Instructional Materials for Online Learning

Article Summaries
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Article Summaries
Article 1: Supporting learning engagement with online students by Buelow, Barry, & Rich
"Supporting learning Engagement with Online Students" is an article that improves online learning through different engagement activities. The aim is to identify various strategies that support learning engagement to maintain high-quality standards of teaching. The primary study question is; What activities contribute to learning engagement for online students? The authors used an online survey emailed to students in a small state university in answering this question. The study sampled 2,008 students taking full-time online courses in different colleges, such as health professions, liberal arts, education, and science and technology. The students were required to fill in the survey through the SurveyMonkey form sent to them. A total of 417 students completed the study. Therefore, the participants included 417 students representing 20.7% of the total students to whom the survey was sent.
The authors used two instruments, including OSE scale to assess the participation behaviors and two NSSE scales for analyzing the emotions and cognitive engagement of the students. The university's IRB approved these instruments. Further, the researchers used open-ended questions. The study's variables consisted of the global learning engagement that required identifying aspects that encouraged and discouraged students from taking particular online courses. Researchers used the higher-order learning engagement variable to analyze students' academic challenges while taking online learning during the study. Additionally, the authors used the reflective and integrative engagement variable that measured the degree of mental breadth and depth and cognitive aspects of learning engagement. Finally, the participation engagement variable analyzed different engagement behaviors that affected online learning.
The collected data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, scale variable development, and correlational and regression analysis. These methods are quantitative. Through the open-ended question, the authors found that the use of online discussions and interactive assignments supported students' learning engagement. In particular, interactive tasks involving thought-provoking questions on real-world situations encouraged online students to engage in learning. Additionally, inviting the students to share their diverse views and develop personal perspectives on particular situations improved their engagement in online education. The study findings also provide that the instructors must master the content and different online teaching strategies to support online learning engagement. Instructors need to help online students in understanding the topic issue through explanation, justifications, and reasons.
Article 2: Nine Ways to Reduce Cognitive Load in Multimedia Learning by Mayer & Moreno
The study focuses on analyzing different media (multimedia) instruction strategies in improving and having a meaningful learning process. The authors examine the use of words and pictures to promote high-quality learning. The study answered different assumptions or hypotheses th...