Cassandra Jones

OMDE 608 Section 9040

2/21/2018
Unit 1 Assignment 1

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

environment that leads to the success of the online learner.

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

and more aligned to the information I was searching for.

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),

and general program questions to name a few.

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

would be an improved replacement for the article by Brindley.

Brindley Guan & Stanford

Focus of article Student support needs Student and course teacher

support needs
Strength of evidence Theory based Research based

Relevance 2014 – statements continue 2016 - More recent article,

to be valid regardless of age but hits on many of the same
of article points as the previous article
in regards to student
support.
Rating 2 1

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

retention and cost-effectiveness.

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

possible confusion on where to access the support or how to implement them.

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

implement these assessments.

Baleni Stefl-Mabry

Focus of article Pros and cons of formative Types of formative assessments

assessments
Strength of evidence Based on pedagogical evidence Focus on demonstrating how to
use assessments and terms
associated with them.
Relevance 2015 2018

Rating 1 2

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

desired learning outcome to ensure effectiveness and be delivered throughout 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.

Stefl-Mabry, J. (2018). Documenting Evidence of Practice: The Power of Formative Assessment.

 Knowledge Quest, 46(3), 50-57. Retrieve from
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=b616fda9-
0018-4693-9e8e-f28a5c569f54%40sessionmgr120

According to the author, formative assessments are a powerful measurement tool that can

impact student learning. By incorporating formative assessment throughout instruction the

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

date on current studies as possible.

 Moten Jr. Tolman

Focus of article Prevalence of cheating and Cheating culture and perception

causes of cheating
Strength of evidence Focus on survey data Focus on survey data

Relevance 2013 2017

Rating NA NA

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, S. (2017). Academic dishonesty in online courses: considerations for graduate

Preparatory programs in higher education. College Student Journal, 51(4), 579-584. Retrieved
from
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&sid=2fcecc26-
cb04-4d6c-80f7-afa1307747a5%40sessionmgr4009

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