This presentation shares preliminary findings from a case self-study underway at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). The case study examines the experience of students, teaching assistants, professors and the program director in a synchronous online BA program in Adult Education and Digital Technologies (AEDT).
The Bachelor of Arts in AEDT is offered completely online, with a mandatory real-time videoconferencing component and a problem-based learning pedagogical framework that fosters the development of meaningful teacher-learner, learner-learner and learner-content relationships (van Oostveen & Desjardins, 2013). This case study investigates the attributes, affordances and role of synchronous technologies in fostering student and faculty engagement in the BA in AEDT program. In addition, it examines the impact of the synchronous component of the program on the creation of a learning community. Initial themes emerging from the data analysis will be shared, and implications on student and faculty support as well as program revisions will be discussed.
Of Interest to: Online and distance education, Post-secondary education, Instructional designers, Researchers, Educational technologists
