@ONE Scholars
The @ONE Scholars Program is a fellowship for California Community College (CCC) faculty to conduct research on the impact of instructional technology on student learning in their own classrooms. Faculty members study the characteristics of their students, their own changes in pedagogical practices using technology, and changes in student learning in technology-enhanced learning environments. In addition to creating original research on instructional technology, the @ONE Scholars Program strengthens the ability of CCC faculty to conduct research and use technology in their teaching.
Findings from previous cohorts of Scholars address a range of technology issues. Highlights include:
Online clinical scenarios are an effective means of improving students’ critical thinking abilities and course scores.
Tablet PCs help facilitate student collaboration, note-taking, and homework review options in math courses.
Online student success courses are effective for both first-time and continuing online students.
Virtual discussion groups are more effective than face-to-face discussion groups for online courses.
Student-moderated discussion boards boost the quality and word count of student posts, increase student participation, and improve students’ comfort level in the online environment, particularly for those students who serve as moderators.
Success-bonus structures have a significant impact on how students use electronic response systems, or “clickers.”
Online writing tools such as Calibrated Peer Review and ProBoards help ESL students by giving multiple opportunities to practice newly learned writing skills and to rate the writing assignments of classmates.
Learning communities that combined ESL and technology skills positively impacted student performance and increased the likelihood that these students would take GE/transfer courses and other computer-related courses.
Click on the links above to access specific research reports, or review the work of each cohort of @ONE Scholars by clicking on the appropriate tab to the left.
2006-2007 @ONE Scholars
The following applicants were selected for the 2006-2007 academic year. Click on the topic link to view each Scholar’s research question.
| Name | Title | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Becca Arnold |
Assistant Professor, Economics, San Diego Mesa College |
Evaluating the use of Interactive Mapping in Macroeconomic Courses |
Amelito Enriquez |
Professor, Engineering and Mathematics, Canada College |
|
John Gonder |
CNT instructor, Computer Networking Technology, Las Positas College |
|
Behzad Izadi |
Associate Professor, BUS/CIS, Cypress College |
Effect of Virtual Machine Technology in Enhancing Student Learning Outcomes |
Regina Lamourelle |
Department Chair, Human Development, Santiago Canyon College |
Do Learner-Centered Technology Teaching Approaches Improve Student Understanding? |
Randall Martinez |
Associate Professor, Psychology, Cypress College |
|
Roy Mason |
Associate Professor of Biology, Science, Mt. San Jacinto College |
Analysis of Student Learning Outcomes in On-line and On-Campus Science Courses |
Cynthia McGregor |
Assistant Professor, Music, Southwestern College |
|
Despina Prapavessi |
Instructor, Mathematics, Diablo Valley College |
The impact of online collaboration on success and retention in online algebra classes |
Joe Toto |
Associate Professor, Chemistry, Mesa College |
The Mini-lecture Movie Effect on Learning in an Online General Chemistry Class |
2005-2006 @ONE Scholars
Key Findings of the 2005-2006 @ONE Scholars
Executive Summaries for the 2005-2006 @ONE Scholars were compiled into a publication, which is available as a PDF download. Their research demonstrated that:
- Simulated online clinical scenarios have a positive impact on the ability of nursing students to undertake critical thinking in the areas of interpretation, analysis, explanation, and self regulation. Furthermore, students who had access to the online scenarios had a greater gain in pre- to post-test scores that students who did not.
- Students who participate in online student success courses demonstrate greater success in online courses than those who did not enroll in the class (61% vs 54%). In addition, students who passed the online success class were more successful in online courses they enrolled in after taking the class, with success rates jumping from 38% to 78%.
- Students feel that Tablet PCs, used with Synchroneyes and Whiteboard software in a pre-calculus course, enhanced their learning. Specifically, 64% of students thought Tablet PCs were more effective for taking notes and 79% thought it was helpful when Synchroneyes was used to present other students’ notes. 86% felt that Whiteboard was more useful to undertake group homework problems than traditional pen and paper, and 57% reported that using Whiteboard increased collaboration amongst them and their classmates.
- In evaluating the effectiveness of face-to-face and virtual discussion groups as part of an online course, virtual discussion groups have a more positive impact. Specifically, students who participated in online discussion groups reported being more interested in the subject matter, spent more time logged onto the course, and held more focused discussions than students who met in face-to-face discussion groups. For both virtual and face-to-face formats, students lacked motivation to communicate with each other unless such communication was connected to instructional objectives through collaborative, topic specific exercises, or graded evaluations.
- In evaluating the use of electronic response systems, or “clickers” in an astronomy course, student collaboration was found to be higher when successfully answering the question was linked to a grade or when students were less confident in the subject area.
- Students may be more successful in completing reflexive online classroom assignments when instructors can create a personalized, transparent online environment, and when they provide a constant level of feedback.
Research Abstracts and Final Reports
The following applicants were selected for the 2005-2006 academic year. Click on the topic title for the research abstract, or select the complete monograph.
2004-2005 Scholars
Key Findings of the 2004-2005 @ONE Scholars
In October 2005, the @ONE Scholars presented their initial findings at the FACCC and Academic Senate conferences. The research demonstrated that:
- Students do not experience significant administrative barriers to participating in online courses, and 87% would recommend online courses to a friend.
- The online tools Calibrated Peer Review and ProBoards both offered meaningful and effective strategies for emerging academic writers by giving students multiple opportunities to practice their newly learned writing skills and to calibrate/rate the writing assignments of their classmates. Roughly 80% of ESL students who used these tools reported greater comfort with technology and greater understanding of key writing skills.
- Internet-based instructional tools can help ESL students improve their writing skills in the areas of expanding writing ideas, how to give feedback, and integrating feedback into rewriting paragraphs. The tools also increase comfort with technology and build basic technology skills. Students who participated in a learning community that combined ESL and technology skills demonstrated dramatically improved performance. For example, in an ESL/Microsoft Word class, passing scores increased from 25% to over 90%. Finally, students who participated in the learning community were twice as likely to take GE/transfer courses and other computer-related courses.
- Student-moderated discussion boards have a substantial positive impact on student learning, including increasing the quality and word count of student posts, increasing student participation, and improving students’ comfort level in the online environment, particularly for those students who serve as moderators.
Complete conference presentations are available at the links below:
- Academic Senate Fall Plenary Session
- Faculty Association for California Community Colleges Annual Conference
Research Abstracts
The following scholars were selected during the 2004-2005 academic year. Click on the topic title for the research abstract, or select the complete monograph.
Marina Brodskaya & Romy Thiele |
Cañada College |
Learning Communities in a Combined ESL / Computer Applications Course |
David Evans |
Pasadena City College |
|
Tom Miner |
Sacramento City College |
Student-Moderated vs. Instructor-Moderated Discussion Boards in an Online English Writing Class |
Letty Wong |
De Anza College |
Using Calibrated Peer Review an ESL Writing Class |
Michael Yeong |
Los Medanos College |
Integration of technology into a developmental reading, writing, and critical thinking course |
