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Unit 1 discusses and reviews, not only the need to provide learner support within online
and distance education but what constitutes as support and how they can efficiently be
provided. Although many forms of support can be provided, I have chosen to focus on the
following three: elements of support, use of formative assessments, and academic dishonesty.
The reason for the focus on these topics is due to their impact on my current position as an
online administrator. My current position is directly related to the success of my teachers and
their students. Providing effective support provides a more structured and enriching
Based on our reading regarding the role of libraries in distance education, I chose to use
the UMUC library to conduct my research to ensure the resources I was selecting were reliable
For elements of support, the annotations both review the provisions needed to help
promote a strong student support system in the online and distant environment. The major
difference between the two is that the article by Guan and Stanford goes beyond just what the
student needs, but take it one step further and includes the support the teacher needs to help
support their students. Once a student starts their courses, the teacher is the student’s first
point of contact. The student expects their teacher to be able to provide not only content
support, but at a minimum be able to quickly help either resolve or direct their student when
other issues arise; like technical support, operating the Learning Management System (LMS),
Going beyond just the student’s needs and incorporating that of the teacher is valuable,
making the article by Guan and Stanford a more substantial resource. The additive focus on
supporting the teacher demonstrates how a program’s structure affects student outcomes and
Brindley, J. (2014). Learner support in online distance education: Essential and evolving. In O. Zawacki-
Richter & T. Anderson (Eds.), Online distance education: Towards a research agenda (pp. 287-
310). Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120233/ebook/11_Zawacki-
Richter_Anderson_2014-Online_Distance_Education.pdf
This article reflects on the development of support services being created and offered to help
assist the growing number of students taking online and distance education courses. Many of
the services mirror those provided at traditional brick and mortar institutions; however, they
utilize growing technology to offer these services remotely allowing for easy access. The author
also reflects on the use of surveys to determine student satisfaction and attrition which can help
institutions better determine which services are needed to ensure student "perseverance." The
underlying need for student services is to ensure student success, thus leading to student
Guan, S., & Stanford, D. (2016). Learner and Faculty Support. New Directions for Higher Education,
2016(173), 65-74. Retrieved from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=b616fda9-
0018-4693-9e8e-f28a5c569f54%40sessionmgr120
This article reflects not only on online student support but also the support needed for the
online teacher. According to the article, one affects the other and vice versa. If a student is not
getting the adequate support they will not be successful in the course and the teacher will suffer
frustration and if the teacher does not have adequate support, the issue will trickle down to the
students. The article further goes into the need for the institution to provide a structured and
well-developed means to deliver these services to both their faculty and students. Without
proper planning, the services, no matter how well developed, may not be successful due to
Beyond supporting students during admissions and the start of their online courses,
students need to be supported throughout their coursework. One major way to ensure students are
progressing adequately through their coursework is with the use of formative assessments. Both the
articles by Baleni and Stefl-Mabry below stress the importance of formative assessments as one of the
most important tools a teacher can use to determine the needs of their students. They also highlight
the need to ensure that teachers are properly trained on how to provide the assessments and how to
analyze the results. The major difference between the two articles is that Baleni focuses only of the
pros and cons of formative assessments, while Stefl-Mabry goes more in detail on types of assessments,
briefly describes necessary aspects to creating the assessments and how to implement them within a
course. For this course, Baleni’s article is the optimal choice as it’s written more in the context of how
formative assessments work to provide student support versus providing an overview of how to use and
Baleni Stefl-Mabry
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Baleni, Z. (2015). Online formative assessment in higher education: Its pros and cons. The
Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 13(4), 228-236. Retrieved from
http://www.ejel.org/volume13/issue4.
This article reviews the need for formative assessment within online education.
Assessments are necessary for learning. They allow the teacher to determine if learning
is occurring and directs the teachers' efforts. Assessments must be aligned with the
course and not just at the end. Students' success, or lack thereof, should drive
instruction and provide teachers with the knowledge of their students’ needs,
individually or as a whole.
According to the author, formative assessments are a powerful measurement tool that can
teacher and student can gauge how they are learning and if needed change their approach to
either teaching or learning the skill. This article goes beyond just describing why these
assessments are important, but provide a review of how to build an assessment and different
types of formative assessments that can be used. The author also discusses different important
assessment terms to ensure the audience understands the difference between the terms and is
clear to point out the difference between a formative assessment and its use versus a
summative assessment.
Ensuring the integrity of online and distance education courses is of extreme importance as the
prevalence of students enrolling in these courses increase. Both articles from Moten and Tolman note
that the prevalence of cheating, according to research, is not any different and may be lower than in the
brick and mortar setting. Furthermore, both note that the research may be misleading as it relies on
self-admittance which is not a reliable data source. Overall both articles are fairly similar, with the
biggest difference being the year in which they were written, with there being a four year difference
between the two. Due to their similarities, one article isn't any better than the other. There are only
slight differences between the two with the article by Tolman going more in-depth about the culture of
cheating. Therefore, the only benefit that Tolman’s article has over Moten, is that it is more recent and
with online and distance education being an ever growing industry, it’s important to remain as up to
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Moten Jr. J., Fitterer, A., Brazier, E., Leonard, J., & Brown, A. (2013). Examining online college cyber
cheating methods and prevention measures. The Electronic Journal of e-Learning, 11(2), 139-
146. Retrieved from http://www.ejel.org/volume11/issue2.
Academic dishonesty occurs whether a student is in a brick and mortar setting or an online
environment; however, this article examines the unique challenges that are inherent in
preventing these issues. The author refers to a couple of surveys completed to determine if
there is an increase in academic integrity in the online environment. The issue with the data
obtained was that the information was self-reported and in itself may not be completely honest.
However, regardless of whether or not the online environment brings an increase in cheating,
programs must take measures to help ensure the integrity of their courses.
Tolman discusses the need for online programs to examine the culture of their programs and
identify if a cheating culture has developed. He also goes into ways to help prevent the
development of this type of culture but notates that the perception that online students are
more likely to cheat than their traditional brick and mortar counterparts lead to online programs
being more upfront and proactive in regards to addressing the issues. Interestingly the article
notes that perception that online students cheat more does not match the studies that have
been conducted.
Additional References:
Corbett, A., & Brown, A. (2015). The roles that librarians and libraries play in distance education settings.
Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 18(2). Retrieved from
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer182/corbett_brown182.html