bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mejoramiento institucional desde la perspectiva del gobierno universitario en la UNED de Costa Rica
Authors: Rojas-Campos Rosberly
Published: March 2019

El contexto actual demanda políticas y prácticas de aseguramiento de la calidad, rendición de cuentas y transparencia en la gestión de las universidades, las cuales requieren el compromiso y decisión del gobierno universitario. En el artículo, se evidencia cómo el diálogo participativo de los líderes con la comunidad universitaria permite identificar oportunidades de mejora en la academia, la gestión y los centros universitarios. La metodología fue cualitativa, se aplicó un cuestionario de preguntas abiertas a las personas candidatas al Consejo Universitario en el año 2017. Los resultados evidencian aspectos que deben ser fortalecidos, tales como la planificación estratégica, la normativa y los procesos; además de mecanismos de vinculación y de participación efectivos de las poblaciones universitarias en el gobierno institucional.
Dynamic Immune Phenotypes of B and T Helper Cells Mark Distinct Stages of T1D Progression
Authors: Habib Tania , Long S. Alice , Samuels Peter L. , Brahmandam Archana , Tatum Megan , Funk Andrew , Hocking Anne M. , Cerosaletti Karen , Mason Michael T. , Whalen Elizabeth , Rawlings David J. , Greenbaum Carla , Buckner Jane H. ,   the Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet Study Group
Published: March 2019

Multiple studies of B- and T-cell compartments and their response to stimuli demonstrate alterations in established type 1 diabetes (T1D). Yet it is not known whether these alterations reflect immune mechanisms that initiate islet autoimmunity, promote disease progression, or are secondary to disease. To address these questions, we used samples from the TrialNet Pathway to Prevention study to investigate T-cell responses to interleukin (IL)-2 and regulatory T cell–mediated suppression, the composition of the B-cell compartment, and B-cell responses to B-cell receptor and IL-21 receptor engagement. These studies revealed stage-dependent T- and B-cell functional and immune phenotypes; namely, early features that differentiate autoantibody-positive at-risk first-degree relatives (FDRs) from autoantibody-negative FDRs and persisted through clinical diagnosis; late features that arose at or near T1D diagnosis; and dynamic features that were enhanced early and blunted at later disease stages, indicating evolving responses along the continuum of T1D. We further explored how these specific phenotypes are influenced by therapeutic interventions. Our integrated studies provide unique insights into stable and dynamic stage-specific immune states and define novel immune phenotypes of potential clinical relevance.
Celastrol Reduces Obesity in MC4R Deficiency and Stimulates Sympathetic Nerve Activity Affecting Metabolic and Cardiovascular Functions
Authors: Saito Kenji , Davis Kevin C. , Morgan Donald A. , Toth Brandon A. , Jiang Jingwei , Singh Uday , Berglund Eric D. , Grobe Justin L. , Rahmouni Kamal , Cui Huxing
Published: March 2019

Leptin resistance is a hallmark of obesity with unclear etiology. Celastrol, a compound found in the roots of the Tripterygium wilfordii and known to reduce endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, has recently emerged as a promising candidate to treat obesity by improving leptin sensitivity. However, the underlying neural mechanisms by which celastrol reduces obesity remain unclear. Using three different mouse models of obesity—diet-induced obesity (DIO), leptin receptor (LepR)-null, and melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R)-null mice—in this study, we show that systemic celastrol administration substantially reduces food intake and body weight in MC4R-null comparable to DIO, proving the MC4R-independent antiobesity effect of celastrol. Body weight reduction was due to decreases in both fat and lean mass, and modest but significant body weight reduction was also observed in nonobese wild-type and LepR-null mice. Unexpectedly, celastrol upregulated proinflammatory cytokines without affecting genes involved in ER stress. Importantly, celastrol steadily increased sympathetic nerve activity to the brown fat and kidney with concordant increases of resting metabolic rate and arterial pressure. Our results suggest a previously unappreciated mechanism of action of celastrol in the regulation of energy homeostasis and highlight the need for careful consideration of its development as a safe antiobesity medication.
Mediation of the Effect of Glycemia on the Risk of CVD Outcomes in Type 1 Diabetes: The DCCT/EDIC Study
Authors: Bebu Ionut , Braffett Barbara H. , Orchard Trevor J. , Lorenzi Gayle M. , Lachin John M. ,   the DCCT/EDIC Research Group
Published: March 2019

OBJECTIVE

The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT)/Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study has demonstrated the major role of hyperglycemia as a risk factor for clinical cardiovascular outcomes in type 1 diabetes (T1D). We assessed whether and to what extent the effect of glycemia is mediated by other established cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

In the DCCT, 1,441 participants were randomized to receive either intensive or conventional diabetes therapy. The EDIC observational follow-up study enrolled 96% of the surviving DCCT cohort with 94% of the survivors still actively participating after more than 27 years of follow-up. Mediation of the effect of glycemia, as captured by HbA1c, on the subsequent CVD risk was quantified using the relative change in the CVD risk associated with HbA1c between models without and with the potential mediator.

RESULTS

Adjusted for age, only a few factors (e.g., pulse, triglycerides, albumin excretion rate) explained more than 10% of the effect of glycemia on CVD risk when considered individually. In multivariable models, these traditional risk factors together mediated up to ∼50% of the effect of glycemia on the risk of CVD. However, the association between HbA1c and the risk of CVD remained highly significant even after adjustment for these risk factors.

CONCLUSIONS

While HbA1c is associated with many traditional CVD risk factors, its association with these factors alone cannot explain its effects on risk of CVD. Consequently, aggressive management of traditional nonglycemic CVD risk factors, coupled with aggressive glycemic management, is indicated for individuals with type 1 diabetes.
Tiedekirjat sähköiseen aikaan II
Authors: Heikkilä Harri
Published: March 2019

Hankkeen ensimmäisessä osassa 2017 selvitettiin, kuinka Tieteellisten seurain valtuuskunta (TSV) voisi edesauttaa tiedekirjojen siirtymistä sähköiseen aikaan. Selvitys kokosi ja tuotti uutta tietoa sähkökirjan mahdollisuuksista ja ongelmista, kartoitti nykytilannetta ja selvitti sähkökirjojen myyntiä Tiedekirja-kirjakaupassa, sekä käsitteli tekijänoikeus- ja verotuskysymyksiä. Tässä jatko-osassa päivitettiin edellisen hankkeen selvitystä TSV:n Tiedejulkaisemisen päivänä 7.9.2018. Sen yhteydessä pidettiin myös ”julkaisutohtorin vastaanotto”, jossa pohdittiin tilaisuuteen vastaanotolle ilmoittautuneiden organisatioden julkaisuhankkeita ja räätälöitiin jokaiselle oma tukihanke. Mukana olivat Kela, TSV, Tutkijaliitto ja SLS.

Tässä raportissa selvitetään aluksi sähköisen julkaisemisen kehitystä Ajankohtaista julkaisemisessa -päivän jälkeen ja lopuksi selostetaan julkaisutohtorin apua hakeneiden organisaatioiden hankkeet.
Kalle Päätalon Iijoki-sarja kielielämäkertana
Authors: Keskimaa Sari
Published: March 2019

Sari Keskimaan suomen kielen alaan kuuluva väitöskirja tarkastettiin Oulun yliopistossa 13. lokakuuta 2018. Vastaväittäjänä toimi dosentti Hanna Lappalainen Helsingin yliopistosta ja kustoksena professori Harri Mantila.

Sari Keskimaa: Kalle Päätalon Iijoki-sarja kielielämäkertana. Acta Universitatis Ouluensis. Series B Humaniora 165. Oulun yliopisto 2018. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789526220536.
ONLINE COLLABORATION: INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE
Authors: Swan Karen
Published: March 2019

This special issue grew out of a workshop sponsored by the Sloan Consortium held in Victoria, British Columbia at Royal Roads University. Researchers and leaders in the field of online learning were invited to the workshop and organized into five teams to address five challenges.
ASSESSMENT AND COLLABORATION IN ONLINE LEARNING
Authors: Swan Karen , Shen Jia , Hiltz Starr Roxanne
Published: March 2019

Assessment can be seen as the engine that drives student course activity, online or off. It is particularly important in encouraging and shaping collaborative activity online. This paper discusses three sorts of online collaborative activity—collaborative discussion, small group collaboration, and collaborative exams. In each of these areas, it provides both theoretical grounding and practical advice for assessing, and so encouraging, collaboration in online courses.
A STUDY OF STUDENTS’ SENSE OF LEARNING COMMUNITY IN ONLINE ENVIRONMENTS
Authors: Shea Peter
Published: March 2019

This paper looks first at some of the often unspoken epistemological, philosophical, and theoretical assumptions that are foundational to student-centered, interactive online pedagogical models. It is argued that these foundational assumptions point to the importance of learning community in the effectiveness of online learning environments. Next, a recent study of 2314 online students across thirty-two college campuses is presented. This study reports on learners’ sense of community and it is concluded through factor and regression analysis that elements of the Community of Inquiry model —specifically learners’ recognition of effective “directed facilitation” and effective instructional design and organization on the part of their instructor contributes to their sense of shared purpose, trust, connectedness, and learning—core elements of a community of learners. Gender also appears to play a small role in students’ sense of learning community with female students reporting higher levels than their male classmates. Implications for online learning environments design are discussed.
BUSINESS MODELS FOR ONLINE LEARNING: AN EXPLORATORY SURVEY
Authors: Vignare Karen , Geith Christine , Schiffman Stephen
Published: March 2019

Despite the rapid growth in the adoption of online learning, there is a dearth of detailed information on effective business models, business strategies and effective practices on which to build sustainable online education programs. A survey instrument was developed as an initial attempt to define business models and business strategies for online learning. The survey results yielded some interesting data about which online learning financial models seem to have more or less “control” of which business functions. The sample was a convenience one and as such will require further filtering of data. It is also clear that more needs to be done to define business strategies and models and thus provide guidance to this growing segment of higher education.
INCREASING ACCESS IN ONLINE HIGHER EDUCATION
Authors: Bourne John , Moore Janet C. , Sener John , Mayadas Frank , Ettinger Linda F.
Published: March 2019

This paper investigates how access to higher education in the United States can be increased through further integration of online education. The search for opportunities to increase access to online education examined multiple prospective higher education contexts. A series of papers produced by participants in the 2005 Sloan-C summer workshop is synthesized and presented in this overview. Individual papers are included in the publication, providing analyses of specific opportunities.
ONLINE K–12 EDUCATION: OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION WITH HIGHER-EDUCATION
Authors: Thompson Melody M.
Published: March 2019

It is common practice for researchers and developers of innovative programs, as well as for the foundations and agencies that provide support for such research and programming, to target their efforts on specific segments of the educational system: K–12 or higher education, for example. However, the growing acceptance of the idea that society as a whole will benefit from a move toward a seamless “K–16” system suggests that such compartmentalization is no longer appropriate, whether for traditional or online education. This paper addresses issues of how and in what ways those in K–12 and higher education can fruitfully collaborate in three growing areas of online practice: dual (or concurrent) enrollment programs for high-school students, alternative routes for teacher certification for mid-career changers, and professional development for practicing teachers.
REACHING ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNERS WITHIN THE SILVER TSUNAMI
Authors: Ettinger Linda F.
Published: March 2019

This paper provides a profile of the population niche known as baby boomers, seniors and retired, collectively called the silver tsunami, relative to the potential for growth of the number of asynchronous online learners. General contextual information concerning population statistics, computer use and access trends, prefaces a listing of learning in retirement programs associated with institutions of higher education in the United States.
BLENDED LEARNING: IMPLICATIONS FOR GROWTH AND ACCESS
Authors: Picciano Anthony G.
Published: March 2019

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on issues of growth and access in blended learning environments. Increasingly decision makers throughout higher education are considering blended learning as an important component of their academic programs. It is hoped that this paper will help to provide insight for these decision makers. Many of the thoughts and ideas in this paper evolved out of discussions on Growth Paradigms held at the 2005 Sloan-C Summer Workshop in Victoria, British Columbia, and the 2004 and 2005 Sloan-C Workshops on Blended Learning held in Chicago.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF A REMOTE LABORATORY FOR INTERNET-BASED ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Authors: Ammari Ahmed Chiheb , Slama Jaleleddine Ben Hadj
Published: March 2019

The development of feasible and cost-effective remote engineering and science laboratories is one of the most important problems facing the progress of online technical education. In this paper, we describe the development of a complete remote laboratory for the instruction of control engineering. Equipped with common industrial sensors and actuators, the system represents temperature and flow processes regulated with an industrial Programmable Logic Controller (PLC). Using local monitoring, we enable students to perform interactive real plant experimentation in control and automation without the overhead incurred in maintaining a full presence laboratory.
CREATING EFFECTIVE ONLINE DISCUSSIONS: OPTIMAL INSTRUCTOR AND STUDENT ROLES
Authors: Dixson Marcia , Kuhlhorst Michelle , Reiff Amber
Published: March 2019

Teaching online courses is unexplored territory for many instructors. Understanding how to use the powerful learning techniques involved in cooperative group learning in an online context is imperative. This paper is a first attempt to explore the dynamics of learning groups in the context of online discussion forums. Given the spread of online learning, the importance of this kind of research cannot be overstated. The authors analyzed the content of twenty asynchronous discussion forums within an online course in family communication. Their findings indicate that such groups send social messages at a fairly high rate; that participation seems to be fairly evenly distributed among members, although having a “leader” is helpful to the group’s process; and that instructor messages and competitive student messages have no apparent effect on the final product. However, they also found that two types of messages— orienting/giving information and showing solidarity—were found more frequently in groups that produced higher quality work. This research opens many questions and offers some guidelines about the most effective ways to structure online learning situations.
BUILDING UNDERSTANDING IN ASYCHRONOUS DISCUSSIONS: EXAMINING TYPES OF ONLINE DISCOURSE
Authors: Han Seungyeon , Hill Janette R.
Published: March 2019

This article describes a study exploring how students’ learning is reflected in asynchronous online discussion. The study examined how online discourse contributes to the learning process. In examining online group discussions using discourse analysis, five different types of discourse were identified: goal setting, reflection, connection, original reformulation, and re-direction. With the different types of discourse, we explained how each message or a threaded message facilitated the discussion, particularly in terms of collaborative efforts to achieve the goal(s). The nature of each type of discourse was illustrated, including how different strategies were identified in the data and how different results of discussion were demonstrated in the data. We also describe the methodological issues related to the analysis of online discourse and discuss implications for research and practice.
THE CHANGING ROLE OF FACULTY AND ONLINE EDUCATION
Authors: Turoff Murray
Published: March 2019

Environmental forces influencing the future of higher education in the U.S. threaten to undermine the desirable role of faculty as arbiters of academic quality. For online learning to live up to its potential, institutional policies can return academic authority to faculty over degree programs in all modes and support the importance of education in promotion and tenure processes. Accreditation agencies traditionally have been a service to the institutions and the administration at higher education institutions; they will also have to become an equal service to the consumer of higher education. Consumerism will force all those concerned with the quality and utility of a higher education to focus on the quality and effectiveness of the instructors.
"FREE TRADE" IN HIGHER EDUCATION The Meta University
Authors: Graves William H.
Published: March 2019

The Internet can be a tool for increasing access to education while also maintaining or improving the quality of students’ learning. But if information technology is "bolted onto" existing programs, instructional costs increase. Instead, higher education must learn to use technology to disaggregate and disintermediate some of its current instructional programs and to recombine the resulting components into more flexible services that can compete in an educational "free market."
Impacts of college-level courses via Asynchronous Learning Networks: Some Preliminary Results
Authors: Hiltz Starr Roxanne
Published: March 2019

New Jersey Institute of Technology has been delivering college courses via an Asynchronous Learning Network (ALN) system called the Virtual ClassroomTM for a decade, using various media mixes. Currently, two complete undergraduate degree programs are available via a mix of video plus Virtual Classroom, the B.A. in Information Systems and the B.S. in Computer Science. This paper presents preliminary findings about impacts on students, and touches on some issues and potential impacts for faculty, individual universities, and the structure of higher education. Overall ratings of courses by students who complete ALN based courses are equal or superior to those for traditional courses. Dropout or Incomplete outcomes are somewhat more prevalent, while grade distributions for those who complete tend to be similar to those for traditional courses. For both students and faculty, more startup time devoted to solving the "logistics" of ALN delivery seems to be required at the beginning of courses. ALN delivery is not just a "different" way of doing the same thing, however; it is likely to change the nature and structure of higher education.
CyberProf - An Intelligent Human-Computer Interface for Interactive Instruction on the World Wide Web
Authors: Raineri Deanna M. , Mehrtens Bradley G. , Hubler Alfred W.
Published: March 2019

Advances in computer technology and the human-computer interface have created a wealth of new opportunities for the development of computer-based instruction and intelligent tutoring systems. Unfortunately, much of the material currently available amounts to little more than "electronic books," in which learning is still accomplished by reading text and viewing two dimensional images. This paper describes the features of CyberProf - an interactive, World Wide Web-based teaching system developed at the University of Illinois. Using CyberProf, instructors can create on-line lecture notes that include equations, animations, and graphics; write online interactive homework problems; communicate with students using CyberProf’s Web-based conferencing system; survey students in order to receive feedback on course material; and record student grades in CyberProf’s online gradebook. Students can review lecture notes 24 hours a day; complete homework problems on the Web and receive immediate intelligent feedback to their answers; use the conferencing system to post questions to their instructor, teaching assistants, and peers; and review their grades in the class at any time.
Libraries Address The Challenges Of Asynchronous Learning
Authors: Eustis Joanne , McMillan Gail
Published: March 2019

As asynchronous learning becomes the norm throughout academia, changes are taking place in campus information systems. Academic libraries, as the entity responsible for serving the information needs of the university, have little choice but to change dramatically. In fact, academic libraries have a history of being aggressive in adapting state-of-the-art technologies. One can point to decades-long involvement with the development of online catalogs and the use of shared cataloging utilities. Libraries continue to serve academic teaching and learning by taking on new roles, revising traditional services, and time and space constraints.Libraries have, however, been slower to adjust organizational structures and processes to leverage the potential of technology. Replies to a recent survey of Association of Research Libraries (ARL) indicate that change in the responding libraries at this time is incremental rather than dramatic. Patterns are emerging, however, relative to resource reallocation and the formation of partnerships with other university units that reflect new priorities.This article describes two examples of innovative information delivery initiatives. VIVA, the Virtual Library of Virginia, was proposed by the state’s Library Advisory Council in 1993 to encourage collaboration among the Commonwealth’s institutions of higher education and to support the electronic dissemination of information. Academic libraries are also leading the way by providing new and unique sources of online information such as Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs), by developing electronic submissions, online archiving, and Web access, as well as bringing to the forefront discussions about issues such as copyright and publishers’ control of academic publications. Network-based access to information resources such as these is changing higher education, and the opportunities offered by asynchronous learning networks are challenging libraries to adjust their policies, processes, and services.
Intelligent Agents for Online Learning
Authors: Thaiupathump Choonhapong , Bourne John , Campbell Olin
Published: March 2019

This research investigated the effects of applying intelligent agent techniques to an online learning environment. The knowbots (or Knowledge Robots) created for the research were intelligent software agents that automated the repetitive tasks of human facilitators in a series of online workshops. The study specifically captured experimental results of using knowbots in multiple sessions of an ALN (Asynchronous Learning Network) online workshop, Getting Started Creating Online Courses. The study used experimental groups and comparison groups to examine the association between the use of knowbots and workshop completion rates. Also examined were the effects of knowbots on other factors such as facilitation time and learner satisfaction. The findings indicated that the use of knowbots was positively associated with higher learner completion rates in the workshops. In addition, knowbots implemented a learning-support tool that reminded learners about deadlines. The support knowbots were found to be effective autonomous motivators. In sum, the results of this research suggest that the application of agent technology to online learning holds promise for improving completion rates, learner satisfaction, and motivation.
Copyright Dot Com: The Digital Millennium in Copyright
Authors: Diotalevi Robert N.
Published: March 2019

With advanced technology come new legal issues. The age of information has given rise to greater concerns about copyright legalities. As new interpretations emerge from Congress as well as the courts, these thorny matters will be at the forefront. Copyright law ultimately affects anyone interested in higher education.Today the Internet, once a research project, is our largest computer system. The Information Super Highway offers a variety of useful information as one navigates down its maze of URLs, browsers and hyperlinks.The latest Clinton Administration measure, The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, is a massive complexity of rules and regulations. It will probably serve as a challenge for copyright aficionados, service providers and all involved in the field for some time to come.This work attempts to address the above issues as well as to explore new concerns in copyright.
Using ALNs to Support a Complete Educational Experience
Authors: Thompson Melody M. , McGrath Jean W.
Published: March 2019

The most obvious factor influencing students’ satisfaction with distance learning is convenience of access. While ALNs clearly can provide convenient access to educational content, how do they measure up in terms of access to the broader range of elements that make up a “complete” educational experience?Within traditional education, a complete education has been viewed as inseparable from the resident experience, with its access to instructional as well as co-curricular activities and support services. ALN programs that hope to meet the educational— rather than merely informational—needs of distant students must find ways to offer comparable opportunities and services.Penn State’s World Campus is working to realize the potential of ALNs by using innovative strategies for meeting several specific objectives. These objectives include access to high-quality course content; interactions between faculty members and students beyond those in direct instruction; interaction among students at the program level; broad access to information and instructional resources; flexible access to appropriate support services; and developing students’ feeling of “belonging” to the institution.This paper provides specific examples of online strategies for meeting these objectives and reports preliminary evaluation results relating to student satisfaction in courses offered during the first two semesters of World Campus programming.
Early Patterns of Faculty Compensation for Developing and Teaching Distance Learning Courses
Authors: Berg Gary A.
Published: March 2019

This paper is an investigation into compensation practices for faculty developing and teaching distance learning courses. The research divides itself into two basic lines of inquiry: direct and indirect compensation (including royalties, training, and professional recognition). Also, economic models for distance learning are examined with a view towards understanding faculty compensation within attempts to reduce labor costs. The primary questions this research attempts to answer are: What are the current policies and practices in higher education for compensating faculty who develop and teach distance learning format courses? Will the increased use of distance learning format courses alter overall labor conditions for American faculty? If so, how? Although information is limited, it is found that faculty work in both developing and teaching distance learning format courses tends thus far in this early stage to be seen as work-for-hire under regular load with little additional indirect compensation or royalty arrangements.
Educational Performance of ALN via Content Analysis
Authors: Aviv Reuven
Published: March 2019

Learning in an ALN mode is modeled by a set of educational processes. The group is modeled by an abstract entity that provides services to the learners via its group educational processes. The learners reciprocate by their corresponding educational processes. Following findings of the Social Interdependence Theory of Cooperative Learning, we conjecture that the ALN is Cooperative Learning enhanced by extended think time. If ALN is structured for effective cooperation then the group dynamics will regulate the high level reasoning and the interpersonal relationships of the learners towards their highest levels.If this conjecture is found to be true, it identifies the maximization of reasoning and interpersonal relationships as one of the educational benefits of an ALN.To test the conjecture, we developed a methodology for the evaluation of the performance profiles of the ALN educational processes. Performance profiles are calculated via content analysis of the information flows exchanged between the participants, and the results are tested for reproducibility. We use this methodology to analyze three weeks of asynchronous discussions embedded in an ALN course of the Open University of Israel (OUI). The results of this analysis indicate the plausibility of our conjecture.
Measuring the Importance of Collaborative Learning for the Effectiveness of ALN: A Multi-Measure, Multi-Method Approach
Authors: Hiltz Starr Roxanne , Coppola Nancy , Rotter Naomi , Turoff Murray , Benbunan-Fich Raquel
Published: March 2019

Are there any differences in outcomes between traditional classroom-based university courses and courses delivered via ALN, which feature extensive on-line interaction among students? Under what conditions are ALN courses most effective? What can be done to improve the publishability of ALN evaluations, and counter the attacks of critics?After providing background on the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) Virtual Classroom (VC) projects, this paper describes three studies that address the issue of the importance of collaborative learning strategies to the success of ALN for students. A three-year longitudinal field study of 26 courses that are part of an undergraduate degree in Information Systems compared the process and outcomes of learning using an on-line anytime/anywhere environment to those for comparison sections taught in the traditional classroom. An embedded field experiment looked at the separate and joint effects of working on-line versus in the classroom and of working individually versus in groups. Semi-structured interviews with experienced ALN faculty probed their pedagogy and their perceptions of whether or not students learned, on the average, more, less, or about the same as in their traditional sections. The results support the premise that when students are actively involved in collaborative (group) learning on-line, the outcomes can be as good as or better than those for traditional classes, but when individuals are simply receiving posted material and sending back individual work, the results are poorer than in traditionalclassrooms.
Instructor Attitudes within the SCALE Efficiency Projects
Authors: Arvan Lanny , Musumeci Diane
Published: March 2019

This paper presents the results of interviews with the principal investigators of the current Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments (SCALE) Efficiency Projects. There are six such projects: Spanish, Microbiology, Economics, Math, Chemistry, and Physics. The paper reviews each project individually, summarizes the results, and then discusses some common lessons learned as well as some still open issues. The paper considers satisfaction both from the perspective of the course director/designer and from the perspective of other instructors and graduate teaching assistants. Theevidence appears to show that all of these groups are satisfied with ALN, relative to the prior situation. Nonetheless, it is not clear whether these results would translate to other high enrollment courses.
DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A FRAMEWORK FOR CREATING WEB-BASED LEARNING MODULES: A PEDAGOGICAL AND SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE
Authors: Janicki Thomas , Liegle Jens O.
Published: March 2019

Educational content on the Internet is rapidly increasing. Educational institutions and businesses are placing more course material online to supplement classroom and business training situations. Prior researchers have reported that this new web-based training technology (which has its foundation in computer-based training) has not integrated sound pedagogical practices into theauthoring process when developing new tutorials. This research merges theories from the instructional design and web-based design researchers in a framework for more effective web-based tutorials. To test the effectiveness of this model, a prototype computer system is developed. This system named WeBTAS (Web-Based Tutoring Authoring System) is reviewed by two different panels of educators. These panels report that the prototype system does promote five different learning principles as part of the authoring process. In addition the system was implemented on a pilot test basis and its initial observations are that it produces an average of 15% more learning content in the same development time as conventional authoring tools.
SHEFFIELD LECTURE - YALE UNIVERSITY JANUARY 11, 2000 INTERNET LEARNING: IS IT REAL AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR UNIVERSITIES?
Authors: Gomory Ralph E.
Published: March 2019

My interest in learning over networks dates back to 1989. In 1989 there was no commercial Internet. It was hard to get people interested in learning over networks or to even to understand what learning over networks meant or could mean. Fortunately, in 1992 I was joined at the Sloan Foundation by an extremely able program director, Frank Mayadas. Then we were able to get a real program started.
ASSESSING TEACHING PRESENCE IN A COMPUTER CONFERENCING CONTEXT
Authors: Anderson Terry , Rourke Liam , Garrison Randy , Archer Walter
Published: March 2019

This paper presents a tool developed for the purpose of assessing teaching presence in online courses that make use of computer conferencing, and preliminary results from the use of this tool. The method of analysis is based on Garrison, Anderson, and Archer’s model of critical thinking and practical inquiry in a computer conferencing context. The concept of teaching presence is constitutively defined as having three categories – design and organization, facilitating discourse, and direct instruction. Indicators that we search for in the computer conference transcripts identify each category. Pilot testing of the instrument reveals interesting differences in the extent and type of teaching presence found in different graduate level online courses.
THE PROCESS OF COMMUNITY-BUILDING IN DISTANCE LEARNING CLASSES
Authors: Brown Ruth E.
Published: March 2019

The purpose of this study was to develop a theory about the process through which community formed in adult computer-mediated asynchronous distance learning classes. A grounded theory design incorporated archived class input as well as interviews with twenty-one students and three faculty members from three graduate-level distance education classes.A three-stage phenomenon was ascertained. The first stage was making friends on-line with whom students felt comfortable communicating. The second stage was community conferment (acceptance) which occurred when students were part of a long, thoughtful, threaded discussion on a subject of importance after which participants felt both personal satisfaction and kinship. The third stage was camaraderie which was achieved after long-term or intense association with others involving personal communication. Each of these stages involved a greater degree of engagement in both the class and the dialogue.Causal conditions, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences were enumerated. A visual model of the entire process of community-building was advanced. Benefits of community were noted, and suggestions were made to facilitate the formation of an on-line community.
CONNECTING GRADUATE STUDENTS TO VIRTUAL GUESTS THROUGH ASYNCHRONOUS DISCUSSIONS - ANALYSIS OF AN EXPERIENCE
Authors: Kumari Siva
Published: March 2019

Information technologies provide unique opportunities for higher education faculty to rethink the resources that are available to re-envision their pedagogical techniques. One such promise is the ability of the faculty member to invite virtual guest speakers or experts into the graduate course through web-based conferencing. The virtual guest can host asynchronous interactive discussions with students in the course for a specified period of time. These technologies provide students with the ability to interact with guests in new ways by expressing individual concerns and discussing them without time and place constraints. This paper describes in quantitative and qualitative terms one such experience in a graduate course where three virtual guests were invited to interact with the students over the eleven-week course.
STANDARDIZED FRAMEWORKS FOR DISTRIBUTED LEARNING
Authors: Schocken Shimon
Published: March 2019

Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALN) are often described as “any place, any time” environments for learning. In order for such environments to become feasible and popular on a large scale, they must be based on a public market architecture that is distributed, component-based, non-proprietary, and standardized. This paper describes one such framework, and discusses its possible implementation using a set of standards developed by the IMS Global Learning Consortium. In addition, we comment on the central role that XML plays in the implementation of such standards.
THE ANATOMY OF A DISTANCE EDUCATION COURSE: A CASE STUDY ANALYSIS
Authors: Vandergrift Kay E.
Published: March 2019

This case study of a distance education course in children’s literature focuses on the creation of an interpretive community and the importance of that community in online learning. It also refines Michael G. Moore’s work on transactional distance to include the concept of a faculty member’s “restrained presence” in an effort to facilitate students’ personal responsibility for their own learning and for community building in an online learning environment.
EXAMINING SOCIAL PRESENCE IN ONLINE COURSES IN RELATION TO STUDENTS' PERCEIVED LEARNING AND SATISFACTION
Authors: Richardson Jennifer C. , Swan Karen
Published: March 2019

Research has demonstrated that social presence not only affects outcomes but also student, and possibly instructor, satisfaction with a course. Teacher immediacy behaviors and the presence of others are especially important issues for those involved in delivering online education. This study explored the role of social presence in online learning environments and its relationship to students’ perceptions of learning and satisfaction with the instructor. The participants for this study were students who completed Empire State College’s (ESC) online learning courses in the spring of 2000 and completed the end of semester course survey (n=97). A correlational design was utilized. This study found that students with high overall perceptions of social presence also scored high in terms of perceived learning and perceived satisfaction with the instructor. Students’ perceptions of social presence overall, moreover, contributed significantly to the predictor equation for students’ perceived learning overall. Gender accounted for some of the variability of students’ overall perception of social presence, while age and number of college credits earned did not account for any of the variability.
CREATION OF UNISCOPE: A MODEL FOR REWARDING ALL FORMS OF SCHOLARSHIP
Authors: Gurgevich Elise A. , Hyman Drew , Alter Theodore R.
Published: March 2019

On March 24, 1998, a small group of faculty and administrators at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) formed a learning community to engage in a deliberative dialogue about recognizing and documenting outreach scholarship in the University. We chose UniSCOPE, University Scholarship and Criteria for Outreach and Performance Evaluation, as a title to encapsulate our mission. Our goal was to consider the meaning of scholarship in the contemporary university and to consider the role of outreach therein. We did this in the context of the Penn State promotion and tenure system to gain a better understanding of its effect on scholarship. We quickly learned that outreach scholarship cannot be examined in isolation, and we broadened our deliberations to consider the full range of scholarship. This report articulates a multidimensional model of scholarship in general, of which outreach scholarship is a key component and presents our recommendations for action.
A FOLLOW-UP INVESTIGATION OF “TEACHING PRESENCE” IN THE SUNY LEARNING NETWORK
Authors: Shea Peter , Pickett Alexandra M. , , Pelz William E.
Published: March 2019

This paper is a follow-up study to a preliminary investigation of teaching presence in the State University of New York Learning Network (SLN). In the present studywe review ongoing issues of pedagogy and faculty development, and their relationship to student satisfaction, and reported learning in SLN. We provide an overview of the SLN program,and summarize a conceptual framework for our current research on higher education, online learning environments. This framework integrates research on how people learn, with principles of good practice in higher education and recent research on learning in asynchronous learning networks (ALNs) in higher education. We also present resultsof a follow-up study on one aspect of the model, “Teaching Presence”.The SUNY Learning Network is a proud recipient of two Sloan-C Awards, the 2001 Award for Excellence in ALN Faculty Development and the 2002 Award for Excellence in ALN Programming. We believe that it is no coincidence that SLN was recognized in this order; that is to say, we feel our efforts to create a systematic faculty development program has allowed us to create an outstanding program of online courses and degrees. A clear vision regarding the prerequisites for a high quality online learning environment, especially prerequisites related to faculty development, is essential to building effective ALN programs. As this special edition of JALN is dedicated to such efforts we would like to focus on our model for learning environments design and share results of research on specific aspects of the model. In past studies we have argued that student-faculty and student-student interaction are among the variables most strongly correlated with student satisfaction and reported learning. In the present study, we focus on one aspect of our model for online learning environments and examine interaction more deeply. Building upon the work of Anderson and colleagues we examine the kinds of activities that comprise and sustain productive interaction. These researchers have categorized interactions that occur in asynchronous learning environments that encourage knowledge creation and identify online behaviors and processes that approximate (and may improve upon) those that occur in face-to-face settings. We look at a key element of their work, “teaching presence,” and present results of a follow-upstudy examining students’ perceptions of this constellation of online faculty behaviors. We also identify the components of teaching presence that correlate most highly with student satisfaction and reported learning.
NETWORK ANALYSIS OF KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION IN ASYNCHRONOUS LEARNING NETWORKS
Authors: Aviv Reuven , Erlich Zippy , Ravid Gilad , Geva Aviva
Published: March 2019

Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs) make the process of collaboration more transparent, because a transcript of conference messages can be used to assess individual roles and contributions and the collaborative process itself. This study considers three aspects of ALNs: the design; the quality of the resulting knowledge construction process; and cohesion, role and power network structures. The design is evaluated according to the Social Interdependence Theory of CooperativeLearning. The quality of the knowledge construction process is evaluated through Content Analysis; and the network structures are analyzed using Social Network Analysis of the response relations among participants during online discussions. In this research we analyze data from two three-monthlong ALN academic university courses: a formal, structured, closed forum and an informal, nonstructured, open forum. We found that in the structured ALN, the knowledge construction processreached a very high phase of critical thinking and developed cohesive cliques. The students took on bridging and triggering roles, while the tutor had relatively little power. In the non-structured ALN, the knowledge construction process reached a low phase of cognitive activity; few cliques were constructed; most of the students took on the passive role of teacher-followers; and the tutor was at the center of activity. These differences are statistically significant. We conclude that a well-designed ALN develops significant, distinct cohesion, and role and power structures lead the knowledge construction process to high phases of critical thinking.
FORMAL COURSE DESIGN AND THE STUDENT LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Authors: Brown Gary , Myers Carrie B. , Roy Sharon
Published: March 2019

What impact does collaboration between faculty and professional course designers have on the student learning experience? As the use of technologies increases, educational institutions have to find ways of identifying and addressing expectations about how technologies can best be incorporated into the teaching and learning experiences. This paper reports on efforts at Washington State University to develop and assess the course design and faculty development process and the impact the process has on student learning experiences. The results of a comprehensive set of faculty and student surveys from five groups suggest that the systematic course design process improves students’ opportunities for faculty-student interaction, student-student interaction, and other elements associated with best practice. The implications of this study for faculty development and policy implementation are discussed.
ACADEMIC REDESIGN: ACCOMPLISHING MORE WITH LESS
Authors: Graves William H.
Published: March 2019

Community colleges are under persistent pressure to spend more on technology. In lieu of bolting technology onto essential academic and administrative process at additional net cost, savvy community college leaders are planning and implementing academic service redesign strategies to achieve measurable outcomes constituting gains in academic productivity. This paper presents case studies of four higher education institutions that contracted with Collegis for a range of planning, marketing, student recruiting, academic, and technology management and support services. To be able to accomplish more with less, three strategies are discussed: (1) redesigning individual course sections to increase learning and convenience, (2) redesigning common courses to decrease costs and increase learning outcomes, and (3) redesigning program delivery to participate in flex markets.