THIS STUDY EXPLORED the use of Garrison, Anderson, and Archer's (2000) version of Dewey's (1933) practical inquiry model for assessing the influence of social presence and teaching presence on the quality of critical inquiry experienced by online learners. Students (N = 33) enrolled in an online version of a graduate-level, educational statistics course were randomly assigned to either a control, social presence, or social presence combined with teaching presence experimental discussion group. Results showed that the social presence combined with teaching presence group posted significantly more responses at the highest levels of cognitive presence than either the control or the social presence discussion groups.
Traditional student evaluations of teaching do not adequately assess the essential constructivist-based practices that have been recommended for effective online instruction. There is a need for student evaluation of teaching instruments that are specifically designed to provide online instructors with valid feedback about the effectiveness of their online teaching practices. This study was undertaken to develop and validate a student evaluation of online teaching effectiveness instrument based on Chickering and Gamson's (1987) Seven Principles of Effective Teaching. Eight hundred and seven students enrolled in WebCT courses at a mid-sized university in the western United States completed the Student Evaluation of Online Effectiveness (SEOTE) for this study. Results from an exploratory factor of analysis of a randomly selected sub-sample of SEOTE responses of online students yielded four interpretable factors: Student-Faculty Interaction, Active Learning, Time on Task, and Cooperation Among Students. A confirmatory factor analysis of the second subsample found that the hypothesized four-factor model fit the data well.
CONSTRUCTIVISM AND ONLINE INSTRUCTIONThe use of Internet-based instruction has become standard practice for delivering coursework to students enrolled in higher education programs of study across the United States. Universities and colleges have embraced the use of online instruction as a strategy for meeting the demands of students who prefer or find it necessary to take classes at a distance. The significant growth in the number of online courses is not surprising considering that many students want to earn degrees that will positively affect their careers while at the same time allow them 227
T~ent_ITIONALLY CAMPUS-BASED COURSES rely on stuevaluations to provide instructors with feedback about their .~ teaching effectiveness. However, current student evaluations of teaching instruments do not adequately assess many of the essential constmctivist-based teaching practices recommended for quality online learning experiences. One of the best known summaries of research-based instructional practices is the widely disseminated Seven Principles of Effective Teaching authored by Chickering and Gamson (1987). The majority of learner-centered instructional practices which comprise the Seven Principles framework are clearly focused on constmctivist-based teaching practices. This study was an initial effort toward the development of a student evaluation of online teaching instrument based on the Seven Principles framework.
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