Abstract
The impacts of COVID-19 induced e-learning on students’ education is well researched in a neoliberal context wherein the focus is identifying any potential shift in individual student performance. There is a gap however, in understanding the influence of e-learning on institutional identification, which plays a role in student’s on-campus social representation, in addition to academic performance. This mixed methods research study will therefore assess a small group (25-30) of Professional Communication students at Ryerson (X) University to foster greater understanding of the link between institutional connection and online learning. Preliminary expectations are that, in the context of e-learning, students’ institutional connection and identification have been reduced. Half of the participants selected will be of close geographic proximity to the school, whereas the other half will represent the university’s commuter population. Likert scales will initially be used to collect quantitative data from the participants, after which supplemental, qualitative in-depth interviews will be conducted. This research serves to highlight the impact of teaching mediums on student learning and engagement experiences and will contribute to the existing body of knowledge on the impacts of online learning on post-secondary institutions. Introduction This research proposal is based in cultural studies, specifically post-secondary education and mental wellbeing. There also exists a geographic frame to this study, as online learning implies distance from central authority and peers. Research conducted throughout the project will occur at the micro level before being aggregated for analysis. That is, the focus subject is represented by individual units (Professional Communication students), rather than teams, organizations, or other, more complex subject groupings. The pervasiveness of e-learning in the context of post-secondary education offers the potential to degrade learning environments, threaten the mental wellbeing of students, and frustrate individuals’ emotions at an already heightened period of their lives. Additionally, there are issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) that arise in the context of COVID-19 and Ryerson University’s switch to online class formats. Institutional identification to Ryerson University is therefore being used as a proxy measure to assess the participants’ perceived view of their contemporary educational experience, post-COVID-19 protocol implementation. Mental health professionals had warned for years prior to the spread of COVID-19 that a crisis was looming. The shuttering of economies, closing of educational institutions, and the subsequent isolation imposed on communities represented the breaking point for many. This research study will therefore help situate the mental health of fourth year Professional Communication students in relation to education and institutional connection. Participants demonstrating strongly reduced institutional identification are assumed within this context to have faced a more disruptive transition to online learning; this will be further explored using in-depth interviews. The following proposal initially delves into research questions before prefacing the study with a literature review of existing work in the field of online education, spanning elementary, high school, and post-secondary institutions. Afterwards, a description of the study’s methodologies is provided before data collection techniques are explained in further depth. The research project’s timeline and resource plan follows shortly thereafter, completing the proposal. Research Questions The questions guiding this research project are designed to foster an understanding of the highly unique situation that fourth year Professional Communication students are currently in. This research project seeks to describe a phenomenon as it exists — the impacts of a change in the participants’ learning format and subsequent university environment. In doing so, this project aims to provide experiential information that will help guide Professional Communication administrators in developing policies that are cohesive and flexible for the student body, as to aid in learning efforts. Numbered List of Questions:
The following literature review expands on the themes raised by the research questions, though, often in different settings that may not always produce applicable results, or those that carry external validity. This is a result of the composition of the existing body of knowledge, which is made up of fewer post-secondary analyzes than elementary and high school ones. Literature Review E-learning has become ubiquitous in contemporary education, particularly since COVID-19 forced schools to cease in-person operations due to safety concerns. This literature review focuses on the impact that switching to e-learning has had on students' sense of connection to their peers and the institution in which their learning environment occurs, and any potential effects on teaching effectiveness. By exploring E-learning and educational efficacy themes, a greater understanding of external influences and their impact on students can be fostered, which will be particularly useful in developing future descriptive and experimental research studies. The vast majority of analyzed research focused on the relationship between connection and e-learning, with somewhat surprising results. One thing remained clear throughout the various academic pieces, however: student success is more likely to occur if a sense of community is fostered. This is perhaps best articulated by Rovai (2002), who stated that the importance of online interaction [in the context of e-learning] is because students experience a 'sense of community’ this way. A Turkish study by Baturay (2011) reinforced this idea by finding that elementary students' learning satisfaction levels and sense of connection were intrinsically related to students' cognitive learning processes. In some studies of e-learning, such as an Iranian one by Ghorbani et al. (2020), a highly positive reaction to e-learning was denoted. In this particular example, fifth-grade Iranian students' academic motivation and performance were assessed by comparing traditional (non-e-learning) and contemporary (online and digitized) teaching techniques. While the young students showed a strong preference for e-learning — and their academic performances slightly improved with its use — only a tiny sample size was used, potentially threatening the study’s internal validity. A paper by Tunmibi et al. (2015) on the impacts of digitalization on primary and secondary school students in Nigeria found similar results, however, recording a boost in classroom productivity on both the teaching and learning front. Some of the associated descriptions of e-learning from this experiment included that it "promoted critical thinking," "revealed connection between subjects,” and “encouraged student’s way of learning.” Whereas the descriptive research studies in Nigeria and Iran recorded positive responses concerning e-learning, student connection, and educational efficacy, others, such as that from Njenga & Fourie (2010), demonstrated the opposite reaction. In this particular paper, which focused on higher education in the United Kingdom, e-learning advocates are labelled "technopositivists" in a somewhat derogatory fashion, giving sense to the author's findings, which undermine many of the conclusions described above, such as that e-learning encourages student's ways of learning. The Njenga & Fourie (2010) study seemed to carry internal bias against e-learning processes, however. Kirk et al., though they did not directly look at e-learning, effectively studied how student connection impacts educational efficacy in the United States, specifically in the context of commuters. Their results demonstrated a significant gap in institutional connection and identification between those who spent more time in person on campus than those who did not. These findings suggest the importance of face-to-face interaction in fostering connection and, as such, relates closely to the topic at hand. Davies & Graft (2005) support this premise with their study on online participation and student grades, which found that increased interaction online [in the context of e-learning] failed to translate into improved student performance. Other studies, such as that of Mukhametshin et al., reported a strong dislike among students of e-learning processes in their entirety. Based on self-reported surveys, a Russian group of students described key flaws with e-learning. Among these included a stronger tendency for educators to 'assign' rather than explain learning material, weakened motivation to learn, and deteriorated independent study skills. After surveying 131 university students, Nikou & Maslov (2021) found that, despite the level of preparedness an institution underwent for the transition to e-learning, other external factors impacting students' lives played a more substantial role in enabling — or constraining student success. What is clear from the variety of results from these research projects — most descriptive, some experimental — is that e-learning as an educational tool is influenced by far too many factors to determine a simple ‘good or bad’ answer. E-learning is almost as flexible as traditional learning processes, meaning many of the same factors that foster connection and successful student development in person apply online too. According to Keržič et al. (2021), these factors include service quality, overall system quality, teaching styles, students' digital competencies, and online interactions. Similarly, Weiser et al. listed medium naturalness (i.e., does the technology foster a 'real' social atmosphere), teaching and learning styles, personality traits (particularly extroversion and introversion), and the growing acquaintances between participants as the course progresses as key factors indicating whether e-learning will be conducive to a successful, connected, and engaged learning environment. These researchers also found that unless prompted by teachers or learning aids, students seldom engaged by speaking up in class, resulting in a much lower sense of connection among students. In all circumstances, extroverts also dominated the conversation, resulting in an unequal connection distribution between students. In the Russian study by Mukhametshin et al., slow internet connections for some students drastically reduced their success. Nikou & Maslov (2021) also found gender to be a constraining factor, though this was not listed by any of the other publications analyzed for this literature review. Clearly, there are a myriad of factors that need to be accounted for when determining the effectiveness of an e-learning program. Utilized research methods and data collection tools varied substantially by study. However, there was a tendency to rely on quantitative surveys, such as those found in Shackelford et al., Mukhametshin et al., Keržič et al., and Nikou, S., & Maslov, as well as qualitative analysis. Many of these studies, then, represented mixed methods research approaches. Existing peer-reviewed literature on the topic of e-learning and educational connection is incredibly contradictory, as demonstrated by the above literature review. Whereas some of the researchers, such as Tunmibi et al. (2015), found e-learning to catalyze positive classroom outcomes, others, such as Mukhametshin et al. (2021), found the opposite to be true. The lack of consensus on the efficacy of e-learning in classrooms — be it elementary, high school, or post-secondary — necessitates the development of more micro-level studies. As it stands, there is no way to effectively extrapolate information from these studies and apply it to other populations; that is, this subject matter is so individualistic and there are so many contributing factors to the success of e-learning on an individual level, that external validity is lacking. One of the weaknesses with the studies reviewed throughout this analysis is that many of them relied on small sample sizes, such as 122 in the case of Davies & Graff (2005), 88 for Baturay (2011), and 131 in Nikou & Maslov (2021). The largest sample drawn upon was from Keržič et al., (2021), with 10,092 post-secondary students surveyed. This literature review, as it was inconclusive in determining the impact e-learning has on institutional identification, connection, and educational efficacy, serves to reinforce the need for organizations and institutions, such as Ryerson University, or programs within the university, to undergo individual e-learning student response assessments. Due to a lack of consensus and external validity, localizing e-learning research will be the only way to come up with actionable and extrapolatable conclusions to improve student life. This paper will, however, aid in the creation of a Ryerson-specific e-learning assessment in next semester’s CMN 480: Applied Research Methods (II) class, thanks to a strong focus on relevant external factors that complicate the student-to-e-learning relationship. Description of MethodologyThis is a mixed methods research project, as it utilizes both quantitative methodologies, in the form of Likert scale assessments, and qualitative methodologies, in the form of personalized, one-on-one interviews. Likert scales are fast, easy, and cheap methods of extracting large amounts of self-reported data from a population, and will work effectively to capture participants’ perceptions about the switch to online school. The inflexibility of Likert scales, however, calls for an additional approach that can help develop narratives about the phenomenon at hand more easily. As the research project is descriptive, not experimental in nature, there will be no variable manipulation, or control group. There are however, some likely variables (data items) that will impact the results of the study, such as whether participants are commuters or not, whether they are international students or not, whether they’re employed or not, the quality of their social support network, and their program of study at Ryerson University. While these factors (or variables) will inevitably influence the decisions made by participants throughout the study, the expectation is that students will demonstrate decreased overall institutional identification since the switch to e-learning. A parallel mixed method of analysis will be used. The Likert scales, which will offer numerical depictions of the phenomenon, will be evaluated using statistical analysis. Results from the commuter and non-commuter groups will be assessed independently. The interviews, on the other hand, which will offer narrative representations of the phenomenon, will be assessed using latent or thematic analysis. Once more, the commuter and non-commuter groups will be assessed individually. The divergence in analysis methods is catalyzed by the juxtaposition of qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. After all individual methods of analysis are complete, the results will be synthesized to produce conclusions of the descriptive study and recommendations for future research. Data Collection Plan Data Type This research project will collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data to study the impact of e-learning on fourth-year Professional Communication students' connection to Ryerson (X) University. All of the data employed in this research study will be primary data derived from the Ryerson student body. Data Collection Instruments As this is a mixed-methods research project, two primary data instruments of opposing types will be employed. Participants will first be presented with a quantitative self-assessment in the form of a Likert scale, which will attempt to numerically depict the relationship between fourth-year Professional Communication students and their connection to Ryerson University, post-e-learning transition. The survey will ask a series of questions regarding features of student life that likely impact institutional identification, such as peer-to-peer connection, the student-to-professor time ratio, access to student resources, on-campus socialization, and more. The questions will be framed in such a manner as to explore the before and after of Ryerson University's switch to e-learning. That is, these data collection instruments will seek to learn whether e-learning impacted Professional Communication students' level of connection to their school and program. The questions will be scored on a range from one to five, with one representing 'much-reduced connection' and five representing 'much-improved connection.' For example, "on a scale of one to five, how does e-learning impact [your] socialization with peers?" The second part of the experiment will see participants asked to expand and reflect on their numerical answers during an in-depth qualitative interview process. The purpose of this will be to develop narratives to accompany the numerical representations initially gathered. Additionally, these interviews will be useful in identifying any potential structural problems with the research study, which will have a positive impact on its internal validity. Preliminary Plan The Likert scale assessments will be distributed to 25-30 fourth-year students of Professional Communication. Half of the participants will be commuters (defined as having to travel 25+ minutes to get to school) and the other half will represent a local demographic. Upon total completion of the quantitative self-assessments, the participants will be scheduled for one-on-one interviews, during which time they will be asked to expand and reflect on the responses they provided on the Likert scale. Upon completion of the data collection process, parallel mixed analysis will be employed to analyze the results of the mixed methods experiment. The Likert scale will produce numeric representations that will be analyzed statistically, whereas the qualitative interviews will be examined using latent content analysis. When both the qualitative and quantitative data sets have been analyzed, they will be synthesized to produce a holistic and informed conclusion regarding students' perceived impact of Ryerson's switch to e-learning. Though, it should be noted that this conclusion will not establish a causal relationship, as the research project is descriptive, not experimental in nature. Overarching Rationale The use of mixed method instruments in the form of questionnaires and one-on-one interviews is a practical choice based on the extremely limited resources available for this project. Self-assessments are cheap to produce and easy to distribute. Interviews are free to conduct and can bring clarity to numerical representations; they will also aid in protecting the research project's internal validity, which is under threat from a variety of extraneous factors. In this context then, these differing methods form a symbiotic relationship. The small sample size of the study (25-30 students at the maximum) reflects the lack of personnel (researchers) working on the project. Separating the participants into commuter and non-commuter groups represents a necessity, as this variable (time spent commuting) could potentially have a sizable impact on students' institutional identification, making inferences challenging to draw from the results. Therefore, as a precaution, commuter data will be aggregated and analyzed separately from that of the more local Professional Communication student body. TimelineThis research project will take place between January and April of 2022 and is constrained by Ryerson University’s semester timeline. Activity Start Date Completion Date Submission of Applied Research Proposal March 30, 2022 March 30, 2022 Final Edits & Proofread March 29, 2022 March 29, 2022 Develop the Final CMN 490 Report March 14, 2022 March 28, 2022 Synthesize Findings into Communicable Pieces March 11, 2022 March 13, 2022 Conduct Parallel Mixed Analysis March 6, 2022 March 10, 2022 Conduct Interviews and Record Findings February 26, 2022 March 5, 2022 Collect Likert Scale Assessments, Record Findings, and Book Interviews with Participants February 21, 2022 February 25, 2022 Distribute Likert Scale to Commuter + Non-Commuter Populations February 19, 2022 February 19, 2022 Select and Finalize all Study Participants February 16, 2022 February 18, 2022 Finalize Ethics Approval Documents February 8, 2022 February 15, 2022 Develop digital advertisements of the Study February 2nd, 2022 February 7, 2022 Build Likert Scale Assessment & Interview Outline January 16, 2022 February 1st, 2022 Finalize Research Questions January 10, 2022 January 15, 2022 Resource PlanTimeline constraints for this project are firm because of Ryerson University’s SIGNIFY presentation that occurs in early April of 2022, in which the findings of the fourth-year Professional Communication research projects are unveiled. The short duration of the project combined with extremely scarce resources does act as a limiting factor in the study’s efficacy, as there is no financial backing and only one researcher. One key resource that will be available however, are professional researchers for consultation throughout the project. References Baturay, M. (2011). Relationships among sense of classroom community, perceived cognitive learning and satisfaction of students at an e-learning course. Interactive Learning Environments, 19(5), 563-575. doi:10.1080/10494821003644029 Davies, J., & Graff, M. (2005). Performance in e-learning: Online participation and student grades. British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(4), 657-663. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2005.00542.x , A., Zarifsanaiey, N., Negahban, M. (2020). Comparing the Impacts of E-learning and Conventional Education on Students’ Academic Motivation and Performance: A Descriptive Study. Interdisciplinary Journal of Virtual Learning in Medical Sciences, 11(3), 170-179. doi: 10.30476/ijvlms.2020.86756.1039 Keržič, D., Jogymol, K. A., Roxana Pamela Balbontín Alvarado, Denilson da, S. B., Cheraghi, M., Dobrowolska, B., Fagbamigbe, A. F., MoezAlIslam, E. F., França, T., González-Fernández, B., Gonzalez-Robledo, L., Inasius, F., Kar, S. K., Lazányi, K., Lazăr, F., Machin-Mastromatteo, J., Marôco, J., Bertil, P. M., Mejía-Rodríguez, O., Aristovnik, A. (2021). Academic student satisfaction and perceived performance in the e-learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence across ten countries. PLoS One, 16(10)http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0258807 Kirk, C. M., & Lewis, R. K. (2013). Sense of community on an urban, commuter campus. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 20(1), 48-60. doi:10.1080/02673843.2013.763833 Mukhametshin, A., Asratyan, N., Safina, A., Gaifutdinov, A., Ganieva, G., & Ganieva, A. (2021). Students’ attitude to e-learning. EDP Sciences. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20219701042 Nikou, S., & Maslov, I. (2021). An analysis of students perspectives on e-learning participation – the case of COVID-19 pandemic. The International Journal of Information and Learning Technology, 38(3), 299-315. doi:10.1108/ijilt-12-2020-0220 Njenga, J. K., & Fourie, L. C. (2010). The myths about e-learning in higher education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 41(2), 199-212. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00910.x Shackelford, J. L., & Maxwell, M. (2012). Sense of community in graduate online education: Contribution of learner to learner interaction. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 13(4), 228. doi:10.19173/irrodl.v13i4.1339 Tunmibi, S., Aregbesola, A., Adejobi1, P., & Ibrahim, O. (2015). Impact of E-Learning and Digitalization in Primary and Secondary Schools. Journal of Education and Practice Www.iiste.org, 6(17), 53-58. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1079751.pdf. Weiser, O., Blau, I., & Eshet-Alkalai, Y. (2018). How do medium naturalness, teaching-learning interactions and Students personality traits affect participation in synchronous E-learning? The Internet and Higher Education, 37, 40-51. doi:10.1016/j.iheduc.2018.01.001
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AuthorBrett Porter is the sole author of this research proposal. No dissemination of the material is acceptable. |