Abstract:

Absent from the structure of traditional classroom instruction, many students are unaware of navigation, technical, and system requirements necessary to successfully complete formal coursework in an online environment. The purpose of the study is to develop and assess a student e-orientation module (SOM) that can be adopted by faculty to reduce the amount of time spent responding to content management system (CMS) inquires and offered to students to better prepare them for the online environment and expectations. Currently the project is in progress in a large state university in California, USA.

Typically, in the first week of online instruction and with a limited amount of time, students are faced with having to learn the CMS while beginning their formal studies. This can prove to be challenging and at times overwhelming for students. Such frustration, can potentially contribute to a student’s lack of motivation and hinder their ability to successfully achieve coursework requirements. Properly orienting students to the CMS and online environment, in the first week of online instruction, may help mitigate these types of problems. Research on using student e-orientations, within higher education, to mitigate these issues is limited. While the few existing studies extol the virtues of using online student orientations (Bergmann & Raleigh 2000; Cho, 2012), there is not enough literature on the topic.

This project uses a design-based research (DBR) (Anderson & Shattuck, 2011; Brown, 1992; Collins, Joseph, & Bielaczyc, 2004). With this methodology, we took the processes that entail identifying a problem, investigating and researching, designing possible solutions, developing prototype and implementing it, and evaluating and reiterating.

In the Identifying a Problem stage, we interviewed and surveyed the university instructional designers, faculty members, and students to determine what topics the SOM should address in order to be most helpful to students and instructors. We also used aggregated demographic information about students, based on existing Institutional Research at the university, especially online students.

In the Investigating and Researching stage, we also examined the literature base and looked at what topics other universities cover in their student orientation, and at what learning and teaching theories and design theories to be employed to design and develop the SOM.

In the Designing Possible Solutions stage, we will design the SOM based on the data from the earlier phases. First, we will storyboard the SOM, ensuring that all the content aligns with the student learning outcomes as defined in the earlier stages. After the SOM has been designed, we will conduct an alpha test with a small group of instructional designers, faculty, and students. Based on feedback received from the alpha tests, we will make appropriate modifications to the SOM.

In the Developing Prototype and Implementing stage, we will use the campus’s content management system, Blackboard, to build the SOM. Throughout the development process, we will beta test and seek opinions/feedback from various stakeholders and make any appropriate modifications to the SOM.

In the Evaluation and Reiterating stage, we will assess the effectiveness of the SOM. We will attempt to determine if students’ knowledge of the SOM topics has increased, if students sent fewer help requests, and if students feel better prepared for the online environment.

Keywords:

e-Orientation, online students’ orientation, online learning, design-based research, development project, content management system.