The availability of online courses has jumped since the COVID-19 pandemic forced remote instruction. In fall 2022, 30 percent of undergraduate students were enrolled in distance education classes exclusively and 60 percent were in at least one distance education course, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
A recently published study from the Postsecondary Teaching and Technology Collaborative evaluates the effectiveness of two strategies to improve online community college students’ skills. Researchers found that exposure to reflection exercises and informational videos had a positive relationship with students’ engagement on the learning management system for planning and assessment.
The background: In online education, students’ ability to self-regulate their learning is critical because they’re often expected to work independently and exert control over their own learning journey, compared to face-to-face instruction, according to the report. Prior research has also pointed to a positive relationship between self-regulated learning and students’ outcomes in an online environment.
Self-regulated learning (SRL) skills include time management, metacognition and effort regulation. Interventions that promote these skills include online training modules, prompts, self-assessment and peer support opportunities.
The study, authored by researchers from Columbia University and SRI International, seeks to understand how learners from historically marginalized populations at broad-access postsecondary institutions respond to interventions, as they had yet to be studied.
The study: Researchers analyzed two strategies (videos and prompts) implemented across two semesters (fall 2022 and spring 2023) at a community college in northeastern U.S. categorized as a minority-serving institution. Three instructors participated in the experiment, each teaching multiple sections of one or more fully online STEM classes.
The first intervention, a three-part video series, consisted of short clips designed by educational researchers and instructors to introduce students to SRL in general and one specific skill to attempt. Each video addresses one SRL mindset or practice, some strategies to develop the skill, and an activity for the student to consider their own practices.
The prompts, or short-answer questions, asked learners to plan for the upcoming week, monitor their progress or reflect on their understanding of course concepts.
Instructors received materials and a suggested timeline for administrating the strategies, as well as encouragement to make adaptations according to their course content.
To evaluate the impact of the intervention, researchers examined students’ online behavior on the learning management system. The full sample included 231,462 actions (clickstream data from the LMS) performed by 141 students across 10 sections within four courses.
The results: Student data revealed a positive relationship between the videos/prompts and students’ SRL behavior, meaning viewing and engaging with the interventions pointed to improved learning skills. Students who engaged with both strategies had a strong correlation to engaging with course information. Those who worked with the prompts were more likely to participate in strategic planning and evaluation, and those who engaged with the video were also likely to improve strategic planning, as well as effort regulation.
Among student sub-groups, first-generation students had stronger improvements after being exposed to the prompts, compared to their continuing-generation peers, as did women compared to men (though less prominently).
Supporting Online Learner Success
For practitioners looking for best practices in distance education, some other areas to consider include:
So what? The preliminary study finds students exposed to learning skills and strategies were more likely to demonstrate skill-building behavior, aligning with existing literature and pointing to future evaluation of how students need assistance with preparing for the future as they navigate course tasks.
Additionally, students from historically marginalized backgrounds were more likely to respond well to the skill-building, suggesting that this could be one way to support equitable learning.
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In the future, researchers will expand their analysis to include additional data sources, institutions and iterations of the study.
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