Gerald, C. (2022). Qualitative study of community college instructors’ described practices of online course design (Publication No. 29997041) [Doctoral Dissertation, Grand Canyon University]. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

Abstract:

“The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore how community college instructors described the influence of their technological and pedagogical knowledge in online course design at a community college in the Southeastern United States. The identified theoretical framework for this study was Koehler and Mishra’s (2006) TPACK theoretical framework which describes the integration of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge during instructors’ processes of planning for learning. The research questions guiding this study included: How did community college instructors describe the influence of their technological knowledge in online course design? And how did community college instructors describe the influence of their pedagogical knowledge in online course design? The purposive sample included 22 community college instructors who completed the Online Instruction Certificate with experience teaching online at the community college level. Data collection methods included 11 semi-structured individual interviews and two focus groups, six participants in focus group 1 and five in focus group 2. Inductive thematic analysis was used to describe the phenomenon of online course design. Three themes were developed as study findings: 1) Timing constraints presented by teacher and student levels of proficiency in utilizing new technologies 2) Connecting course objectives and learning outcomes to real world experiences; and 3) Barriers and conduits to designing high quality online courses. The study implications include strategic professional development and communities of practice for community college instructors.”