Same Course and Instructor, Different Delivery Modes: Perspectives on Learning by Doctoral Students
Abstract
Professors in an educational leadership studies department at a research-extensive university began delivering their doctoral program via an executive hybrid cohort model (i.e., weekend classes, online learning activities, fieldwork, independent study) in the Fall 2010 semester. Over the ensuing years, the applicant pool for the doctoral program began to include individuals who lived too far from campus to be able to attend the five face-to-face class meetings for the two courses each semester. Thus, for the Fall 2013 semester, the faculty admitted two cohorts—18 students in the executive hybrid model, 18 students in the new online model with virtual class meetings via Adobe Connect—to test the viability of delivering the doctoral program totally online. This paper reports findings from action research conducted by the author who taught the same course about leadership for organizational learning to the two cohorts during the Fall 2014 semester. Course syllabi, assigned readings, projects and assignments, meeting agenda topics, and Blackboard sites were identical, whereas differences included course delivery model, class meeting dates, and cohort characteristics. Findings suggest students' adoption of heutagogy and willingness to use diverse technologies or work collaboratively with course peers influenced their ultimate success.
Location
Room 2011
Recommended Citation
Browne-Ferrigno, Tricia, "Same Course and Instructor, Different Delivery Modes: Perspectives on Learning by Doctoral Students" (2015). SoTL Commons Conference. 60.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/sotlcommons/SoTL/2015/60
Same Course and Instructor, Different Delivery Modes: Perspectives on Learning by Doctoral Students
Room 2011
Professors in an educational leadership studies department at a research-extensive university began delivering their doctoral program via an executive hybrid cohort model (i.e., weekend classes, online learning activities, fieldwork, independent study) in the Fall 2010 semester. Over the ensuing years, the applicant pool for the doctoral program began to include individuals who lived too far from campus to be able to attend the five face-to-face class meetings for the two courses each semester. Thus, for the Fall 2013 semester, the faculty admitted two cohorts—18 students in the executive hybrid model, 18 students in the new online model with virtual class meetings via Adobe Connect—to test the viability of delivering the doctoral program totally online. This paper reports findings from action research conducted by the author who taught the same course about leadership for organizational learning to the two cohorts during the Fall 2014 semester. Course syllabi, assigned readings, projects and assignments, meeting agenda topics, and Blackboard sites were identical, whereas differences included course delivery model, class meeting dates, and cohort characteristics. Findings suggest students' adoption of heutagogy and willingness to use diverse technologies or work collaboratively with course peers influenced their ultimate success.
