1. RESEARCH FOCUS: QUALITY
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE
ONLINE DELIVERY
Sustainable Rural Development: requires extension of
traditional HE teaching opportunities to build capacities
and empower communities…through the use of
innovative distance learning techniques
April 2012 Dr Michael M Smith

2. Online Education: Areas of Interest
 RESEARCH SOUGHT TO INVESTIGATE:
 - What are primary quality indicators applicable to online
education?
 - What delivery model and techniques are most
appropriate for modern-day e-learners?
 - What are the design implications for online courses?
 - To what extent can such strategies impact on student
retention?

3. Definitions & Context
 Not ‘traditional’ (f2f) & Not ‘blended’ learning (VC and ‘shovelware’)
 Growth of online education:
 19% p.a. in US (2009) V 1.5% for traditional HE Course Growth
 Global online enrolment Growth Rate at 35.6% p.a. (Sun, 2008)
 Key Question-The new paradigm in education worldwide? (Sun, 2008)
 80.8% of large HE institutions consider online education as being
‘critical to their long-term strategy’ (Allen & Seaman, 2010)
 87% - increase in demand for online education by US Public institutions
(2010)
 Internet availability in UK has grown to 76% of households and of these
97% are now broadband connections. 78% of households now own
laptops (OFCOM, 2010)

4. Background Factors (Rationale)
 24/7 Global Information Society
 Ever-Changing Skills & Knowledge Requirements
 Need for Lifelong Learning to meet changing workplace
demands and extend to all areas of society - ‘digital inclusion’
 Growth in demand for part-time, flexible learning
 Increasing provision of online courses, but with higher drop-out
rates and lower completion rates
 Increasing focus on ‘quality’ of provision to more effectively
meeting growing demand and ‘student-centred’ learning
 Need for increasing research on how to provide ‘quality’ in the
online context.

5. Summary of Key Findings:
 Online teaching is on average three times as time consuming
(Palloff & Pratt, 2001) than traditional methods, as there are an
enhanced set of key responsibilities and requirements for
‘quality’ online teaching professionals including (not in order of
perceived importance):
 Enhance Student Preparedness for Online Study, Pre-Enrolment
 Develop individual Tutor-Student Interaction & Communications
 Develop Student Knowledge of Delivery Technologies
 Develop Student ‘Digital Literacy’ & ICT Skills
 Develop Student-Student Interaction (Community of Practice)
 Implement Specific ‘Social Constructivist’ Course Design Measures

6. The Enhanced Role of the Online Tutor

7. The Online Education Overheads:
 Institutions and Faculties need to understand better what is
involved in supporting online education.
 Non-teaching commitments supporting students are significant
and result in a much higher workload than f2f (Gibbs &
Gosper, 2006).
 Staff development and training – technical skills, design skills,
pedagogic skills, admin. and digital literacy skills (some staff
will be overwhelmed with requirements for online education).
 The on-going demands of online engagement through the
working week results in ‘chunking’ (Thompson, 2004) and a lack
of uninterrupted time, which impacts on other professional and
academic responsibilities (e.g. Writing and content production).

8. Lack of Commitment to Demands of Online Education
= Lack of student retention and lack of quality

10. So who were these e-learning students? N = 504
What is your gender? (Please tick): What age were you on your last birthday?
13%
19%
23.2%
Age
15-21
Male
22-35
Female
76.8% 36-50
38% Over 50
30%
What is your study status? (please tick):
4.8% Where did you register as a student? (Please tick):
9.4% 6.2%
3.3%
2.5%
Full-time
Part-time UHI
University of Gloucestershire
Studying individual University College Dublin
module(s)
Other (please name)
Other
34.8%
51.0%
87.9%

11. Items Median (Mean*) Score SD(%) D(%) N(%) A(%) SA (%)
Measure 1 – ICT Access, Skills & Knowledge
Location of resources through University Library Service 4.0 (3.75) 2.1 12.4 13.2 53.5 18.8
Location of resources through WWW and Search Engines 4.0 (3.99) 1.2 7.4 10.3 53.1 27.9
Level of Technical Support 4.0 (3.74) 1.0 7.7 27.7 43.8 19.8
ICT & Internet Skills on Entry 4.0 (3.83) 2.1 7.4 15.7 54.8 20.0
Flexibility of online format 4.0 (4.00) 3.6 6.1 17.4 32.9 40.0
Measure 2 – Preparedness & Readiness
Understanding of course on entry 3.0 (3.26) 3.4 19.0 31.1 41.8 4.7
Understanding of privacy and security threats on entry 4.0 (3.75) 2.5 7.6 24.1 44.6 21.2
Understanding of time commitment required 4.0 (3.22) 5.6 28.0 13.4 44.5 8.5
Effectiveness of Study Skills on entry 3.0 (3.19) 4.5 23.0 27.9 37.9 6.7
Rating of value of student handbook 3.0 (3.23) 3.1 17.6 37.7 35.7 5.8
Measure 3 – Tutor – Student Interactions
Quality of dialogue with tutor 4.0 (3.67) 2.3 8.2 26.3 46.0 17.1
Link between weekly tutor role and success 4.0 (3.89) 3.0 7.7 16.4 42.5 30.4
Timely tutor feedback and responses to questions 4.0 (4.09) 1.7 3.8 16.1 41.4 37.1
Importance of contact with student adviser 4.0 (3.83) 1.6 9.2 21.9 39.3 28.0
Ongoing rapport/social interaction with student group 4.0 (4.12) 0.2 3.3 14.1 49.4 32.9
Measure 4 – Student-Student Interactions
Level of dialogue with classmates 3.0 (3.16) 8.0 20.3 28.8 33.6 9.3
Imp. of student interactions to overcome ‘isolation’ 4.0 (3.83) 2.4 5.0 24.4 43.4 24.9
Imp. of responding to peers within learning experience 4.0 (3.62) 2.6 9.0 28.5 43.6 16.3
Group assessment and importance of interactivity role 4.0 (3.43) 3.3 10.2 35.6 41.6 9.3
Importance of ‘meeting-up’ in creating online community 4.0 (3.72) 2.6 12.6 20.0 39.9 24.9
Measure 5 – Course Design & Pedagogy
Importance of design, structure & presentation 4.0 (4.33) 0.0 1.2 5.5 51.9 41.3
Tutor management & effectiveness 4.0 (3.61) 1.7 10.9 24.5 50.6 12.4
Importance of Web 2.0 technologies 3.0 (3.39) 3.6 15.3 32.9 35.0 13.2
Importance of weekly participation and final mark 3.0 (3.10) 10.1 23.3 23.0 34.1 9.6
Importance of similar design and style templates 4.0 (3.88) 1.2 5.1 19.5 53.0 21.2
Measure 6 – Delivery Technologies
Demand and effectiveness of podcasts 4.0 (3.23) 14.6 10.0 23.2 42.0 10.2
Demand and effectiveness of e-library 3.0 (3.26) 5.8 18.9 30.1 33.3 11.9
Transferability of e-skills 4.0 (3.57) 1.7 9.5 31.7 43.9 13.2
Depth of e-learning 3.0 (3.12) 8.1 22.3 29.9 29.2 10.5
e-tutoring skills 4.0 (4.02) 1.0 3.7 14.9 53.3 27.1
DV: Measure of Quality & Effectiveness
Would recommend the course 4.0 (3.99) 1.5 5.8 13.6 50.4 28.7
Have learned a lot 4.0 (4.24) 0.7 1.9 8.7 49.5 39.1
Enjoyed taking the course 4.0 (4.11) 1.0 4.4 14.1 43.9 36.7

12. Quality Indicator 1 – ICT Access, Skills & Knowledge
100%
18.8 19.8 20
90% 27.9
40
80%
70%
60% 43.8
53.5 54.8 SA (%)
50% 53.1 32.9 A(%)
40% N(%)
30% D(%)
13.2 27.7 SD(%)
20% 15.7 17.4
10.3
10%
0%
Measure 1 - ICT Location of Location of Level of ICT & Internet Flexibility of
Access, Skills & resources through resources through Technical Skills on Entry online format
Knowledge University WWW and Support
Library Service Search Engines

13. Quality Indicator 2 – Preparedness & Readiness
100 4.7 8.5 6.7 5.8
21.2
80 35.7
41.8 37.9
44.5
60 44.6 SA (%)
A(%)
N(%)
13.4 27.9 37.7
40 31.1 D(%)
SD(%)
24.1
20
0
Measure 2 - Understanding of Understanding of Understanding of Effectiveness of Rating of value of
Preparedness & course on entry privacy and time commitment Study Skills on student handbook
Readiness security threats on required entry
entry

14. Quality Indicator 3 – Tutor – Student Interactions
100%
17.1
90% 28
30.4 32.9
37.1
80%
70%
46
60% SA (%)
39.3
42.5 A(%)
50%
41.4 49.4 N(%)
40% D(%)
SD(%)
30%
26.3
21.9
20% 16.4
16.1
14.1
10%
0%
Measure 3 - Tutor Quality of Link between Timely tutor Importance of Ongoing
- Student dialogue with tutor weekly tutor role feedback and contact with rapport/social
Interactions and success responses to student adviser interaction with
questions student group

15. Quality Indicator 4 – Student – Student Interactions
100%
9.3 9.3
16.3
90% 24.9 24.9
80%
33.6
41.6
70%
43.6
60% SA (%)
43.4 39.9
A(%)
50%
28.8 N(%)
40% D(%)
35.6 SD(%)
30% 28.5 20
24.4
20%
10%
0%
Measure 4 - Level of dialogue Imp. of student Imp. of responding Group assessment Importance of
Student-Student with classmates interactions to to peers within and importance of 'meeting-up' in
Interactions overcome learning interactivity role creating online
'isolation' experience community

16. Quality Indicator 5 – Course Design & Pedagogy
100%
12.4 13.2 9.6
90% 21.2
80% 41.3
34.1
70% 35
50.6
60% SA (%)
53
A(%)
50%
23 N(%)
40% D(%)
32.9
51.9
SD(%)
30%
24.5
20% 19.5
10%
5.5
0%
Measure 5 - Importance of Tutor management Importance of Importance of Importance of
Course Design & design, structure & & effectiveness Web 2.0 weekly similar design and
Pedagogy presentation technologies participation and style templates
final mark

17. Quality Indicator 6 – Delivery Technologies
100%
10.2 11.9 13.2 10.5
90% 27.1
80%
29.2
33.3
70% 42
43.9
60% SA (%)
A(%)
50% 53.3
29.9 N(%)
30.1 D(%)
40% 23.2
SD(%)
30% 31.7
20%
14.9
10%
0%
Measure 6 - Demand and Demand and Transferability of Depth of e- e-tutoring skills
Delivery effectiveness of effectiveness of e- e-skills learning
Technologies podcasts library

18. The Dependent Variable: The Measure of Quality
100%
90%
28.7
36.7 35.1 36.5
39.1
80%
70%
60% SA (%)
A(%)
50% 50.4 N(%)
43.9
40% D(%)
49.5 55.1 53.5
SD(%)
30%
20%
13.6 14.1
10% 8.7 8.8 9.2
0%
DV: Measure of Would recommend Have learned a lot Enjoyed taking the Interactive & Thought-provoking
Quality & the course course supportive tutors design
Effectiveness

19. These are the highlights....so what are the key insights?
 Quantitative data plus additional information streams from Focus Groups +
Qualitative Data led to following conclusions:
 A consistent ‘online’ design and delivery philosophy is crucial to
meeting the demands of learners (-what works in the classroom f2f
will not necessarily work at home on a PC)
 Group-based, active, socialised learning focused on:
collaboration, problem-solving, constructing knowledge collectively,
reflection, sharing and then communicating ideas + understanding
between and within student group(s) – e.g. Dyads and Triads.
 A new redefined role for the online tutor in being a facilitator and
‘scaffolder’ of knowledge, developing a ‘community of practice’.
 Online education practitioners need to possess key e-tutoring skills
including technical knowledge, digital literacy, participation, design
socialisation and assessment and feedback skills..etc

20. So what is quality online education?
 A form of online education where the students on entry are
prepared, ready and possess the appropriate digital literacy
and internet-based communication skills.
 A form of online education where students receive prompt and
early feedback in response to questions and assessment.
 A form of online education where students develop and form
lasting social relationships with their peers via regular, active,
meaningful participation in a community of practice/inquiry.
 A form of online education that delivers a consistent and
interactive course design which is updated regularly.
 A form of online education deliver by skilled e-tutors who have
the support of their institution and recognition of their peers.
 A form of online education informed by student feedback.

21. Some final thoughts on Quality in Online Education
 The non-teaching activities/communications of the e-tutor are
often as important and time-consuming as the teaching input.
 Just as delivering online education can take X3 as long in terms of
time, participating students can also be overwhelmed by online
workloads unless managed effectively by tutors.
 Social constructivist approaches are fundamental to providing the
appropriate learning environment for online students.
 Online students need to be taught how to learn online in many
instances and require a key set of basic skills.
 Flexibility, empathy and encouragement are key attitudes and
part of the “duty of care” required to enable adult returners
succeed in online education.
 UHI needs to develop an online ‘kitemark’ with minimum standards

22. BSc (Hons) Sustainable Development
For further information please contact:
Dr Michael M Smith
UHI Programme Leader – Sustainable Development
Telephone: 01851 770 407
Email: Michael.Smith@lews.uhi.ac.uk
Web: http://www.uhi.ac.uk/sustainable