Thrive Online: Preparing Marginalized Learners for Success in Online Learning
Concurrent Session 4
Brief Abstract
Many students feel unprepared and lacking skills and confidence to succeed in an online class. We developed an asynchronous course targeting first-time online learners, aimed to increase students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and self-efficacy. A pilot study evaluated pre/post scores show promising results.
Presenters
Extended Abstract
Online learning and at-risk students
The adoption of online courses has temporarily or permanently increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Arum & Stevens, 2020), which relied on emergency remote teaching and learning (Hodges et al., 2020). Online classes are different, and when developed in haste, they may lack some of the traditional safeguards of traditional classes that help historically vulnerable students. Indeed, some students in fully online classes report feeling more disconnected from their peers and instructors, feeling more responsibility to be self-directed, since they receive less help from their instructor and can also feel intimidated by the technological expectations of the online learning environment, particularly if they start without sufficient technical knowledge or support (Holley & Oliver, 2010; Otter et al., 2013; Perris & Zhang, 2004). Students transitioning from a traditional high school to college may have less experience communicating with instructors via email or other electronic means, which might be intimidating. They may feel disconnected from their peers in an online classroom because they are unfamiliar with how to appropriately connect to other learners. These challenges and deficiencies may be more pronounced among learners from diverse backgrounds and racial/ethnic minorities.
In education, it is important to focus on assisting students in learning how to learn (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008) and build not just content knowledge but also 21st-century skills. These skills will help learners navigate formal learning opportunities as well as the demands of changing technologies. Formal education should prepare learners with these skills and the desire to be a lifelong learner. In addition, it should enable them to be flexible as new expectations arise so the learner can be successful in whatever learning environment. It is also vital that underserved students (e.g., first-generation, international, first-year students) and those struggling academically are provided the opportunity and means to thrive in the online environment.
Fostering lifelong learning and 21st-century skills in online courses is important as more classes are online, and technology and job expectations change. These skills cultivate new mindsets and learning habits essential for the future (Fischer, 2000). One way to foster these skills is to teach them in a course (Saavedra & Opfer, 2012). Ford contends that “We should start focusing on making space for iterative improvements and allow for the risk of failure in the face of moving forward” (Ciabocchi, 2020). This reality necessitates a novel and innovative approach to understanding and addressing the needs and strengths of a vulnerable student population engaging in online learning for the first time. What follows is a description of an effort to improve student learning capacity and self-efficacy to successfully learn in an online environment among students historically vulnerable to academic failure.
Thrive online design
We have collaboratively designed and implemented the Thrive Online course to address the various needs of learners at a large private university in the United States. This course was designed to increase students' knowledge, skills, attitudes, and self-efficacy navigating the online learning environment and is guided by Gagné’s principles of instruction (Gagné et al., 1992). The Thrive Online course is a short, 2-3 week asynchronous bridge course consisting of four modules using the Canvas (LMS). It was designed to meet learners’ diverse needs by focusing on five design strategies: (a) creating appropriate and engaging activities, (b) creating an environment that draws from and contributes to the knowledge and experience of the learners, (c) regular communication with the instructor and teaching assistants (TAs), (d) manageable workload appropriate for the learning conditions, and (e) multiple means of processing the material to diversify and scale the learning materials that are relevant and applicable to the students’ learning needs. Using these strategies, the course material address the following content areas: (a) orientation and navigation to the learning management system (LMS), (b) technical skills in online learning, (c) online learner wellness, (d) online learning strategies, (e) developing a growth mindset, (f) accessing available campus resources to support online learning, and (g) connecting with instructors, teaching assistants (TAs) and other learners.
Methodology
This course was developed using design-based research (Barab & Squire, 2004; McKenney & Reeves, 2018) to frame our approach, providing us the opportunity to tackle problems of practice faced in online learning iteratively. Within this approach, we have designed learning modules and resources with input from learners and iteratively studied the implementation through an initial pilot. We use mixed methods (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018) to capture the experiences, knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of learners. Data was collected from students participating in the pilot course and is being analyzed so iterative improvements and changes in the design, development, and implementation can be made. This work is guided by the following research question: How do students’ perceptions, knowledge, and confidence with online courses change after participating in the Thrive Online course?
Results
The pre/post surveys provide a promising picture of the support that the Thrive Online course gives to students. Table 1 reports the differences from pre to post in student perceptions, knowledge, and confidence in connecting with other students online, the value of connecting with others online, value of improving their knowledge and skills in online courses, managing their mental health, setting goals, and applying the skills and strategies they have learned. The percentage of students who were undecided, disagreed, or strongly disagreed about these different areas was higher before taking the Thrive Online course. There is an increase from pre to post in all of these areas for students who strongly agreed with the statements. Glazier (2021) points out that to make human connection online, there must be intentional actions, whether you are an instructor, TA, or student. After taking the Thrive Online course, 52% more (total of 63%) of the participants indicated that they strongly agree they now know how to connect with other students in the online environment. And with that, 50% more (total of 57%) strongly agree that it is important to connect with other students in the online environment.
It is promising that with a short 2-week bridge course students are noting positive changes. As a pilot study and with iterative design we believe the Thrive Online course will continue to be helpful for all online students at the university. With a very small sample size in this pilot work though, we cannot make sweeping claims, but are excited to iteratively design and implement this course, especially with more students struggling academically, first generation students, BIPOC students.
We continue to explore when the most valuable time is to expose students to these learning principles and techniques to successfully implement new knowledge and skills into their credit carrying online courses. Collection and analysis of future data will be utilized to create multiple versions that are specifically designed to support the unique needs of marginalized student learners. By increasing our student completion rate, we hope to understand if participation in this bridge course improves student confidence and students’ ability to succeed in an online learning environment.
References
Arum, R., & Stevens, M.L. (2020, March 18). What is a college education in the time of coronavirus? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/opinion/college-education-coronavirus.html
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Barron B., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2008). Teaching for meaningful learning: A review of research on inquiry-based and cooperative learning (Book Excerpt). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf
Bray, A., Byrne, P., & O’Kelly, M. (2020). A short instrument for measuring students' confidence with key skills’ (SICKS): Development, validation and initial results. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 37, 1-14. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871187120301747
Ciabocchi, E. (2020). Emerging leadership issues. In G. E. Miller & K. S. Ives (Eds.),Leading the eLearning transformation of higher education: Leadership strategies for the next generation (pp. 277-297). Stylus.
Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (3rd ed.). Sage Publications.
Fischer, G. (2000). Lifelong learning - More than training. Journal of Interactive Learning Research, 11(3), 265-294. https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/8380/
Gagné, R. M., Briggs, L. J., & Wager, W. W. (1992). Principles of instructional design (4th ed.). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
Holley, D., & Oliver, M. (2010). Student engagement and blended learning: Portraits of risk. Computers & Education, 54(3), 693-700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2009.08.035
Otter, R. R., Seipel, S., Graeff, T., Alexander, B., Boraiko, C., Gray, J., ... Sadler, K. (2013). Comparing student and faculty perceptions of online and traditional courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 19(1), 27-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2013.08.001
Saavedra, A. R., & Opfer, V. D. (2012). Learning 21st-century skills requires 21st-century teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(2), 8-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171209400203
Zhang, W. Y., & Perris, K. (2004). Researching the efficacy of online learning: A collaborative effort amongst scholars in Asian open universities. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 19(3), 247-264. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268051042000280110