EDLD+5397+-+Week+3+Action+Research

This is my Action Research Project in progress in a Word document

Here is my Action Research Project without formating
 * //Abstract//**

How does the absence of personal face-to-face interaction between student and teacher and between student and student, in on-line classes affect student learning, and how can Wimba help Brazosport College create that connection?
 * //Title and Author//**

Brazoport College is a small community college that offers a variety of two-year Associate’s Degrees. Located 20 miles from the Gulf of Mexico in Lake Jackson, Texas, Brazosport College is situated in a highly industrialized area with neighbors like Dow Chemical and BASF. For years, Brazosport College and Dow have cooperatively worked together to provide a highly- trained workforce for industry, and in 2005, the college added a Bachelor’s of Applied Technology degree plan. This program‘s emphasis to develop highly trained students for management positions in industry. The majority of the students enrolled in this program are already employed by local industry and seek this degree because of a desire to improve their opportunities for advancement in their careers. The bachelor’s program began as a program with traditional classrooms, hybrid classes, and some completely on-line classes. Hybrid classes allow students to come to class once a week and complete their studies on- line. Over the last few years, there are fewer students enrolling in traditional and hybrid classes. If students do enroll in the hybrid classes, they rarely come to class, but do all their work in the online component of the class. The growing demand at Brazosport College, in the bachelor’s program, is for on-line classes, and not the traditional classroom anymore. Because of this transformation, instructors and professors are creating on-line classes to meet the demand. There are 3 core faculty members in the BAT program, and they all know the value and need to create classes that will provide the best learning environment for their students. With such a large selection of technology available, it is important for them to understand the uses, advantages, and disadvantages associated with any technology considered. This selection is important so students can achieve a successful outcome in their education. In //Multimodial// // Leaning through Media: What theResearch Says //, Cherly Lemike suggests, “ Students engaged in learning that incorporates multimodal designs, on average, outperform students who learn using traditional approacheswith single modes” (2008, p.13). Research also shows that students need to collaborate in different ways with their instructors in order to succeed. “ One of the key components of good teaching is the intellectually stimulating exchange of ideas, those meaningful interactions that occur between teachers and students, and among students themselves” (McIssac, & Vrasidas, 2000, p.62 ).
 * //Introduction/Background//**

Brazosport College has purchased Wimba to enable instructors to collaborate more naturally in a distance learning environment. With the capability of having real-time communication and multimedia tools, Wimba can help students increase their achievements as well as address their multiple learning styles.

The purpose of this research is to investigate if Wimba is a solution to the problem of the absence of personal face-to-face, meaningful interactions between student and teacher and between student and student. For my research I will be surveying students in the Bachelor of Applied Technology program about the interaction they have now with their classmates and instructors in their online classes. I will also ask them what they would like to have available to them in their online classes that would help create more interaction for them in their online class. By investigating the options Wimba offers, and the needs of the students for interaction with their teachers and fellow classmates, I will be able to present my findings to the faculy as an encouragement for them to continue to find new ways to use the Wimba software and create more interactive environments. This investigation and survey will add to the knowledge base for the use of Wimba for online instructors.

Brazosport College is a microcosm of what is happening in higher education. Students have discovered they are able to accomplish much of their educational needs outside of the classroom, and are demanding their courses be available on-line. They are savvy enough to know that if one institution does not provide what they need, another one will. Today's digital natives expect to find information systems in corporations that provide at least the functionality they have at home. At the same time, they expect to be able to work in ways that take advantage of the technologies they have grown to depend on for social interaction, collaboration, and innovation. (Pearlson & Saunders, 2008, p. iv) Online education that includes all their familiar technology is also expected by students. With the vast amount of software and other familiar technologies available to students, and more appearing daily, the problem becomes knowing what technology should be implemented to help the students reach their goal and become lifetime learners. Just because the technology is available, does not mean that it should be included. In an article by Robert A. Wisher and Christina Curnow, //Perceptions// //and Effects of Image Transmissions during Intenet-Based Training,// they concluded that simply viewing a video of an instructor teaching a class does not necessarily improve the learning of factual information. Only technology for the best-practices should be included in courseware. It has long been understood that one of the most important concepts of any learning experience is interaction (Dewey, 1938). Interaction is the reciprocal actions of two or more people within a given context, and data suggests that feedback, class size, the structure of the course and prior experience with computers, all influence that interaction (McIssac, & Vrasidas, 2000). I am limiting this study to a Learning Management System that allows significant interaction between teachers and students and students and students, Wimba.
 * // Literature Review //**

I will be polling students currently enrolled in the Bachelor’s of Applied Technology program only, and not the entire Brazosport College student body. I am working with Dr. Brandt, Dr. Li and Dr. Wicker to survey their online and hybrid classes. I am creating a survey in Survey Monkey. My survey in Survey Monkey will be given to all the online and hybrid classes, with a request for them to fill them out. There is no way of knowing how many will participate until I get the results back. I have not designed the survey yet. The surveys will be collected by the instructors and passed on to me. There will be an open area at the bottom of the survey for any suggestions from the students about how they think there could be more interaction incorporated into the coursework. I expect to find that the students prefer more interaction with their teachers and classmates, and by adding Wimba tools to the course, it will help them with their learning.
 * // Action Research Design //**
 * // Subjects //**
 * // Procedures //**
 * // Data Collection //**
 * //Findings//**

I expect to find a need for more interaction in the online classes. My recommendation may be to encourage online teachers to use Wimba as a tool to create more interaction with the students. By reading some of the research in this report, it is clear that students need interaction to help them store their learning in long term memory where it can be called up in short term memory and utilized. More collaboration and interaction between the students and the teachers are required to produce the kind of education needed for these students to succeed in their life-long learning goals.
 * //Conclusion and Recommendation//**

Dewey, J. (1938) Experience in education. New York: Collier MacMillian. Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. London: Collier Books (1963. London: Macmillan). Lemike, C. (2008). Multimodal learning through media:What the research says, The Metiri Group. Retrieved from [] learning-Through-Media.pdf Moore,M.G., (1991) Distance education theory, The American Journal of Distance Education 5 (3): 1-6. Pearlson, K., & Saunders, C. (2008). //Managing and using information systems//. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Vrasidas, C., & McIsaac, M.S. (2000). Factors influencing interaction in an online course. In M. G. Moore & Cozine, G. T. (Eds.), __Web-based Communications, the Internet, and__ __Distance Education__ (pp. 62-72). University Park, PA: The American Center for the Study of Distance Education. Wisher, R.A. & Curnow, C.K. (1999). Perceptions and effects of image transmissions during internet-based training. American Journal of Distance Education 13(3): 37–51.
 * //References//**