distance: 10 articles finding

Articles from International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

As I looked for themes this week, one of the things that I learned was something about how I value and rank research findings. I noticed that tend to value more highly research that is experimental and concrete in nature. I place less value on historical or theoretical discussions—when it comes to research findings.

A couple of themes I found are as follows:

Of the 11 articles I read,

3 used extensive qualitative data
4 used extensive quantitative data
4 specifically listed limitations

I was surprised that more did not discuss the limitations of the article, and at how many used no “new” qualitative or quantitative data (I did not count literature review as qualitative data).

An article-by-article review follows.

1. Annand, D. (2007). Re-organizing Universities for the Information Age. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(3), 1-9.

Finding(s):

As this is a theoretical paper there are no official “findings.” The author does however give a “prognosis” that in order to stay relevant and viable higher education will need to adapt their educational methods and procedures. I rate this “prognosis/finding” a 3 because although it is interesting and somewhat well-supported, there are no specific findings to back up the assertion.

2. Barnard, L., Paton, V., & Lan, W. (2008). Online Self-Regulatory Learning Behaviors as a Mediator in the Relationship between Online Course Perceptions with Achievement. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(2).

Finding(s):

The authors found that “while online self-regulatory learning behaviors do not appear to be that strongly associated with academic achievement, self-regulatory learning behaviors do appear to mediate and account for a significant amount of the positive relationship between student perceptions of online course communication and collaboration with academic achievement” (8). More simply we could state that as students increase in their self-regulation they tend to be more likely to communicate well at a distance, which affects their achievement. I rate this finding a 6 because it helps tease out exactly in what ways self-regulation affects grades.

3. Bray, E., Aoki, K., & Dlugosh, L. (2008). Predictors of Learning Satisfaction in Japanese Online Distance Learners. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(3).

Finding(s):

The authors found that the students they surveyed were satisfied with their distance learning experiences. They also found that people who felt comfortable using a computer were more likely to enjoy distance courses and that people who had a high preference for social interaction in learning were less likely to enjoy distance courses. They also found that students with teachers they ranked as easier to interact with were more satisfied with the course. I rank these findings a 6. The analysis and statistical manipulations were extensive and rigorous; however, because their sample was based on volunteers it is unclear how widely these results could be extrapolated.

4. Caswell, T., Henson, S., Jensen, M., & Wiley, D. (2008). Open Educational Resources: Enabling universal education. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(1).

Finding(s):

This theoretical article did not offer anything by way of experimental findings. They state that for open educational resources to continue that they need to be self-sustaining. I did not find this to be a very novel finding, hence its rating of a 3. I did enjoy the review of OERs and have cited this article; however in terms of findings it is not very strong.

5. Deka, T. S., & McMurry, P. (2006). Student Success in Face-To-Face and Distance Teleclass Environments: A matter of contact? International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 7(1).

Finding(s):

The researchers found that “F2F students were significantly more successful than distance students, obtaining a higher percentage of A, B, and C grades” (11). They found that the main reason why F2F students did better is that they were much more likely to take all the exams. Completion was a major factor in lowering the grades of the distance students. Although this research may be old-hat to some, I thought it was significant and that the study was well-designed. I rate this study a 7.


6. Eib, B. J., & Miller, P. (2006). Faculty Development as Community Building. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 7(2).
Finding(s):

Although this what not a research paper, the authors did give a fairly detailed explanation of what they did and included several quotations from participants to support their assertion that it was a positive experience. It could have been stronger had they compared people who participated in the faculty development with those who did not, but given the limitations it seems that they did what they could. The other weakness was that the researchers themselves were heavily involved in faculty development so I wondered if there was a researcher bias. I would rate these findings a 4.

7. Grandzol, C. J., & PhD, J. R. G. (2006). Best Practices for Online Business Education. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 7(1).

Finding(s):

These researchers state that “the process of developing online courses requires faculty to do more than just try to duplicate the classroom online. Faculty must transform instruction, requiring fundamental rethinking of how to achieve learning objectives given the opportunities and limitations of the online environment…the evidence is overwhelming that online education tends to be as effective or more effective than traditional delivery” (8). In some respects this assertion goes contrary to Eib article mentioned above. I believe that the authors of the present study are trying to say that distance education, done properly, with students who are prepared for the experience, can be more effective. The authors have reviewed dozens of articles in order to determine what it would take to have the most effective distance education and gave 33 concrete descriptions of desired practice. Although they did not do their own experimental research they clearly surveyed the data. I would rate these findings a 7 because they have practical value and relevant application to me.

8. Leslie, P. H., & Murphy, E. (2008). Post-Secondary Students' Purposes For Blogging. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(3).

Finding(s):

Because only 8 of the 266 of the blogs analyzed met the criteria for inclusion in this research study I would rate their findings a 4, simply because I cannot tell how much they can be generalized. The authors state that the bloggers they studied seldom challenged ideas, and did not engage in knowledge construction; however there was little discussions as to why this was the case. The authors were frank about the limitations of their study, and I did admire them for upfront about those limitations.

9. Müller, T. (2008). Persistence of Women in Online Degree-Completion Programs. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(2).

Finding(s):

The authors found that the main facilitating factors for women in completing online degree programs were (1) engagement in a learning community, (2) schedule convenience, and (3) opportunities for personal growth. The three largest barriers were (1) juggling multiple responsibilities (e.g. working, mothering, etc.), (2) disappointment in faculty, and (3) face-to-face preference. Although their sample of twenty students does not allow for widespread generalization of results, hearing the voices of these women students was quite powerful. I rank this study a 6 due to its comprehensive discussion of factors experiences by these women.

10. Pan, G., & Bonk, C. J. (2007). The Emergence of Open-Source Software in North America. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 8(3).

Finding(s):

As with number 4, above, this historical article did not offer anything by way of experimental findings. One interesting thought that they shared (though it could not be considered a finding) is the idea of a “gift culture.” When people create open resources and give them away for others to build on, it changes the dynamics of the educational resource as well as the relationships amongst those who use the resource. Although I liked the article I rated the findings a 3 because they did not appear to present any kind of new research to the field.

11. Shachar, M. (2008). Meta-Analysis: The preferred method of choice for the assessment of distance learning quality factors. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 9(3).

Finding(s):

Although the author is clearly passionate about the importance of meta-analysis there was little research showing that it was clearly the best method to use (perhaps a meta-analysis of meta-analytical studies would have been in order!) This is more of a “how-to” article as the author explains how to conduct a meta-analysis. If my goal were to do a meta-analysis I would rank the article a 5 (had it been more plain it would have received a higher ranking). However, if the goal is do present research findings I would rate it a 3 because there was little evidence to back up the claim that meta-analysis is the direction distance research should go. I do not necessarily disagree with the claim, there simply was little evidence of it presented.