Understanding the Online Aspect of Educational Leadership Programs

Abstract

The current redesign initiatives in educational leadership programs led by the Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, the University Council for Educational Administration, the Wallace Foundation, and governments primarily focus on the content/curriculum of the programs and have not paid enough attention to how to deliver these programs effectively online. The purpose of this study is to provide new descriptive data on the online aspect of these programs and empirical evidence on the relationships between course design characteristics and instructional methods and student engagement and performance. The descriptive analysis found a wide variation in instructors' engagement efforts and student engagement and performance. The correlational analysis found that course enrollment sizes were non-linearly associated with instructional practices and student engagement. In addition, non-tenured instructors made more efforts to engage students. Finally, it found a positive relationship between instructional practices and student engagement.