It is time to review the schedule for the placement of your session in the AAACE Agenda. This is the final draft of the Schedule. When you look up your name, use the detail listing to check what days/times you asked to be placed. This is a huge program and we can accommodate necessary changes in day and time now, but may not be able to do so after September 1, 2013 except in emergencies. Please carefully check your placement and send any requests to Ginger Phillips, AAACE Conference Planner with AAACE Session Change Request in the subject line. We will respond to your email, but it may take us up to a week to do so. Thanks for your help in "fine tuning" this agenda!
Increasing Student Engagement in Online Courses through Virtual Workgroups
Type of Presentation
Roundtable Discussion (45 minutes)
Session Abstract
This session will explore the current practices in the design of online courses and present empirical evidence of virtual workgroups as a strategy for increasing student presence and engagement.
Target Audience
The target audience for this session would be those instructors who are currently teaching or plan on teaching in an online venue as this session will explore contemporary literature on online courses in higher education as well as sophisticated technologies that allow for virtual groups to work in real-time on assignments and projects. Other potential audience members would likely include those who are researching in virtual environments such as scholars researching Virtual Human Resource Development (Virtual HRD) for optimizing learning, community and productivity through technologically integrative environments.
Learning Outcomes
Learners attending this session will understand: (1) current practices in online learning in regards to student engagement, (2) current literature around asynchronous and synchronous learning, and (3) results of the presenters' current study of synchronous learning as applied to virtual workgroups for promoting student engagement. In addition, attendees will receive a short demonstration of various web-based platforms conducive to real-time group meetings.
Session Description
Online courses provide convenience for both adult learners and instructors for anytime, anywhere access to learning opportunities. However, online courses in higher education often lack the social presence and student engagement found in face-to-face courses (Lederman, 2013; Xu & Jaggars, 2011). Although students in face-to-face settings interact such that community and connectedness are common, online courses have more difficulty establishing these elements (Lao & Gonzalez, 2005). This session will review the current literature on student engagement in online courses and report on a recent study using synchronous technologies such as WebEx (WebEx.com), Skype (Skype.com), Elluminate (Elluminate.com), and SecondLife (secondlife.com) to facilitate periodic real-time group meetings for virtual workgroups in online courses at a university in the southwest. Data from this mixed methods study indicate favorable outcomes for utilizing sophisticated synchronous technologies for increasing student engagement. Implications for online courses in higher education will be discussed. Questions will be encouraged.
Efforts are made to try to schedule sessions on the day preferred by the Primary Presenter, though this cannot be guaranteed. Please check your preference.
Friday November 8
Primary Presenter
Rochell R. McWhorter, PhD, The University of Texas at Tyler
Work Title
Assistant Professor
Additional Presenters: Enters In Order.
Paul B. Roberts, Ed.D., The University of Texas at Tyler
Work Title
Associate Dean