A newsletter from the folks at the MVLRI.
Fall 2023 Newsletter
Four times a year, we send out a digest of published scholarship in the area of K-12 online and blended learning. Below you will find abstracts to several recently published articles — hand-picked by our Institute’s researchers — with links to the full text if you are interested in reading more.
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Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
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In today’s dynamic and rapidly evolving world, evidence-informed decision-making has emerged as a cornerstone in guiding effective education policy and practice. In particular, creating a culture of research engagement is often highlighted as a key ingredient to strengthening the impact of research. However, it is not always clear how that works in practice.
The publication provides analyses of data collected from more than 30 education systems. It delves into how systemic and organisational capacity for thoughtful engagement with research can be built into policy and practice. It also contains concrete examples of building a culture of research engagement by presenting diverse case studies, analyses, tools and processes. It is intended as a practical resource for policy makers, educational leaders, teachers and the research community to stimulate reflection and guide their efforts to developing a culture of research engagement in education.
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Kelly Cuccolo & Kristen DeBruler
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Student-centered learning (SCL) is a highly regarded practice in education, yet its impact on student achievement in K-12 remains understudied. This report presents a review of relevant literature, identifying trends and research gaps. A literature search was conducted, revealing that there is a significant lack of research on the impact of SCL on student achievement in K-12, and a large portion of the research available focused on implementation, barriers to implementation, and/or perceptions. Of the literature that focused on student achievement (n = 10) the results indicated small to moderate positive student achievement gains and outcomes. Factors such as demographics, grade level, class type, and elements of SCL that are implemented may impact SCL’s effectiveness and are reviewed. Future research, especially high-quality experimental designs, are needed to fully understand the relationship between SCL and student achievement.
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This report examines the variations in online course outcomes during the first week for students in high free or reduced-price lunch (FRL) schools compared to other categories. Data from Michigan Virtual’s fall 2022 courses reveals that students in high FRL schools had lower average final grades and showed delayed course access and assignment submission. Early engagement indicators, such as first-week access and submission, significantly influenced final grades. The study highlights the importance of identifying and addressing barriers to online learning success for students in high FRL schools. Timely interventions based on early signals of non-engagement can improve outcomes and promote equity in online education.
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Jacob Hall, Qui Wang, & Jing Lei
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Preparing future teachers with virtual teaching competencies that can be applied to blended or fully online settings has long challenged teacher education programs. The need for this preparation has been made increasingly apparent by global events, advances in technology, and the shifting landscape of K–12 education. Therefore, this study examined the efficacy of a fully online, 10-day course aimed at preparing teacher candidates for virtual teaching. The course design was based upon the Presence + Experience framework—an instructional design model grounded in the community of inquiry and experiential learning theory. Two iterations of the course were implemented, and 250 pre-service teachers participated by completing the course and responding to a 32-item pre- and post-survey that measured their technological, pedagogical, content knowledge. A 2 x 2 x 2 x 7 mixed MANOVA was conducted, and results indicated the course design had a statistically significant impact on pre-service teachers’ technological, pedagogical, content knowledge (F = 230.43, df = 249, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.484). The Presence + Experience framework may thus be a worthwhile model for others seeking to promote future educators’ online competencies. Design recommendations for applying the framework and directions for future research are shared.
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Charles R. Graham, Jered Borup, Sara Tuiloma, Adriana MartĂnez Arias, Diana MarĂa Parra Caicedo, Ross Larsen
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In light of the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders of higher education institutions around the world have been contemplating ways to help their universities engage in a digital transformation that must have student engagement and learning as the foremost considerations. This study reports on the work conducted at a university in Colombia that created an evaluation instrument based on the Academic Communities of Engagement (ACE) framework (Borup et al., 2020) to examine how well the institution was supporting the affective, behavioral, and cognitive (ABC) dimensions of engagement in its online and blended learning course offerings. This survey, the ACE in Higher Education (ACE-HE), measures indicators of the ABC engagement dimensions as well as indicators of institutional support for those elements. The survey was completed by 1,295 university students representing a broad demographic profile. Structural equation modeling found good fit for both the model of ABC engagement dimensions and the model of institutional support for ABC engagement dimensions. Institutional support for affective engagement showed strong relationships to affective, behavioral, and cognitive indicators of engagement, while institutional support for behavioral and cognitive engagement did not have the same outcome. This research provides access to both English and Spanish versions of the ACE-HE instrument. It also highlights ideas for institutions that want to improve their support for student ABC engagement dimensions in online and blended environments. Finally, several implications for making updates to the ACE framework are shared.
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Subscribe to the Digital Backpack for more regular updates!
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Want more frequent updates? Our research team regularly publishes blog articles on online and blended learning. By subscribing to the Digital Backpack blog, you’ll receive a weekly digest of Michigan Virtual’s latest articles sent to your inbox every Thursday.
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Explore over 1,000 publications in our Research Clearinghouse
Though we only feature four or five resources per newsletter, we encourage you to visit our Research Clearinghouse to search for citations that may be of use to you. The Clearinghouse currently houses over 1,000 citations in the field of online and blended learning, and over 100 new citations are added each year.
If you have any questions about how to navigate this resource, please check out our “Getting Started Guide.”
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What else do you want to see?  Please feel free to offer any feedback on the Clearinghouse or any other MVLRI initiatives by emailing us at mvlri@michiganvirtual.org. Thank you!
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