The relationship between course design, sense of community, and student achievement of students in online courses
Abstract
Description
The number of students enrolled in at least one online course reached nearly 6.7 million
for the 2011-2012 academic year, which represents around 32% of the total enrollment (Allen &
Seaman, 2013). As more higher education institutions offer online courses, it is necessary to
further study course design and effective online strategies. Numerous researchers (LaPointe &
Reisetter, 2008; Liu, et al., 2007; Ouzts, 2006; Rovai, 2002a) have established that high-quality
online learning fosters a strong sense of community among its members. The purpose of this
study is to describe the strength and direction of the relationship between online course design
and students’ perceived sense of community and student achievement as measured by end-ofcourse
grades of students enrolled in fully online undergraduate and graduate courses.
Correlational analysis was used to explore the relationship between the variables. The findings
show the importance of both sense of community and course design may have on an online
course because there was a statistically significant positive relationship between course design,
sense of community and student achievement. This study contributes to the body of knowledge
regarding sense of community and materials and planning interaction and their combined ability
to predict student achievement in a mainly Hispanic population.
PDF; 75 pgs.
PDF; 75 pgs.
Keywords
Web-based instruction--Design, Web-based instruction--Texas--Brownsville--Evaluation, Online course design, Course design, Sense of community, Academic achievement, Academic achievement--Texas--Brownsville, Distance education--Texas--Brownsville--Evaluation, Computer-assisted instruction--Texas--Brownsville--Evaluation, College teaching--Texas--Brownsville--Evaluation, Hispanic American college students--Texas--Brownsville, College students--Texas--Brownsville, University of Texas at Brownsville