Instructions:
- Please read over the list of themes and let me know if they resonate with your experience. If you agree, just email me stating that. Otherwise,
- Comment on anything that bothers you using either the “track changes” feature of Word, or email me a note jeannette.dixon@gmail.com, or call me at 713-868-1091.
This is the last step in my research, so I hope you can do this for me. I really appreciate your help!
Jeannette
Themes that emerged from the data:
Instructors’ technology integration
- Reasons for adopting the courseware
- Access to videos demonstrating the theories
- Giving students a variety of learning tools
- To make online teaching easier
- Experience teaching with technology did not determine levels of use
- The two instructors most experienced with technology did not implement the full range of publisher’s website components
- Learning new software caused stress to both instructors and students
Online components used
- Online quizzes most frequently used
- Video was the second most used, but required work-arounds
- Discussion board was used by only 3 instructors
- Four instructors used other videos and/or other technologies with the class
Course format and teaching environment
- Two instructors taught online
- Two taught hybrid classes (one on campus, one off campus)
- Four taught face-to-face using online resources to supplement learning
- One did not use the online resources in teaching
Barriers to technology use
- Most of the institutions required instructors to create a course website in the campus-wide course management system, resulting in two websites for the course
- Classrooms varied in their levels of technology in terms of
- Internet access
- Computers for instructor
- Computers for students
- Computer projector and screen
- Consistent log-ins for students to the networks and Internet
- Consistent software from computer to computer
- Course software chosen by publisher was not a good match to the content
- Lacked menu items for some important course components (i.e. – videos, glossary)
- Students’ menu contained items that contained no content (i.e. – flashcards)
- The meanings for menu items on instructors’ site not clearly understood
- Not enough built-in instructions for instructors trying to set up their courses
- Instructors lacked pedagogy for teaching with online components
- Some methods of grading discussion board postings were too detailed and time consuming
- Technology used more to deliver canned content, not as a way for students to interact
- Differing ideas about importance of instructor participation online with students on the discussion board
Career stage and age
- Early teaching career
- The young instructors seeking tenure did not have time to become very familiar with the online course content
- The older instructor who was new to teaching had retired from a long career in private practice; he became very familiar with the course content and used all components of the publisher’s website
- Middle teaching career
- One who had never taught with technology before used all the publisher’s website components
- One who was very advanced technologically used all components except the discussion board
- One who was new to teaching with technology used the videos and the online quiz components as supplementary to his usual class format
- Late teaching career
- One instructor very experienced in using technology began the course using the publisher’s website, but abandoned it mid-course due to problems caused by student economic levels and insufficient infrastructure
- Other instructors new to technology taught online using all components by having others do the technical work of setting up the course for him and troubleshooting any problems encountered
