I couldn't agree more with what you have written, Jennifer.  I just wish GCU would get on board by choosing a platform that better supports multimedia.  The platform I use at another university, Blackboard Canvas, for example, has built in audio and video chat, as well as a means to leave audio and video comments for students.  Similarly, students can do the same with their comments for me.  Adding video, still pictures, podcasts, and weblinks to my curriculum is a BREEZE, as is turning various aspects of my curriculum into a podcast.  

Here's hoping GCU will get on board soon.  

Stephenie

Jennifer, this is a very timely study. I have one question regarding the survey. How did you validate the survey instrument? I might want to use that for a study I will be performing.

The idea of using multimedia within online courses is a valid consideration. Learners today are constantly exposed to multimedia in many different mediums. As educators, we must integrate multimedia within our courses in order to engage the learner in ways they are using daily.

As an instructor at GCU I teach courses in the use of technology in the classroom. It is tough sometimes to help the learners understand certain concepts when they are not built into the LMS. I think your study may start a discussion between university officials.

Bruce Bennett, Ed. D

Excellent, Jennifer! This is a timely study, and builds on the evidence of how important multimedia is to the online classroom. It takes extra time for instructors to create the multimedia, but I think the students appreciate our efforts, as there truly is more connection. I agree with Stephenie above about Loud Cloud not being the friendlist LMS to multimedia. Perhaps universities will consider multimedia as part of the adoption process when considering a new LMS.

Well done.

Jayne Yenko, M.A.T.

Jennifer, this is a very interesting study and I agree with Bruce that it is timely. After having reviewed your document I have a few questions.

I'm a bit unclear about whether the study has been done or will be done. The verb tense was inconsistent. For example, in the purpose section it states, "The purpose of this study was…", but on page 5 in the methodology section it states, "The age of the students varied… Limited risk is involved for the participants…"

In terms of your participants, were they graduate, undergraduate, or certification only students? Also, in this section the number or percentage of actual participants was not clearly indicated. I think it would make it a bit easier for the reader to have this information prior to the data analysis section.

I presume the instrument was created by the instructor/researcher, or perhaps it was stated, but I missed it. I was also curious about why no demographic data other than gender was collected. It would seem that some differences could have been found among age groups or enrollment status (i.e. undergrad or grad).

Lastly, in terms of recommendations, had you considered that it could be helpful to conduct similar studies with students in different majors? For example, business students have different orientations than education students who are also different from science or math students.

Great topic!

Carolyn K. Broner, MPA, Ph.D.

Jennifer- This was a very interesting study and I am looking forward to hearing your thoughts on a few of the questions below:

In my experience I have found that some of our students prefer the standard plug-and-play courses with no personal interaction.

One of the practices you shared was to call students prior to the start of the course.  I personally think this action has a powerful impact on student interest and engagement in the classroom.  I wonder if we could isolate this as one variable for further study--- the engagement of students in courses with a 'day 1 call' versus those without?

Here are a few more questions:

 What percentage of the students in your sample population participated in the community building options?  (I see the participants in the pre/post course survey-- are these numbers representative of students who participated or did some students participate and not respond to the survey?

You had a large population of female students- do you think gender is a factor in the results? (The high need for females to socialize)?

Congratulations on the publication of your study!

Danielle J Camacho, DBA.

Jennifer,

Thank you for some excellent suggestions about multi-media enhancements in the online classroom.

I had some difficulty following the experimental design at the beginning.  Apparently you had a survey at the beginning and end of a class in which you had used many different multi-media enhancements.  Did you have a control class that was surveyed at the beginning and at the end that had no media enhancements?  Simply the process of going through classroom activities might make students feel more connected.  This is called the placebo effect in medicine.  Your design does not apparently identify which multi-media tactics were the most effective.

I have used screencasts effectively to show students how to use the library or how to edit in Word or place citations for those who viewed them. A play button embedded into the classroom would be highly desirable. LoudCloud does seem to hinder communication between student and instructor.  The Individual Forum of LoudCloud does not seem to get the attention of students as course e-mail did in Angel.  Announcements seem to be hidden in LoudCloud; I am never confident that students read them, although some did not read them in Angel either.

Thank you for some excellent descriptions for multi-media attachments to online classes and for your scholarly presentation.

Carrie Valentine

This is a great topic. I agree that we should be using as much technology as possible in our online classrooms. The experience for the students will be richer and I think the connection between student and instructor would definitely increase. There are so many Web 2.0 tools available with more being created all of the time. These types of of tools can make the online class much more engaging for our students and will likely increase learning outcomes.

Rick

Thank you, Jennifer, for your research.  As an instructor, it's terrific to see the data.  To see that 59.4% of the students believe that hearing the instructor's voice helped build a strong connection is edifying.  I would have assumed it made an impact; you did the research to prove it.  
The LMS is such an important piece of the online learning puzzle.  The LMS offers an array of tools that can truly augment the educational experience.  I have used eCollege, Angel, WebCT and LoudCloud and certainly have my favorites amongst them.  Stephanie's description of Blackboard Canvas sounds quite helpful.   

Thank you for the informative presentation.

Cheryl

Hi Jennifer,

First, I would like to reiterate what my colleagues have noted, in that this research is both timely and relevant to the needs of our students.  I was recently reminded of a dissertation examining the potential success of a business course via distance education, and how technology was going to elicit the meeting of stated learning objectives via this alternate setting.  That dissertation was published in 1982.  Have we met our collective potential since then?  Unclear, but your study helps us to understand where we can go, and for that I thank you.

My first comment regarding the paper deals with your research problem.  In it you state you are addressing instructors' inability to accommodate student needs, are these needs based on learning style or sense of community?  Perhaps these can be parsed, and the problem statement more parsimonious.  Throughout the background and justification section I wholeheartedly agree with your findings, yet still wonder if learning style and community remain interwoven, yet to the detriment of clear design?  Your audience section is well-written, clearly appeals to community, and thus appeals both directly and indirectly to engagement (which I feel is your greatest value proposition).  Completing my reading of the introduction including the purpose section, I am thoroughly convinced this regards community specifically, and for this I give your purpose immense credit, as it lends itself directly to the study of ways to engage.

Among your definition of terms, I am struck by and would like to compliment your appeal to community in nearly every definition provided, aside from Podcasts which received no defense in this regard and Isolation as a term for more obvious reasons.  Your research questions are pointed and relevant, clearly speaking to community.  You data analyses were succinct, and your results are clear.  The strategies employed in this course clearly made a difference.  My only two remaining comments include that perhaps further study where gender is more evenly distributed is in order to see if results change, and perhaps survey questions more specifically regarding 'community' rather than connection could bring closer proximity to the construct aimed to study.  My sincerest thanks for this research, for shedding further light on the value of bringing multimedia to our classrooms, and for a great contribution to the ongoing discussion here at the JIR.

Sincerely,

Dr. Justin Barclay, DBA
Ken Blanchard College of Business

Jennifer, you did a great job for bringing this topic to the limelight. It adds value to the importance and the use of technology in an online learning environment. The study also supports strategic use of multimedia in online learning environment. According to your reported data analysis, 59.4 percent of students said they would have felt more connected to the university if all their previous instructors had used multimedia -and 59.4 percent reported strong connection for hearing instructor's voice as opposed to 41.9 percent of students reported connecting with the university before the survey was conducted.

You correctly stated that future study of multimedia as relates to online learning should continue to be an area of interest. My area of interest in addition to your work is how student's strong connection with instructors and viewing weekly video announcements translate into increase in student's performance?

Over all, your work is thought-provoking and insightful.

J. Ibeh Agbanyim

Jennifer,

Thank you for this excellent study.  It really highlights the importance of community in the online environment.  The use of multimedia in acheiving this community cannot be underestimated.  Although I can do a great deal to build community through offering prayer for the students and the use of the phone, I can see that a face to face encounter would make it even better for the students.  I will be using more and more multimedia in the future and have been encourgaged by your study.

Peter Conlin

Jennifer,

This was an interesting study. As an online student/instructor I can certainly appreciate how the participants report feeling. With such a skewed ratio of male/female students in your study, I wonder if that also plays a factor in your results. Given the learning styles of females vs males I wonder if the population were reversed (all but 2 female) would the results be the same. Another question that came to me when I was reading was to the participants' prior experience in an online forum. As an instructor I have had classes that have been dynamic and the conversations rich and deep in nature and then I've had classes where the conversations covered the bare minimum. So I wonder if the feeling of isolation have been perpetuated by previous classes.

Overall, this is a great study and the tools you include are something that we should consider implementing as we move toward an even more web based education.

I really like your ideas. I think that multi-media instructional materials are definitely more effective as far as stimulating the learning process. When we exercise our bodies, our bodies are healthier. I think this also applies to thinking and learning. Like in anything else, when we exercise our brains, our brains can hold more information. I think of it like lifting weights. The more someone works out and lifts weights, the more weight that person can lift after a period of time as long as the routine is consistent. Point being that when we are using multi-media instructional materials, this is exercising and "working out" the memory and brain. I also think that having control over what we learn can affect the amount of what we retain.

Ms. Ashton,

Thank you for opening the door for more research that looks at effectiveness of teaching tools.  As the use of technology and multimedia rises, there is a need to use it effectively as it is suited to different audiences and in order to implement best practices.  Again, thank you!

Please consider the following comments meant at enhancing this manuscript, see as follows:

 -It would be helpful to at least provide a mean or range for the students age.  In doing so, it helps in inferring some of the life span developmental dynamics that are intertwined with the use of technology.  It could greatly enhance the understanding of the outcome percentages.

-If the data analysis allows, an ANCOVA could shed light into whether the gender/sex differences (56 females and two males) could have been a confounder. 

-An explanation of what could be the implication of  "44 students participated in the pre-course survey, and 32 students participated in the post-course survey" may be needed.  

-Mentioning and providing a rationale for the analysis conducted (i.e. descriptive and so on) would help the audience better understand the data.

I am looking forward to this publication, well done!

Genomary Krigbaum, Psy.D.