Ethics surrounding market research at St. Lawrence College

The School of Business had to approach the St. Lawrence College union to get the okay to send out an email survey to faculty. Keeping the union aware of any interaction with teachers is important. This research was important for the School of Business to get better understanding of attitudes and preferences of online learning. 

For our project, we had to collect lists of faculty names and emails. Collecting the emails proved slightly difficult as we quickly learned there was no master list of all teachers and emails. In most cases, we had faculty names but no emails so we had to use Outlook to look up individuals to obtain their emails. It was a tedious process but we were able to use a database to import contact information into FluidSurveys.

I’m happy that St. Lawrence College has decided that this email list is not easily available to just anyone. It took time and energy into obtaining one master list. Full names and emails are valuable information that can be used for spam. If such a list was available to anyone, it would reflect poorly on how St. Lawrence College manages staff personal information. 

After we were able to compile all of the full names and emails, we sent out a mass email to all 700 teachers across campuses. We are still hoping for a 1/3 of teachers will complete our survey.

How the college encourages Blackboard use

Our research objectives are to determine the attitudes and preferences of online learning at St. Lawrence College. There has been talk of requiring college students to take one online course as a component to graduate.

In an increasingly more technologically driven and competitive labour market, implementing this practice will familiarize students with online learning before entering the workforce. Even with a college diploma in hand, it may not be enough for new grads to find employment in an competitive labour market. With ambitions for faculty to teach online, we have to understand and benchmark faculty comfort levels with current technology such as Blackboard.

There are a variety of initiatives that the college uses to encourage faculty to use Blackboard to facilitate learning. These include workshops, one-on-one assistance, coaching, information sessions as well as video tutorials.

Most recently, the college has provided a student-led agency that integrates hybrid-learning solutions to college faculty. This unique program operates from a grant from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and University. This agency works with faculty members to create learning solutions using technology. The agency helps faculty bring technological content by integrating media such as video recordings, branded Powerpoint presentation, or graphic design into the course content.

Hosting course content on Blackboard is just one way to facilitate online learning. For example, posting a lectures can be an excellent way for students to be prepared for discussion. From a quick analysis of our survey responses, it seems that there is a general acceptance using Blackboard. Further analysis will reveal the preferences and attitudes of online learning across faculty. The survey will give us insights on what is working with current online learning initiatives. Additionally, the survey will give us more information on how the college can improve to further fuse traditional classroom settings and technology.

Canadian culture on online learning

The Canadian post-secondary culture is largely influenced by traditional classroom models. Methodologies are taught in lectures, some learning outcomes are met and off to the workforce you go. Teachers teach and students prepare for the realities of the workforce. Online learning has changed the model which education is delivered.

With the advancement of technology, online learning can compliment learning in any program. Our technology dependance as Canadian’s has changed our culture and how we learn. Online courses have been around since the 1980s. Athabasca University pioneered the concept of delivering education anytime, anywhere using computers. By 1996, Jones International university become the first online university. We now have millions of students learning from online courses all over the globe. Many are upgrading skills, getting diplomas and degrees or working towards MBAs or other certificates. Online learning is easily accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

Determining the attitudes and preferences of faculty use of online learning technology is just benchmarking on how we can ramp up online learning. There has been conversations within the college and the Ministry about mandatory  online courses for college students. The implication of having a mandatory online course is reflective of our cultures dependance on technology. It is important that new graduates are familiar with how to use online learning technology to be prepared in the likely event they will need more training and education . We are in an era where everyone is a lifelong learner.  Online learning through skill upgrading is an excellent way to further a career.

Designing the framework

Our proposed research method is the use of surveys. We decided a survey would be an efficient method to reach our research objectives.  Our research objectives will be exploratory. The problem stems from the fact that many teachers still do not consistently use Blackboard. We want to determine the faculty attitudes towards online learning and their comfort level of using technology to teach.

So far in the research process, we have a complied faculty e-mail lists that have been provided by John Conrad and Melanie. There are approximately 500 faculty members on the list from the Kingston, Cornwall, and Brockville campuses. Emails will be added into a Fluid Survey contact list to keep track of the data the survey will generate. This will be the most tedious part of the research but an efficient way of keeping our data. After the emails are sent, we are hoping to get 40% of the population to complete the surveys. Although e-mails are an excellent way to communicate, we have been advised that surveys sent to faculty by email have a poor complete rate of about 10%.

Following up with faculty will require a team effort in execution. We are hoping to split up any list of ‘no response from survey’ faculty and track them down. Friendly phone calls to their extension as well stopping by their office to remind them will hopefully encourage them to fill out the survey. We are hoping to get a hold of some tablets to get them to complete the survey on the spot. This will be a great solution to procrastinators.

Without Borders: Online learning at a global level

Key players in the world of online education mirror some of the biggest players in the macroeconomic climate. With the ease and convenience online learning offers it’s no surprise these heavy hitters are leading the industry at large.

South of the border, the United States leads the industry in execution and evalution. The Online Learning Survey in the US uses tools to measure and evaluate online learning in their country. This is an integral step in understanding the online learning industry as a whole.

A recent study based on 2,800 colleges and universities conducted by the Online Learning Survey in the US suggest, “The number of students taking an online course increased by 570,000 to a new total of 6.7 million from 2011 to 2012.” Nearly 32% of the student population in the US is taking some form of online course.

And what about the teachers? Does it take more time and effort to teach online? 46% of respondents indicated that it takes more time and effort to teach an online course. Interestingly enough, over the past six years, the response increased 5%. This survey will be valuable for our research project for St. Lawrence College.

Another industry leader is India. With a whopping population of over 1.27 billion people, 68% of the population live below the international poverty line. There are one million schools and 18,000 higher education institutes across the nation. As for students in the post-secondary category, India has 150 million youth between the ages of 18-23 years old. Online learning is just one way for the people of India to elevate out of poverty and give them the competitive advantage that an education can provide.

Looking to large populations as they shift to online learning offers insights on what is happening on a macro level in the industry. There are numerous reasons why online learning is taking over the world. Programs offer skill upgrading, certificates, degrees, etc. all that will give students a competitive edge. Ultimately, a well-educated population will create the human capital to fuel a country’s economic engines. To remain competitive, Canadian learning institutes must adopt online learning to better prepare students for today’s ever changing economy.

 Source

Investigating faculty attitude towards education technology

Kingston, Campus

Deciding to take an online course over traditional classroom learning can offer more flexibility, convenience, and choice for students. Although online courses can seem daunting, more and more Canadian students are going online to either continue or complete their post-secondary studies. Online courses can be found in any area of study. From nursing to marketing to health and safety. Similarly, as education moves online, instructors are also part the shift to online studies.

There are several thousand online courses through Ontariolearn.ca. More and more colleges and universities are offering online courses to compliment their course selection. Online studies are a great option if pursuing a diploma or degree on a part-time basis, save resources on commuting, etc.

St. Lawrence College, which operates on three campuses, currently offers 30 online programs to work towards certificates or diplomas. To teach any online course instructors must be comfortable with using technology to post notes, present webinars, etc. Many instructors who teach at the college currently use Blackboard as a platform to post slides, show grades, and communicate course announcements. At this point of time, it is at the discretion of the instructor on whether or not they use Blackboard to facilitate learning.

In my market research project, I want to determine the attitudes and preferences of using technology to facilitate learning from the faculty. Based on that research I want to evaluate if St. Lawrence College instructors are comfortable or interested in teaching an online course.