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36
American/Black students to have a perceived sense of community and belonging in an online learning environment.
Institutional Factors
Research has examined various approaches for higher education institutions to improve online student success, such as faculty training (Bawa, 2016), online readiness orientations for students (Russo-Gleicher, 2014; Wojciechowski & Palmer, 2005), and providing student support services (Ludwig-Hardman & Dunlap, 2003; McCracken, 2004). Higher education institutions that examined their existing services and programs for African-American/Black students to inform decision making found increased student retention and persistence in college among African-American/Black students (Flowers, 2004). According to Bensimon (2004), equity-mindedness requires practitioners to not only think critically but to actively work towards reducing gaps in outcomes. Hence, community colleges must reshape and redesign policies and structures in place to better support students of color.
Faculty Training
The quality of online programs in higher learning institutions may vary and depends on the support and training an online instructor received at academic institutions. The possible lack of knowledge, awareness, and skillsets related to effective practices for a quality online course creates an added layer of the complexity of online education for educators and students. Thus, educators may only utilize limited resources to serve the dominant group and have not given underserved communities the proper attention in an online learning environment. Arroyo (2010) noted that African-American/Black students’ successful experience in online learning involves verbal interaction, collaboration, and increased instructor engagement that needs to be addressed.
Object Description
| Title | African-American/Black students’ experience and achievement in asynchronous online learning environments at a community college |
| Author | Whitaker, Tammara |
| Author email | tammarawhit@gmail.com;tammaraw@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Education |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Educational Leadership |
| School | Rossier School of Education |
| Date defended/completed | 2020-07-10 |
| Date submitted | 2020-08-05 |
| Date approved | 2020-08-06 |
| Restricted until | 2020-08-06 |
| Date published | 2020-08-06 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Tambascia, Tracy |
| Abstract | This qualitative study explored the experiences and perspectives of African-American/Black community college students in asynchronous online learning environments. This study was guided through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. Despite the growing number of African-American/Black students enrolling in California community colleges and online courses, there is little known regarding the online learning experiences of this student population. Furthermore, African-American/Black students have poor academic outcomes in online courses in the California community colleges. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 15 African-American/Black students who completed at least one asynchronous online course at a community college in Southern California. The study found that African-American/Black students in asynchronous online learning environments had limited interaction with their peers in the course. Furthermore, the participants used many on-campus support services and were not aware or did not utilize the online support services offered by the college. The participants also highlighted the importance of family, faculty, and counselor support throughout their academic journey. The study offers recommendations to improve the online student experience of racially minoritized students, specifically African-American/Black students, in asynchronous online learning environments at a community college. |
| Keyword | distance education; online learning, asynchronous online learning; asynchronous online learning environments; community college; online learning experience; California community college; African American online student; ecological systems theory |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Whitaker, Tammara |
| Physical access | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-WhitakerTa-8891.pdf |
| Archival file | Volume13/etd-WhitakerTa-8891.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 46 |
| Full text | 36 American/Black students to have a perceived sense of community and belonging in an online learning environment. Institutional Factors Research has examined various approaches for higher education institutions to improve online student success, such as faculty training (Bawa, 2016), online readiness orientations for students (Russo-Gleicher, 2014; Wojciechowski & Palmer, 2005), and providing student support services (Ludwig-Hardman & Dunlap, 2003; McCracken, 2004). Higher education institutions that examined their existing services and programs for African-American/Black students to inform decision making found increased student retention and persistence in college among African-American/Black students (Flowers, 2004). According to Bensimon (2004), equity-mindedness requires practitioners to not only think critically but to actively work towards reducing gaps in outcomes. Hence, community colleges must reshape and redesign policies and structures in place to better support students of color. Faculty Training The quality of online programs in higher learning institutions may vary and depends on the support and training an online instructor received at academic institutions. The possible lack of knowledge, awareness, and skillsets related to effective practices for a quality online course creates an added layer of the complexity of online education for educators and students. Thus, educators may only utilize limited resources to serve the dominant group and have not given underserved communities the proper attention in an online learning environment. Arroyo (2010) noted that African-American/Black students’ successful experience in online learning involves verbal interaction, collaboration, and increased instructor engagement that needs to be addressed. |
