My Big Research Question and So What

Currently, my big research question is: 

How to improve the quality of online learning through enhancing interactions in asynchronous online environment?

This question itself can answer the "So What" question to some extent. If we can figure out how to effectively enhance interaction, which includes teacher-student, student-content, and student-student interactions, in online environment, the quality of online learning, which could be measured by course completion rate, student retention rate, students' learning outcome and satisfactory, etc., could be improved.

Although online learning has been widely accepted and applied for years because of its remarkable potential and advantages (From Fall 2001 to Fall 2011, the number of post-secondary students taking at least one online course increased from 9.2 percent to 32 percent in U.S. (Allen & Seaman, 2013)), its issues and limitations can not be ignored. The high attrition rate (Welsh et al., 2003) caused by poorly designed online courses (Zaharias et al., 2009), lack of social interaction (Arbaugh, 2000), inexperienced instructors, and lack of support system (Frankola, 2001) has impeded the success of online learning. Since interaction has been identified as one of the most components of any learning experience by Dewey (1938), Vygotsky (1978), and Anderson (2003), for online learning, interaction is very important as well, maybe even more important than that of traditional learning. Several scholars (Bernard et al., 2009; Hawkins et al., 2013) have conducted research to investigate the relationship between interaction happening in online courses and students' course completion and learning outcome. And the results support that there exists positive relationship between interaction and student achievement.

And this is why I'm interested in this research question and how this can contribute to our field.

References

Allen, E., & Seaman, J. (2013). Changing course: Ten years of tracking online education in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group

Anderson, T. (2003). Getting the mix right: An updated and theoretical rational for interaction. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 4(2). Retrieved August 27, 2007, from http:/www. irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/149/230

Arbaugh, J. B. (2000). How classroom environment and student engagement affect learning in Internet-based MBA courses. Business Communication Quarterly, 63(4), 9-26.

Bernard, R. M., Abrami, P. C., Borokhovski, E., Wade, C. A., Tamim, R. M., Surkes, M. A., & Bethel, E. C. (2009). A meta-analysis of three types of interaction treatments in distance education. Review of Educational Research,79(3), 1243-1289.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Macmillan.

Frankola, K. (2001). Why online learners drop out. Workforce, 80(10), 53-59.

Hawkins, A., Graham, C. R., Sudweeks, R. R., & Barbour, M. K. (2013). Academic performance, course completion rates, and student perception of the quality and frequency of interaction in a virtual high school. Distance Education, 34(1), 64-83. doi:10.1080/01587919.2013.770430

Vygotsky, L. L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard university press.

Welsh, L.T.,Wanberg, C.R., Brown, K. G., & Simmering, M. J. (2003). E-learning: Emerging uses, best practices, and future directions. International Journal of Training and Development, 7, 245–258.

Zaharias, P., & Poylymenakou, A. (2009). Developing a usability evaluation method for e-learning applications: Beyond functional usability. International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 25(1), 75–98.