Assessment of Content Retention in Online and Face-to- Face Course Offerings

Transcription

1 Assessment of Content Retention in Online and Face-to- Face Course Offerings Anthony D. Koutsoftas, PhD, CCC-SLP Department of Speech Language Pathology School of Health and Medical Sciences Seton Hall University 1

2 Thank You to the Assessment Committee for the CDI grant. Kaitlyn Vona, Graduate Assistant. Project Goals: To compare content retention of students who have taken a face-to-face course verse an online course in phonetics. To demonstrate a simple and robust method for assessing outcomes when comparing traditional face-to-face verse online or hybrid courses. 2

3 Phonetics 101 /ˌfəˈnɛtɪks, wʌnoʊwʌn/ The study of the speech sound system of language, specifically the English language. Student Outcomes: To differentiate spoken sounds systems, written language, and the International Phonetic Alphabet. To transcribe with proficiency typical, atypical, and accented speech. Examples: The Jersey Shore /ðəd ʒɝzɨʃɔr/ or /ði d ʒɝzɨ ʃɔr/ or /dɑunðəʃɔr/ Cup of coffee /kʌpəkɑfɨ/ or /kʌpəkɔfɨ/ Walk to the mall /wɔktədəmɔl/ or /wɑktəðəmɑl/ 3

4 Online Education Meets the needs of an ever-changing student body Allows students choice in program without the burden of relocation Emerging research supporting online education as an effective approach (Baram & Correia, 2014; Cacciamani et al. 2012; Campbell, 2014; Gilson & Jung, 2014; Herrington et al. 2001; Kuo et al. 2014; Richardson & Swan, 2003; Schmidt et al. 2013) Few studies directly compare student outcomes between online and faceto-face courses (Ali & Smith, 2014; Dominguez-Flores & want, 2011; Neuhauser, 2002) One study regarding online course in speech language pathology education (Upton, 2006) 4

5 Department of Speech Language Pathology Dual Degree Program (4+2) College of Education 6, Pre-requisite Courses Introduction to Communication Disorders Introduction to Language Development Phonetics Anatomy and Physiology of the Speech and Swallowing Mechanism Fundamentals of Hearing* Introduction to Audiology 5

6 Alignment with Program Goals Given the shift from traditional to online course formats, it is important for program assessment to ascertain if students are achieving academic outcomes aligned with the department s strategic plan Focus Area A = high expectations for student success Focus Area B = distinction in academics by offering a dynamic curriculum 6

7 Research Questions Is there a significant between group difference on a 20 question assessment of phonetics course content? Are there a significant between group differences on word and phrase level transcription ability? Hypothesis: Online >/= Face-to-Face 7

8 Method 8

9 Research Design Retrospective Between Group Comparison Quasi-experimental 9

10 Participants 50 Females Undergraduate = 7 Graduate = 43 Undergraduate Graduate Face-to-Face 3 39 Online 4 4 Hispanic 4 American Indian 1 Asian 6 Black 3 White 36 Unknown 4 10

11 Descriptive Data by Group Face-to-Face (n = 42) Online (n = 8) Mean age (1.68) (3.60) Current GPA * 3.63 (.24) 3.40 (.38) Phonetics Course SHU : Other 20 : 22 4 : 4 Mean months from course completion * (12.46) (13.73) Phonetics Grade 3.71 (.37) 3.80 (.35) * p <.05 11

12 Assessment Section 1: Demographic Information Section 2: Educational History Section 3: Phonetics Course Information Section 4: Phonetics Survey Section 5: Phonetics Assessment 20 test questions; developed from multiple resources Section 6: Word Transcription Section 7: Phrase Transcription 12

13 Procedures Participants completed the assessment individually or in groups 30 to 45 minutes to complete Words and Phrases were played from a speaker up to 5 times each Graduate Assistant scored each assessment and entered data into an Excel spreadsheet 13

14 Results 14

15 Platform Face-to-Face Online Phonetics Assessment Word Transcription Phrase Transcription.53 (.11).53 (.15).79 (.10).74 (.09).69 (.12).65 (.08) 15

16 University SHU (n = 24) Other (n = 26) Phonetics Assessment Word Transcription Phrase Transcription.53 (.11).52 (.13).78 (.10).79 (.10).67 (.13).70 (.09) 16

17 Discussion 17

18 Phonetics Content Retention No differences between groups or by university In general students retained 50% of knowledge content as measured by a traditional assessment approach students were able to apply knowledge (transcribe) with ~75% accuracy Students earned good grades and retained application of these skills 1.5 to 3 years from course completion 18

19 Taxonomically Speaking Real world application of course content assessment indicated 75% content retention General knowledge assessed using a traditional exam approach showed 50% content retention 19

20 Departmental Program Assessment Sample method for the assessment of courses that have shifted from face-to-face to online formats Develop a tool to implement at the onset of graduate education: Reports on effectiveness of online courses; across all courses Identifies gaps in knowledge from pre-requisite courses Online = Face-to-Face Online > Face-to-Face SHU = Other Universities SHU > Other Universities 20

21 Online Education Challenges the educational values of students and educators alike it may not make all the difference when looking at learning outcomes. Objective and anecdotal data may tell two different stories when it comes to online education 21

22 Questions / Comments / Discussion Thank You Anthony.koutsoftas@shu.edu 22