A. Frank Mayadas
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Anthony G. Picciano
City University of New York Graduate Center

Abstract:
Blended learning can be seen as the means to achieving a greater sense of "localness" on the part of colleges and universities. Blended learning has been evolving for several years and while definitions vary from one institution to another, it is defined in this paper essentially as a combination of face-to-face and online learning. Localness is a term used at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as part of a new funding initiative to support academic programs designed to strengthen a college or university connection to its core constituencies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship of blended learning and "localness".

George Otte
The City University of New York

Abstract:
The City University of New York is taking a new, local approach to online instruction: offering an online baccalaureate for degree completers, designed for NYC students who have "stopped out" in good academic standing and need the "any time" flexibility of asynchronous learning to finish the degree. What is especially distinctive about this online program is its goal of access for local students, its core constituency and mission. Though CUNY is addressing a local problem, online access to higher education for local students may address nation-wide problems with rates of degree completion and progress towards completion. As more institutions provide online instruction, localness may well be the key to access and timely completion for local students, with time and not distance being the key obstacle it overcomes.

Karen Swan
Kent State University

Abstract:
Over the past decade, the Internet has had a profound impact on higher education by enabling the phenomenal growth of online learning. Moreover, just as we were getting used to fully online courses, blended courses, courses which integrate online and face-to-face instruction, seem to be growing in similar, perhaps even more spectacular, manner. Add to that a plethora of emerging digital technologies such as wikis, blogs, podcasting, social software, and serious gaming technologies that are increasingly being incorporated into online or online portions of courses, and one is tempted to despair of ever making sense of online learning. The altered learning environments created by web-based technologies, not only eliminate barriers of time, space and arguably learning styles, providing increased access to higher education, they challenge our traditional notions of teaching and learning, and indeed higher education itself.

D. R. Garrison
University of Calgary

Abstract:
This paper explores four issues that have emerged from the research on social, cognitive and teaching presence in an online community of inquiry. The early research in the area of online communities of inquiry has raised several issues with regard to the creation and maintenance of social, cognitive and teaching presence that require further research and analysis. The other overarching issue is the methodological validity associated with the community of inquiry framework.

The first issue is about shifting social presence from socio-emotional support to a focus on group cohesion (from personal to purposeful relationships). The second issue concerns the progressive development of cognitive presence (inquiry) from exploration to resolution. That is, moving discussion beyond the exploration phase. The third issue has to do with how we conceive of teaching presence (design, facilitation, direct instruction). More specifically, is there an important distinction between facilitation and direct instruction? Finally, the methodological issue concerns qualitative transcript analysis and the validity of the coding protocol.

J. B. Arbaugh
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

Abstract:
Despite the explosion of empirical research on online learning effectiveness over the last decade, development and acceptance of theoretical frameworks unique to the online learning environment are still relatively lacking. While there are several emerging models, one that has attracted some of the most attention is the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework developed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer. A search of Google Scholar shows that Garrison and colleagues' article describing the framework has been cited in other works at least 161 times as of September 2006, making it by far the most cited article in The Internet and Higher Education to date. However, while individual components of the CoI framework have been examined empirically, studies that simultaneously study all three components of the framework are extremely limited, and those that do exist tend to be conducted by those who developed the framework.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of a study that examines whether the CoI dimensions of social, teaching and cognitive presence distinctively exist in e-learning environments. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. First, I will briefly review recent studies on the dimensions of this framework: social, cognitive, and teaching presence. Second, I discuss the development of the sample of MBA students in online courses over a two-year period at a Midwestern U.S. university and the items used to measure the CoI dimensions. Next, I will describe the results of an exploratory factor analysis, including an interpretation of the emerging factors. Finally, I will discuss how these findings relate to conclusions presented in Garrison's review of recent research related to the CoI and present some possible directions for future research.

Charles Dziuban, Patsy Moskal and Jay Brophy
University of Central Florida
Peter Shea
University at Albany

Abstract:
The authors discuss elements that potentially impact student satisfaction with asynchronous learning: the media culture, digital, personal and mobile technologies, student learning preferences, pedagogy, complexities of measurement, and the digital generation. They describe a pilot study to identify the underlying dimensions of student satisfaction with online learning and present examples of techniques for engaging students in classes that respond to their uses of technology.

Melody M. Thompson
The Pennsylvania State University

Abstract:
Using four papers from the 2006 Sloan-C Invitational Summer Research Workshop as a foundation, this paper explores the potentially damaging effects of the increasingly limited (and limiting) terminology and a concomitant shift in emphasis to blended—rather than completely asynchronous—programming.

Starr Roxanne Hiltz
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Peter Shea
University at Albany
Eunhee Kim
Northern State University

Abstract:
What are the most significant factors that motivate and inhibit faculty with regard to teaching in online environments? And what are the specific kinds of experiences that underlie and explain the importance of these factors? One goal of this study was to add to understanding of these issues, but the primary purpose of this study is determining how well these questions can be answered using the method of structured focus groups. This paper describes the methods and results of a pilot study conducted using four focus group interviews of faculty experienced in teaching using "Asynchronous Learning Networks" (ALN) at one university, and a single focus group at a second university in order to explore generalizability. For the university at which four group interviews were conducted, the rank orders of leading motivators and demotivators were quite consistent. Leading motivators include the flexibility allowed by being able to teach "anytime/anywhere;" better/more personal interaction and community building supported by the medium; the technical and creativity challenges offered by this mode of teaching; being able to reach more (and more diverse) students; and better course management. Major sources of dissatisfaction are more work, medium limitations, lack of adequate support and policies for teaching online, and the fact that the medium is not a good fit for some students. Very similar results were found through the replication focus group conducted at a different institution.