J. V. (1985). Cultural, communication, and cognition: Vygotskian perspectives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
[47]	Wiersma, W., & Jurs, S. (1990). Educational measurement and testing. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
[48]	Wikipedia (2012). Definition of chunking. URL (last checked 24 February 2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunking_(psychology)
[49]	Wikipedia (2012). Definition of cognitive load. URL (last checked 23 February 2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_load
[50]	Wikipedia (2012). Definition of schemas. URL (last checked 23 February 2012). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_(psychology)